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Random political thought thread.

SensEye

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Watch his approval ratings soar when we enter a conflict with Iran. Voters don't like to change leaders during a war, even if the leader is somewhat unpopular.
Typically true. But given the current state of affairs, not sure how it would play out this time. Republicans would probably be pro-Israel and want America involved, although these days they don't give a shit about foreign lands or democracy (but they do give a shit about AIPAC campaign funds). The vocal Democratic left is anti-Israel, so they might be anti Biden if he gets America involved, although moderate Dems would probably support him.

Interesting times.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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You know, people complaining about artists getting political never say that about views they agree with. Can't they just be honest and say that the real issue is that they disagree with their politics?
 
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Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Oh Alice....No. Dear boy, this is Wonderland. That's just not how we do things here.
Well maybe at least I can have a good unbirthday party tomorrow. This unbirthday was lousy. I went to the grocery store, and only after I got home I realized I needed trash bags. I hate it when I do that. I didn't even get to have a party today because it was also my cat's unbirthday.
 

The Cat

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Well maybe at least I can have a good unbirthday party tomorrow. This unbirthday was lousy. I went to the grocery store, and only after I got home I realized I needed trash bags. I hate it when I do that. I didn't even get to have a party today because it was also my cat's unbirthday.
On the bright side at least you had a grocery store to go to instead of a smoking ruin.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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It's interesting to watch the right grapple mentally with how much they love Israel and how much they hate Jews and that's becoming more and more evident. They haven't gone this far in the US but I can't help but wonder if it's coming.

One of the things I remember on Facebook before I quit in October was a girl I used to know claiming Jewish Voice for Peace weren't really Jews.
 

Kephalos

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This reminds me of one of my many complaints with the Democratic party. When the Republican party changes the way the game is played, they don't react accordingly. They keep playing the same way because it's the "noble" thing to do; even though, given the stakes involved, it's not actually that "noble". Many of the Democrats are obsessed with protocol and tradition (which is really a conservative mentality, not a progressive one), treating them as unbreakable laws. If the world is burning down, it is not morally praiseworthy to insist on adhering to tradition simply because it's "the way it's done"; these things aren't laws. Clinging to normalcy when all the evidence shows otherwise is not a sound decision. Meanwhile, the Republicans don't care about protocol and tradition, unless caring about them can help them with their goals. That's hypocrisy, but the voters won't care, which is why they will never stop doing it.

I regret that I'm forced to keep voting for the Democrats because I think the Republican party is almost entirely a fascist movement at this point.
Well, there do exist more or less balanced and moderate parliamentary systems such as West Germany's and by extension today's Germany's political system to the extent that it does not deviate from the old West German Fundamental Statute. I'd like to emphasize the German case, because it combines federalism (another crucial check and balance) like the United States. Also, the English Westminster SYstem in its better days, not only because of England's and the United States's cultural and historical similarities, but more because it used to incorporate another check and balance that exists and should continue to exist in the United States, the single-member, winner-take-all constituency. Both England and Germany have large conservative parties that operate under the adversarial, disciplined way I describe, especially in England.

And then there are the much more common basket case parliamentary countries like Spain, or Italy or Israel, or the Fourth French Republic, and Belgium and the Netherlands and all the Latin American countries which have been foolish enough to incorporate parliamentary features into their political systems such as Perú (and which have paid dearly for such mistakes). Unlike the United States, these countries have fewer (or in the case of Israel, zero) checks and balances on whoever happens to be in government at the time. Of course, the unlimited and unconstrained majoritarian democratism of parliamentary systems is not by itself enough to produce weimarization nor turn the system into what Lord Hailsham very accurately described as an elective dictatorship.

The danger comes when the political parties begin functioning like I described the Republican Party to behave. The tendency is for the party to become, in effect, a vehicle for the idiosyncrasies of its leader. And this happens because, like Mr. Trump does, party leaders either select candidates for everything (or has great influence on the selection) leading to the institution being filled by sycophantic yes-men (backbenchers, that is). That, combined with the essentially unconstrained power of a parliamentary majority can make a parliamentary democracy, metaphorically speaking, an elected dictatorship (rule by the party that has a majority which in turn is controlled by the party leader and Prime MInister). And the inherent instability of some parliamentary systems (like Israels, infamously chaotic) means that "one" elected dictator can be replaced by another, either when some razor-thin majority changes or when a "Frankenstein" coalition government suddenly collapses, with the inevitable huge swings in politics (political chaos, or in other words, Weimarization).
 

Red Herring

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Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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I saw a sticker on a telephone pole that seemed aimed at getting people to protest the Democratic convention, because of Gaza. I wonder if it will be anything like the '68 convention. Stuff like this is all over the city and has been for months.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Well, there do exist more or less balanced and moderate parliamentary systems such as West Germany's and by extension today's Germany's political system to the extent that it does not deviate from the old West German Fundamental Statute. I'd like to emphasize the German case, because it combines federalism (another crucial check and balance) like the United States. Also, the English Westminster SYstem in its better days, not only because of England's and the United States's cultural and historical similarities, but more because it used to incorporate another check and balance that exists and should continue to exist in the United States, the single-member, winner-take-all constituency. Both England and Germany have large conservative parties that operate under the adversarial, disciplined way I describe, especially in England.

And then there are the much more common basket case parliamentary countries like Spain, or Italy or Israel, or the Fourth French Republic, and Belgium and the Netherlands and all the Latin American countries which have been foolish enough to incorporate parliamentary features into their political systems such as Perú (and which have paid dearly for such mistakes). Unlike the United States, these countries have fewer (or in the case of Israel, zero) checks and balances on whoever happens to be in government at the time. Of course, the unlimited and unconstrained majoritarian democratism of parliamentary systems is not by itself enough to produce weimarization nor turn the system into what Lord Hailsham very accurately described as an elective dictatorship.

The danger comes when the political parties begin functioning like I described the Republican Party to behave. The tendency is for the party to become, in effect, a vehicle for the idiosyncrasies of its leader. And this happens because, like Mr. Trump does, party leaders either select candidates for everything (or has great influence on the selection) leading to the institution being filled by sycophantic yes-men (backbenchers, that is). That, combined with the essentially unconstrained power of a parliamentary majority can make a parliamentary democracy, metaphorically speaking, an elected dictatorship (rule by the party that has a majority which in turn is controlled by the party leader and Prime MInister). And the inherent instability of some parliamentary systems (like Israels, infamously chaotic) means that "one" elected dictator can be replaced by another, either when some razor-thin majority changes or when a "Frankenstein" coalition government suddenly collapses, with the inevitable huge swings in politics (political chaos, or in other words, Weimarization).
People complain that they don't teach civics anymore. I actually did get taught civics. One of the things I learned was that "the president was not a king". Imagine my surprise when Trump was elected and apparently various institutions have made it their policy that you can't indict a sitting president, or something like that. The idea of the presidency not being a monarchy was more of a suggestion. I wonder how many other checks and balances are like that; entirely undermined by the whims of institutions, and we simply don't know that because nobody has tested them.
 

The Cat

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Political science is a social science which deals with systems of governance, and the analysis of political activities, political thoughts, and political behavior. Civics are the things people do that affect fellow citizens, especially when that relates to the maintenance of urban development.
 

The Cat

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"In this country we have no 'other' people."
Nazis can't take over a unified country. So they divide it into smaller groups. Use prejudice as a practical weapon to cripple the nation. Human beings are not born with prejudices. They are made for us by someone who wants something.
All of this has happened before, and all of it is happening again.
Wake up. Pay Attention. The Hydra is regrowing heads.​
 
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