Drill Baby Drill...the US Politics Thread (Part 2)

I think we’re kind of hoping this is reversible in 4 years. Brexit isn’t for at least a generation.

But yes I take your point on the global scale

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How would you feel about compulsory voting, Australian style?

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Tangerine tyrant is going to cram as many headline grabbing changes within his first 100days so it makes for good PR…

Thereafter, he will just order his minions about while he kicks back and enjoys what is left of his miserable life… Oh, as well as putting his sneering grin on camera at every opportunity.

It will be a ship of state with an unfit captain at the helm… leaving his crew to stab each other at every chance and throw each other overboard, along with anyone and anything they don’t like the look of, smell of, taste of, or sound of…

The world is spinning into turmoil and it is frightening for the future generations…

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Seems to me that the MAGA lot and those who couldn’t be arsed voting are responsible, although the republicans have been making it harder for some to vote,so that broadens the field a bit, but by no means all.

Here in Oz this works fairly well, at least every vote counts.
You have to show up,get marked off, but from that point you can do what you like, write anything or nothing on your paper.The informal vote is always very low, probably because if you have to front, you might as well vote.
Can lead to minority Govts,but sometimes that is not a bad thing.
To quote a leader from some years back “Keeping the bastards honest”,does work as a minority Govt has to negotiate with Independents,room for problems there, but doesn’t happen much.

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Yeah in Australia enrolment is >95% and election turnout is similar so consistently >90% of those eligible do vote. The informal voting rate has been creeping up but there is still a solid 80% of the adult citizen* population deciding the government every time.

The thing that the Aus system could do better is proportional representation (via multi seat house of reps seats?). Oh and have a more diverse media - fuck you Murdoch(s)

  • Includes some historic non citizens from UK/NZ etc.
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This bill could bring US politics to a new climax

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That would be wet dreams outlawed then.
Like to see anyone,even as thick as Trump policing that.

No one intelligent (and you are, so I don’t get this hope) surely thinks that still ? The trajectory has gone one way since before 2016 (MAGA grew out of what was called the Tea Party), it doesn’t end just because the Democrats migth win the next election ! Surely you don’t believe that ? Trump did damage that was hardly reparable in just a single term in his first term (he has destroyed the other party, which is entirely corrupt have cast away conservatism and liberalism). Sociopolitical cleavages and polarisation isn’t going to go away just because Democrats win an election. The chasm is vast ! Was anything made better by Biden’s term ? No, US society is even more radical today than prior to 2020. The previous so called “grown ups” in Trump’s first administration, all purged, control of the GOP is stronger than ever.

I love optimism, but it must be grounded in reality, mate. And reality is that something big needs to happen, and Democrats just winning the next election isn’t it.

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What ‘something big’ do you think is plausible?

Full blown civil war?
A foreign nation attacking America and inflicting large scale military defeat?

Or something in an economic way?

A civil war or a peaceful separation might be the best thing to happen to USA. It seems that USA cannot find a common ground. Whoever leads the country will always have almost half of the country trying to mess it up. In the end, for good or bad, nothing gets done, nothing of worth gets implemented. The 2 parties are more interested in smearing each other because it’s a tit for tat governance rather than implementing stuff. Just let the Democrats and Republican run their own country.

But as a neutral, USA is funnier this way.

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I’ve seen charts that suggest the GDP of the blue counties represents 70-80% of the US total.

Not sure the red states would be interested in that ‘peaceful separation’ you refer to, to say nothinf of the fact that these distinctions do not neatly run along state lines.

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It could be the latter, I suppose. I suppose it could also be gradual and not rapid, but then it would certainly take a very long time indeed. Certainly not just a couple of terms with Democrat administration. The GOP or a replacement party is is needed for America to be “fixed” for one, it doesn’t matter if Democrats just win, since in a democracy, the opposition will win sooner or later. And as long as one party is insane, nothing can really improve when you have a Two Party system.

The silver lining is that Trump might crash America in a completely disastrous but not entirely terminal way, and some how shake up US civil Society and the political culture and thus mortally wound the Republican Party (or change it fundamentally). But the underlaying factors for the rise of Trump would likely still exist.
It that happens this term, it would be nice. Better to get it over with quick if possible. But I am not so optimistic.

I’m happy (VERY happy) to be mocked at and laughed at in 10 years from now if I am some how wrong. That would be incredibly nice.

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Anyway, Pete Hegseth is confirmed and the new minister of defence.

This is of course not good news.
https://x.com/ColbyBadhwar/status/1882984452680462628

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You would think,the way he has started which is clear,I’m the Emperor,stuff should at least mortally wound the GOP,if not destroy it.
Unless they want to expunge that word Democracy from the language,which will work really well.
Confirming Hegseth might help things along,maybe not as quickly as Truss crashed and burnt,but the same type of result may not be out of the question.

Not finding all the pain and suffering amusing, despite an utter clown being responsible.

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Voting should be mandatory. At the same time, every vote should matter.

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It was posted above, I believe.

And I think the point of the bill was to illustrate the cruelty and double standards against women.