American Politics the 2016 edition

lazland wrote: Democracy is about people exercising their votes and free will, about making decisions, about making choices about who they feel will best represent them. The people have chosen, end of. There has not been a bloody revolution in America, but a revolt, led, mainly, by the disaffected, a la Brexit in this country....

A healthy democracy must be distinguished from mob rule by its rationality and adherence to fundamental process rules. Unlike Brexit, the disaffected in the United States have willfully bucked both. Absent those foundational principles, democracy can quickly collapse into tyranny.

This election has been my greatest fears of our current political dysfunction made manifest. Our politics have becoming increasingly defined by group membership rather than by fundamental policy discussion. Both major parties are guilty, with Democrats ploying for various minority interests and Republicans deploying the reviled Southern Strategy (also known as having gone nuclear and lived in the fallout until their children grew an extra limb and began to froth at the mouth). Finally, with this election, we have seen the white majority wholly reject policy discussion or rationality to vote like a minority. The center is now fully vacated; no candidate can win on the strength of his or her political ideas. I try to avoid histrionic nonsense in political discussion, but unless this takes a complete U-turn in 4 years, I fear this could be the death knell of American democracy. That's not to say Trump is the cause, or that Trump has to go. He could have a well-established political platform worthy of dispassionate debate and a healthy respect for the democratic process by that point. He would not be the first outsider to develop such perspective on the job. However, a repeat of 2016 would be to normalize ethnic tribalism led by anti-democratic enforcers as the driving force in our politics, and descent into minority-dominant dictatorship would be a real risk. This is a classic scenario which has resulted in many enduring authoritarian regimes, especially in the Middle East.

Triceratopsoil wrote: That's part of the issue - for decades the republican party has rolled over on every single issue they've pretended to care about.

That is the nature of governance: to compromise on a workable set of policies, not to bludgeon others with your dogma.

MAGA. Booyah! Hahahahahahaha! That is all.

I like to think so.  I went back in time and convinced several people to vote DJT that were going to go HRC.  Whew! We dodged a bullet. 

lazland wrote: Formentera Lady wrote: Brexit in England, the right-wing parties are getting stronger in Germany, and now Trump... I am a bit a worried, if you ask me. 2016 is not a good year for democracy... No, it's not a bad day for democracy. It really isn't. It is a bad day for supporters of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. It is a very good day for Trumpalot and the Republican Party. Democracy is about people exercising their votes and free will, about making decisions, about making choices about who they feel will best represent them. The people have chosen, end of. There has not been a bloody revolution in America, but a revolt, led, mainly, by the disaffected, a la Brexit in this country. Over here, in dear old Blighty, we had our little revolution. Not that our glorious leaders seem to have noticed. There was a news item on Monday. The government have announced that they are to close a load of army barracks and facilities around the country, and centralise much of the estate. A barracks in Brecon and facility in Sennybridge, about an hour from where I live, are to close. The Brecon barracks have been in existence for over 200 years. It is a desperately deprived, rural, area of Wales, and these facilities bring good quality jobs in areas which really need them. My own department is rushing ahead to close every single tax office outside of major cities in Britain. The June referendum was not merely a vote against Europe (the EU), although that was a part of it. It was also a vote against a system in which many many people feel disaffected as jobs and opportunities fly out of the window in favour of big corporate and establishment interests. I will say this. Unless there is a change, there will be a forced change from the electorate, and deserved as well. That is the lesson of Brexit and Trumpalot. People, rightly, feel cheated as they see establishment interests grow rich and powerful at the expense of the ordinary working person. We are, I believe, witnessing the end of the established parties and politicians. That is not a bad thing. It is called democracy.

Great post. And one of the reasons I voted Trump.  Along with put a halt to WWIII, which Clinton and the neo-cons were champing at the bit for.  And, to put the media back in their place to be objective observers and reporters and not propaganda shills which struck me as too Pravda.

Heard about some Muslim students that were assaulted by Trumpers. It begins :'(

JJLehto wrote: Heard about some Muslim students that were assaulted by Trumpers. It begins :'(

Heard about anti-Trumpers blocking traffic.  And anti-Trump violence has been rampant these past several months. As for Trump supporters attacks on Muslims, do you have some links to that?

Democracy is certainly not the only valid political system.  I would never even think such a thing.  However, a representative democracy is what I have grown up with and it is the system I enjoy living under and would like to continue to enjoy living under.

As someone who comes from a working class family, but who happened to go beyond that and get an advanced degree, I find you questioning the ability of working class people to vote "in their best interests" insulting.

I think the word you're thinking of is "triggered".  But that's SJW nonsense.  I'm simply insulted.  As for the nerve.  Sure, you just insulted my working class family.  It's a snobbish question.  From someone who obviously despises working class whites. 

And we voted Trump, because the American working class is tired of. People. Like. You.  We voted in our best interests.  To stop the working class being thrown under the SJW bus.

SJW tears = delicious.  Ta-ta.