2014 Election Day Thread

[Waraji]

Not sure if posted but sums it up pretty good.

[Aksannyi]

I'm stealing that lol.

[RKenshin]

The moderate candidate in RI actually managed to get 22% of the vote, and only spent like $38 on his campaign.

Pretty impressive/shocking, all things considered.

[Dantrag]

The moderate candidate in RI actually managed to get 22% of the vote, and only spent like $38 on his campaign.

Pretty impressive/shocking, all things considered.

I think THAT shows the true nature of how the nation feels. I think the reason the nation pushed in republicans was mostly because they were tired of gridlock and were hoping this would clear it up. But you can bet your ass if they don't get to work they're fucked.

[Aksannyi]

The problem is most Americans don't understand that the entire political system was built around gridlock, so that the laws aren't just changing when the wind blows. Yeah it's frustrating as fuck sometimes but it's working as intended.

If it didn't work as slowly as it did, I have a feeling the entire political climate would be highly unstable and there would probably be a lot of rioting and unrest. We live in relative peace (a few pockets notwithstanding, and for good reason honestly) and I don't think a lot of people want to give that up just so they can see change NAOW. Or maybe they do, I don't even know anymore.

[kuronosan]

The problem isn't that at all. The problem is the gridlock happens on progressive issues while the incumbent party has no problem pushing and pushing ridiculously oppressive legislature designed to further the agenda of the powered while maintaining the status quo of the weak.

[Dantrag]

It goes slow, but on the wrong issues. There is absolutely no reason we should still not have gay marriage from a federal level. There is no reason that pot should be illegal There is no reason we should still be fighting the war on drugs. There is a lot of conservative ideals that are holding this nation back(imo). I don't necessarily disagree with some of the conservative ideas for spending(not all of course). But as far as social issues it just gets backlogged like crazy with all the bigoted shit that goes on.

[BerenTebogo]

Was just reading this, pretty good read. http://www.salon.com/2013/08/17/chom...e_a_democracy/

Chomsky: The U.S. behaves nothing like a democracy
The MIT professor lays out how the majority of U.S. policies are opposed to what wide swaths of the public want

I'm not too up on political science but I definitely fall on the side of "shit isn't going the way the public wants" for a full spectrum. Repubs and Dems alike. Not too many substantiated conclusions drawn still just a good read if you're bored.

[ringthree]

Chomsky is like a philosophical poser. He only makes observations after the fact and does nothing to ascribe solutions to the problems with society that he loves to outline.

Also, that concept that Chomsky is talking about is just called "identification" were you vote for what you would like to be (or imagine yourself to be) even if it hurts you in the end. Chomsky is never a good read.

[Serra]

nice job breaking it, hero

To be fair, it's probably not a fair comparison. Under White, Texas didn't have a voter ID law in place that had been ruled unconstitutional.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/gop...peal-obamacare

House Speaker John Boehner and the soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell published an Op-Ed in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal promising to aggressively pursue their legislative agenda, including building the Keystone Pipeline and repealing Obamacare.

Ah, I look forward to the collapse of American democracy if Obamacare gets repealed.

Spoiler: show

I think I've mentioned this before in other threads, but in game theory, there's a strategy called the grim trigger. You have two players who are willing to cooperate unless one player breaks the trust, at which point the other player has no reason to cooperate anymore.

Am I exaggerating about the collapse of American democracy? Yes. But if they do actually repeal Obamacare (ignoring the fact that they don't have the votes to overcome a veto..), I can see both parties repealing legislation they disagree with as soon as they gain control of both houses.

[kuronosan]

Keystone and ACA might as well collapse American society.

[Cream Soda]

Not sure if posted but sums it up pretty good.

Glorious

[notorious bum]

Chomsky is like a philosophical poser. He only makes observations after the fact and does nothing to ascribe solutions to the problems with society that he loves to outline.

Also, that concept that Chomsky is talking about is just called "identification" were you vote for what you would like to be (or imagine yourself to be) even if it hurts you in the end. Chomsky is never a good read.

Talking unconstructive smack about Noam. He may be a broken record at this point, but that's only because no one has given a real fuck about fixing the puppet show. 2014 and the pulse of the nation is finally bitching like: "broken 2 party system", "electoral college", "gerrymandering", and etc. You're pointing fingers at the wrong political commentator, bruh.

Spoiler: show

[archibaldcrane]

I really hope Obama can wring some serious concessions out of the Republicans in exchange for passing Keystone.

[Correction]

I really hope Obama can wring some serious concessions out of the Republicans in exchange for passing Keystone.

Looking at his track record on getting the GOP to compromise I'd say it's foolish to get your hopes up.

[Gokku]

Just waiting for the Obama care battle and government shutdown.

[Dantrag]

I was working for a company that contracted out to the EPA. I just got the fuck out of there last week. I didn't want to be there in case there was another shutdown. I love that people think that oil sands are a good way to get oil /sigh.

[Tyche]

Obamacare will be interesting because McConnell has a MASSIVE conflict of interest. On one hand he has to represent senate republicans, on the other, his home state that elected him had probably the best implementation of Obamacare in the country. Kentucky exceeded all expectations by a great deal. Repealing Obamacare would result in the loss of insurance for 1:8 KY families. Not sure what would happen to the nearly 20,000 jobs created as a result. In debates with Grimes (his opponent), he was hesitant on saying he'd eliminate Kentucky's exchange. Saying "I'll keep the website, just end Obamacare". What does that even mean?

[Salodin]

Yeah, pretty much expecting my health insurance to be gone in a year or two thanks to republicans. As inevitable as it is, kinda hoping it happens sooner rather then later so the dems can use it against them in 2016 when people are crying cause they can't afford their doctor any more.

[Dantrag]

I actually went through the market place to buy insurance since I've currently contract instead of full time(hopefully I'll be full time in 3 months, if not i'll be 6). I'm currently paying 860/mo for insurance for 3 of us.