ruth
New Member
pining for the fjords
Posts: 35 
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Post by ruth on Dec 17, 2015 3:40:16 GMT
I, oddly enough don't care about this election all that much. Election 2016 just seems like the election in which we try to keep America on life support for 4 more years so that we can procrastinate on anything approaching systemic reform either domestic or international. I'll probably vote for Clinton, just because, but i'm gonna have to force myself to the polls. I get you. It's this election more than any others thus far that's made me understand the logic behind anti-reformist/revolutionary socialism: when all that you can see in the future is decades of slow descent into further dysfunction and a total lack of meaningful reform that leaves a large chunk of people in the privations of oppression and poverty, the calculus arguing that fewer people would suffer from a revolution than would suffer from years of the status quo starts to seem a lot more cut and dry. Having said that, and acknowledging that my vote isn't worth the paper it's on outside the major party systems, my choices are likely between the Greens, SPUSA, whatever tiny socialist/communist splinters manage to get on the ballot where my folks live, and like, I dunno, Zoltan Istvan. I voted for Stein in 2012, but who knows if I'll even bother submitting my absentee ballot now that I'm in Canada. |
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Post by orvillethird on Dec 17, 2015 3:54:45 GMT
I'm not sure who to vote for in the primary...or rather, there are only two candidates I plan to vote for. The problem is that one is in one primary, one is in another. (Sanders- the one closest to me on many issues, or Paul, the one who has the best chance to win my home state.)
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Post by machinekng on Dec 17, 2015 4:01:36 GMT
I'm not sure who to vote for in the primary...or rather, there are only two candidates I plan to vote for. The problem is that one is in one primary, one is in another. (Sanders- the one closest to me on many issues, or Paul, the one who has the best chance to win my home state.) Well, Rand Paul is down for the count save for divine intervention, and a stronger than expected Sanders showing in SC may help him lose less momentum, so maybe you can think of it that way? |
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Hominid
New Member
Posts: 37 
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Post by Hominid on Dec 17, 2015 4:02:59 GMT
I'm not sure who to vote for in the primary...or rather, there are only two candidates I plan to vote for. The problem is that one is in one primary, one is in another. (Sanders- the one closest to me on many issues, or Paul, the one who has the best chance to win my home state.) Assuming you haven't moved since before, I'd say that if anything, Sanders has a higher chance there than Paul. Neither of them have a particularly good chance though. |
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Post by orvillethird on Dec 17, 2015 4:07:13 GMT
I'm not sure who to vote for in the primary...or rather, there are only two candidates I plan to vote for. The problem is that one is in one primary, one is in another. (Sanders- the one closest to me on many issues, or Paul, the one who has the best chance to win my home state.) Assuming you haven't moved since before, I'd say that if anything, Sanders has a higher chance there than Paul. Neither of them have a particularly good chance though. Well, given how my first protest vote was backing a fictional character over the Religious-right Republican (who was a better choice than those who followed him, to be fair), the Democrat whose main position was supporting a lottery, and the guy whose main platform was keeping the Confederate flag flying (he recently got removed from his sheriff's office on corruption charges), and given how I have never voted a major party's presidential candidate in the general election, I am kind of enjoying protest votes. |
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Post by AYC on Dec 17, 2015 5:25:31 GMT
I, oddly enough don't care about this election all that much. Election 2016 just seems like the election in which we try to keep America on life support for 4 more years so that we can procrastinate on anything approaching systemic reform either domestic or international. I'll probably vote for Clinton, just because, but i'm gonna have to force myself to the polls. I would contend that Bernie Sanders could achieve systematic reform if given a Democratic House and Senate; but since that is highly unlikely, I'm mostly in agreement. I plan on moving to Europe in a few years if all goes well, so I'm not particularly emotionally invested in the outcome. The only thing I want to prevent at all costs is the election of Donald Trump, as he would be a disaster not only for America, but for the world. |
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Post by AYC on Dec 17, 2015 6:05:26 GMT
Bernie Sanders hit 2 million campaign contributions today.Regardless of how you feel about him or his policies, I think the grassroots effort he put together is damn impressive, as his ability to put up double-digit poll numbers without SuperPACs in the post-Citizens United era. On an unrelated note, the $40 I threw Sanders a few months ago is still the only political contribution I've ever made.
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Post by AYC on Dec 17, 2015 6:38:10 GMT
Just checked on Ballotpedia and looked over the initiatives scheduled to appear on the ballot in California in 2016. Without doing a large amount of research, my initial impressions: Suspension of Legislators Amendment: Need to do more research to form an opinion. Multilingual Education Act: Likely voting in favor; Californians should be raised bilingual from birth, and I wouldn't have a problem making English and Spanish (along with maybe Mandarin Chinese) co-official languages, Canada-style. As long as ESL programs are mandatory (alongside mandatory Spanish classes for English speakers) I'm good with this. Plastic Bag Ban Referendum: Voting in favor; plastic bans are environmentally devastating and reusable bags are cheap and ubiquitous. A $0.10 fee is not an unreasonable abridgment of personal freedom, and the benefits outweigh the costs. (I live in a city that has banned plastic bags and am OK with it, though I do miss having a convenient liner for my mini-trash can) Public Vote on Bonds Initiative: Neutral leaning towards no. Americans have a strong tendency to view any large-scale public spending as socialism, so I feel like this could deprive us of many worthwhile public projects. However, I also believe we should keep track of our money and could be persuaded otherwise. Public Education Facilities Bond Initiative: Voting yes; seems like a reasonable and necessary use of public funds. Condoms in Pornographic Films Initiative: Likely voting no; seems unnecessarily draconian and largely unenforceable except for major porn companies. However, I would support mandatory STD screening and banning HIV-positive porn stars as an alternative. |
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Post by istanbul on Dec 17, 2015 21:04:32 GMT
Damn, those are the ones that have actually already been cleared to be on the ballot? Fuck, it's going to be a shitshow.
Suspension of Legislators Amendment: Sure, why not?
Multilingual Education Act: Hell yes.
Plastic Bag Ban Referendum: Plastic bags suck.
Public Vote on Bonds Initiative: Nope. We have enough democracy already.
Public Education Facilities Bond Initiative: Yes.
Condoms in Pornographic Films Initiative: Hell no. Why chase away good tax money, when it won't help anyone except driving them to other states?
Obviously assuming there are gun control, marijuana and death penalty measures on the ballot, I'll vote yes on all three of them.
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Post by istanbul on Dec 18, 2015 0:12:10 GMT
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Hominid
New Member
Posts: 37
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Post by Hominid on Dec 18, 2015 2:06:44 GMT
I wish Massachusetts would lift its solar net metering cap. |
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Mathuen
Junior Member
马萨诸塞州, 中华人民共和国 (Trapped Yo)
Posts: 70
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Post by Mathuen on Dec 18, 2015 2:07:57 GMT
I get you. It's this election more than any others thus far that's made me understand the logic behind anti-reformist/revolutionary socialism: when all that you can see in the future is decades of slow descent into further dysfunction and a total lack of meaningful reform that leaves a large chunk of people in the privations of oppression and poverty, the calculus arguing that fewer people would suffer from a revolution than would suffer from years of the status quo starts to seem a lot more cut and dry. Having said that, and acknowledging that my vote isn't worth the paper it's on outside the major party systems, my choices are likely between the Greens, SPUSA, whatever tiny socialist/communist splinters manage to get on the ballot where my folks live, and like, I dunno, Zoltan Istvan. I voted for Stein in 2012, but who knows if I'll even bother submitting my absentee ballot now that I'm in Canada.
When I think about voting in 2016 a rather gripping thought takes hold of me. There is a certain degree of horrifying irony when the political system in the US has become so ossified (and yet unhinged) that Communist and Green parties are basically the only things left that even resemble Classical Conservatism and Anarchists are the only thing that resembles Classical Liberalism.
The closest thing the establishment has to a Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian Conservative is Bernie Sanders, and that thought messes with my head. |
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ruth
New Member
pining for the fjords
Posts: 35
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Post by ruth on Dec 18, 2015 2:19:37 GMT
When I think about voting in 2016 a rather gripping thought takes hold of me. There is a certain degree of horrifying irony when the political system in the US has become so ossified (and yet unhinged) that Communist and Green parties are basically the only things left that even resemble Classical Conservatism and Anarchists are the only thing that resembles Classical Liberalism.
The closest thing the establishment has to a Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian Conservative is Bernie Sanders, and that thought messes with my head. The image of a United States where the two-party system were dominated by a Green-Communist-Jeffersonian Coalition on one side and Anarcho-Liberals on the other is a rather fetching one, I have to say. |
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Post by heliosmegistos on Dec 18, 2015 2:49:26 GMT
Speaking as an outsider who lives in New Zealand, I personally find Republican primaries or whatever you call all this stuff to be insane.
Then again I'm a British royalist so perhaps I'm insane XD
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Hominid
New Member
Posts: 37
Pronouns: he/him/his/his/himself
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Post by Hominid on Dec 18, 2015 4:19:19 GMT
Speaking as an outsider who lives in New Zealand, I personally find Republican primaries or whatever you call all this stuff to be insane. Then again I'm a British royalist so perhaps I'm insane XD Don't worry; I'm an American and I find it just as insane as you do. |
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Post by AYC on Dec 18, 2015 10:14:04 GMT
I get you. It's this election more than any others thus far that's made me understand the logic behind anti-reformist/revolutionary socialism: when all that you can see in the future is decades of slow descent into further dysfunction and a total lack of meaningful reform that leaves a large chunk of people in the privations of oppression and poverty, the calculus arguing that fewer people would suffer from a revolution than would suffer from years of the status quo starts to seem a lot more cut and dry. Having said that, and acknowledging that my vote isn't worth the paper it's on outside the major party systems, my choices are likely between the Greens, SPUSA, whatever tiny socialist/communist splinters manage to get on the ballot where my folks live, and like, I dunno, Zoltan Istvan. I voted for Stein in 2012, but who knows if I'll even bother submitting my absentee ballot now that I'm in Canada.
When I think about voting in 2016 a rather gripping thought takes hold of me. There is a certain degree of horrifying irony when the political system in the US has become so ossified (and yet unhinged) that Communist and Green parties are basically the only things left that even resemble Classical Conservatism and Anarchists are the only thing that resembles Classical Liberalism.
The closest thing the establishment has to a Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian Conservative is Bernie Sanders, and that thought messes with my head. The American political system's defining trait is inertia, and it is this inertia that has lend to it surviving threats that would destroy most other systems. As of late, I wonder if it starting to feel the weight of its obsolescence. Then again I'm a British royalist so perhaps I'm insane XD Frankly I think the monarchy is a completely moot point that doesn't really affect the lives of Commonwealth citizens in any meaningful way. |
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Post by heliosmegistos on Dec 18, 2015 10:55:51 GMT
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Post by orvillethird on Dec 18, 2015 15:38:52 GMT
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Post by Jasen777 on Dec 18, 2015 23:47:16 GMT
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Post by orvillethird on Dec 19, 2015 0:36:24 GMT
Personally, I'm hoping Sanders wins. Wasserman-Schultz is the worst DNC chair since Hannegan. (And Hannegan also tried to use his influence to prevent a left-wing candidate from getting a nomination where he had ties with the favorite.)
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