US News & Politics

[Silverwing]

US NEWS & POLITICS

I can tell we are going to need a politics thread.  At PSF 1.0 we had an in-depth politics thread series that focused on political debates leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election.  This new topic will be more overarching and focus on U.S. news, politics, and foreign policy.  Remember, we can disagree, but never leave angry.  They are just opinions. 

[Silverwing]

So guys, we got an election coming up.  What are you guys thinking and what issues are important to you? 

[RainySunshine]

It is a very tough field.  I know who I don't want, and who I don't want to win... but choosing someone I want to win is a lot harder.  I mean... this is for making the country great!  We've floundered under the current administration, and our country needs to be great again.  I want us to move forward and improve.  I want us to proud when we think of this country.  I want jobs, good jobs, and growth.  Politically correct nonsense needs to be toned down, and our priorities need to be set straight.

We need to defeat our enemy.  You don't contain then, you eradicate them.  We need to grow our relations with our allies and try to build bridges with our rough ones.  We need to bring jobs to America.  We need to grow, thrive, and not get sidetracked with petty issues. 

[yasl]

Oh my!  Who is "our enemy"?  If you allude to making a large deployment to Syria, I don't necessarily disagree, though it should not be done unilaterally.

Sadly, you cannot just wave a wand and create jobs.  Granted, there's a deal of red tape that could stand to be unwound, but macroeconomic growth in the short to medium term is likely to remain slack, improving only gradually over the next few years, regardless of who's the new government figurehead.

I'm not sure what "great again" alludes to?  It's a common sound bite, but seems to be a stand-in for chest-thumping rather than a particular set of policies.  If you refer to the unchallenged hegemony enjoyed over the non-Soviet world in the decades following WWII, that's not likely to come roaring back any time soon.  Fortunately, America continues to be the dominant cultural force and to export many of her better ideas worldwide.  So power may become more distributed, but the world's values are trending to be closer to our own.

I'm not convinced that the current administration has been meaningfully worse than the previous.  Foreign policy appears no worse in net (though clearly the withdrawal from the middle eastern theater was premature).  Economic policy is not readily comparable, courtesy of the GFC.  Civil liberties have decayed at pretty much exactly the same rate as before.  I guess one considerable step backwards is no longer being able to regularly chuckle at the head of state's grammatical gaffes.

As for the election, I don't like any of the candidates, and I wish they'd all just walk away and take up competitive crochet or something.

[RainySunshine]

Iowa caucus current results.

REPUBLICANS

Ted Cruz 28%
Donald Trump 24%
Marco Rubio 23%

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton 696 delegates
Bernie Sanders 692 delegates

[Miggs]

Yea, from what I heard, Clinton and Sanders were real neck and neck. Actually, by looking at 'em all, both sides are pretty neck and neck.

[Rainberry]

Iowa caucus current results.

REPUBLICANS

Ted Cruz 28%
Donald Trump 24%
Marco Rubio 23%

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton 696 delegates
Bernie Sanders 692 delegates

Hillary got the win, but some sources say that 90 counties lost their tallies on the Democratic side.  So who knows how that will change things.  Bernie Sander's camp is saying they want the raw numbers.

I did not think Ted Cruz was going to win.  I didn't think Trump was going too, because he doesn't appeal to the evangelicals as much, but I had no idea Cruz was going to cruse on through with that.  Rubio's speech for coming in third was so optimistic.  He was so happy and I enjoyed seeing that.  It honestly seemed like he had already won the presidency based on his speech and happiness.  I think a second place was humbling for Trump who always wins things. 

[Blurr]

I don't post in here but this was too funny. The vine is called "The Moment You Realize Bernie Sanders Has Your Vote"

Vine

[Miggs]

I think I've seen this

*clicks link*

Lmao yep!

[Grapefoot]

Hasn't happened to me yet.  Though it was funny clip.


I think it is worth mentioned that Bernie Sanders destroyed Clinton in New Hampshire.

The Republican side was far more complicated.  Donald Trump had a big win, with 35% of the vote.  John Kasich had 15%, Ted Cruz had almost 12%, Jeb Bush had 11%, Marco Rubio had 10.6% and everyone else had less then 10%. 

Since then, Chris Christie pulled out of the race.  He expected far better results then he got in New Hampshire.  Marco Rubio saw the biggest drop, something they didn't plan for after a poor performance in a debate when Christie and others attacked Rubio after his good finish in Iowa.

South Carolina is next for the Republicans and Nevada for the Democrats. 

[Miggs]

My 4th class teacher says not to be surprised if Trump wins the election. I know that's kinda jumping the gun in a sense, but what do yall think if you don't mind me asking?

Personally, I'm kinda nervous about it. My dad said last election that if Mitt were to get elected, we'd move to Mexico, sooooo I dunno what he's thinking now.

[Death Blossom]

This article from the NY times explains pretty well why I don't like Bernie.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/opinion/campaign-stops/stop-bernie-splaining-to-black-voters.html?referer=
It's not him completely, it's the people who try to force you to see that he's "oh my glob dah best thig evah!"

(BTW, at one point in the article it looks like it finishes but it keeps going.)

[Anyponedrawn]

My 4th class teacher says not to be surprised if Trump wins the election. I know that's kinda jumping the gun in a sense, but what do yall think if you don't mind me asking?

I personally never had any problem with Mitt Romney, but Trump worries me.  I believe he wants to make the country great, I really do.  He is a successful businessman and worked hard to get there.  I think he could be great for the economy, but what I worry most about him is his foreign policy.  I feel he will make his dumb remarks, or insult people without thinking of what he says.  I feel he acts very immature at times.  At the same time, I feel this whole campaign thing could humble him a little bit.  Let us also not forget, Trump is not fully conservative at all.  He might be one of the least conservative Republicans running, especially on social issues.  Granted, he may change his views to rally the Republican base.


Sanders is an honest man if his past record is anything to go by.  The problem is that he is completely psycho radical in his views, and he admits that and says so straight up.  I am just shocked why so many American's are openly willing to vote for a socialist who will try to take this country down that path.  That is beyond me.  I don't want him to be president, but I don't dislike him.  Also, anything he proposed won't likely happen with Congress and the Senate.  So the next thing that worries me is he debt increasing plans, and his lack of a foreign policy. 


America worked pretty hard to fight of socialist tendencies that have caused a lot of strife and issue in Europe.  Sure, we aren't perfect, but socialism is not the answer. 

[Death Blossom]

I agree with you APD.
Trump worries me, but he understands economics. He's a hard worker. It's funny, when you think about it, the way he's going about his campaign so far is very similar to how Nixon ran his campaign. And we all know he was elected. Trumps foreign policies are worrisome, and I'm sure he will end up offending other countries. But hopefully, it's just a big kinda "act" to get people's attention. Who knows.

As for Bernie, he's very eh. The more people preach about him and try to force you to see how "awesome!" He is is quite frankly, annoying. And it pushes me away from him. Also, his extreme big promises are just so ridiculous I don't understand how anyone believes he can actually accomplish a 1/3 of what he says he plans to do. My friend goes all "oh but it's the idea of what he says he'd do. He said he'd do great things for this country and him saying he'd do all these progressive things will still make people better people" or something along those lines.

Trump becoming president wouldn't make people become bigger racist assholes, and Bernie being elected won't make people suddenly more accepting and open to people in the LGBT community. That's just not what happens.

To be completely honest, I don't think I'd vote for anyone. But if I were forced to... I'd probably go with Trump.

[Silverwing]

The people who buy into Bernie's grand promises are the same people who bought into Obama's grand promises of hope and change.

Turns out all we were left with was change...

if it came down to Bernie or Hillary vs Trump, I would vote Trump.  Trump is not my first choice, but I don't want the other two options.