American Politics Discussion

[Batard]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

When it was between Hillary and Donald J Trump, 45th US President, we were saying the same thing. 

The 2 parties really does mess it up, and it was never meant to be just the 2, but if formed into just the two and now it's a shit show. I looked a while back at how European countries do it, and seeing 5+ parties sounds so much better of a system then the nonsense we have. 

In the UK whilst there are multiple parties, in reality it's a two party system governed by the Civil Service. It's more about process and being seen to maintain a facade of democracy. 

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Eco said:

The 2 parties really does mess it up, and it was never meant to be just the 2, but if formed into just the two and now it's a shit show. I looked a while back at how European countries do it, and seeing 5+ parties sounds so much better of a system then the nonsense we have. 

In the UK it's not all it's cracked up to be. 

Sometimes can be a detriment and they don't put up much of a fight against the 2 mainstream parties these days.

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, The real Barking Spider said:

In the UK whilst there are multiple parties, in reality it's a two party system governed by the Civil Service. It's more about process and being seen to maintain a facade of democracy. 

 

Just now, Stan said:

In the UK it's not all it's cracked up to be. 

Sometimes can be a detriment and they don't put up much of a fight against the 2 mainstream parties these days.

I just looked at Germany, and here is a breakdown in the seats they have in their 'congress'. 

 

Here is USA. 

[Batard]

I think though that's to do with the governing regions of Germany prior to reunification in the 1800s? @Tommy looking to you on that one. 

[Stan]

1 minute ago, Batard said:

I think though that's to do with the governing regions of Germany prior to reunification in the 1800s? @Tommy looking to you on that one. 

@Tommy isn't that old.

@SchalkeUK might be able to educate you

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, The real Barking Spider said:

I think though that's to do with the governing regions of Germany prior to reunification in the 1800s? @Tommy looking to you on that one. 

But it's common all over Europe. 

Belgium

Italy

France

[Batard]

That is to do with regional assemblies, Belgium for example was made up of multiple regions of diverse languages. France similarly has been carved and repatched together several times over the ages, this has a large impact on culture and regional identity. 

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, The real Barking Spider said:

That is to do with regional assemblies, Belgium for example was made up of multiple regions of diverse languages. France similarly has been carved and repatched together several times over the ages, this has a large impact on culture and regional identity. 

But a similar system seems better for US that what we have. We also have our own regional identities and cultures throughout the country, and it would be nice to have better representation than the two party system allows. 

 

[6666]

The debate between Donald J Trump, 45th US President and Biden was a great representation of how people discuss politics on social media. It was a dumpster fire.

[6666]

What the fuck is with these auto corrects? 

[Eco]

6 hours ago, 6666 said:

The debate between Donald J Donald J Trump, 45th US President, 45th US President and Biden was a great representation of how people discuss politics on social media. It was a dumpster fire.

Did you watch? 

I thought Biden acted well. 

Trump is a fucking bully and twat of the highest order. I'm not sure when it became socially acceptable to just blab out lie after lie and get away with it. 

[Stan]

15 minutes ago, 6666 said:

What the fuck is with these auto corrects? 

Should be sorted now.

[Batard]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

Should be sorted now.

[Eco]

This was certainly the defining moment of last night. 

Trump unable to condemn White Supremacists, and told a well known White Supremacists group, call the Proud Boys, to 'Sit back and Stand by". WTF..

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

I still can’t get over that pathetic moderator. I’m told he’s Fox’s best journalist. Guess that says something about Fox.

The next debates they better add the ability to cut mics so we don’t have the orange man constantly interrupting the moderator or the other old guy. The number of times he tried to speak over the moderator was unreal.

[Dr. Gonzo]

And here’s a good link for all of us: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/29/america-prosecute-presidents-pardon-trump-nixon/

it’s the one from earlier the filter ruined

[Harry]

Just now, Dr. Gonzo said:

I still can’t get over that pathetic moderator. I’m told he’s Fox’s best journalist. Guess that says something about Fox.

The next debates they better add the ability to cut mics so we don’t have the orange man constantly interrupting the moderator or the other old guy. The number of times he tried to speak over the moderator was unreal.

I reckon he'll be gutted with how that went. 

I have time for Chris Wallace tbh. He did a good interview with Trump recently and generally you watch him and realise he's an important voice providing some sense to Republican Fox viewers. 

I don't think he was prepared for the extent to which trump came out hell bent on making it a shitshow. But he didn't help himself and moved on at times he should have pressed harder, and let blatant lies go unchecked.

 

[Eco]

13 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I still can’t get over that pathetic moderator. I’m told he’s Fox’s best journalist. Guess that says something about Fox.

The next debates they better add the ability to cut mics so we don’t have the orange man constantly interrupting the moderator or the other old guy. The number of times he tried to speak over the moderator was unreal.

Yeah, usually he's a good moderator, but he took WAY too long to remind Trump that he is not abiding by the rules he agreed to...I think it was 75 minutes into it that the moderator said that? What a joke. 

[Tommy]

2 hours ago, The Real Barking Spider said:

I think though that's to do with the governing regions of Germany prior to reunification in the 1800s? @Tommy looking to you on that one. 

Erm, there are just several parties? Some gain more some less popularity over the years. CDU has always been a powerhouse, whereas the SPD is being overtaken by the Greens at the moment. I don't think it has anything to do with the reunification? 

[Dr. Gonzo]

12 hours ago, nudge said:

This post sounds like propaganda from the 70s, haha. "Leader of the free world"; such a cringy term, a relict of the Cold War and a patronising representation of "the west vs the rest" narrative. Those days are long gone, and nobody needs the president of the US (or any other country, really) to become a self-proclaimed global leader again and attempt to dictate the course of action to the rest of the world. 

I think that’s a nice ideal... but even before America’s Orange we were seeing China rise up as the eastern US going around attempting to dictate the course of action to the rest of the world.

I may be too cynical, but I think people and, especially, governments are too selfish and shitty to ever allow for a time where one country doesn’t try to dictate to the rest of the world how things will be.

So I’d rather the country that does push the world around be one that holds its politicians to account, rather than somewhere like China.

Granted, you can make a good case that the US is not a good example of a country that holds its leaders to account... and I wouldn’t disagree tbh.

[Dr. Gonzo]

17 minutes ago, Eco said:

Yeah, usually he's a good moderator, but he took WAY too long to remind Trump that he is not abiding by the rules he agreed to...I think it was 75 minutes into it that the moderator said that? What a joke. 

I’m assuming he’s usually not moderating debates with the orange man then. Idk how after 2016 they didn’t allow the moderators to cut mics, tbh.

26 minutes ago, Harry said:

I reckon he'll be gutted with how that went. 

I have time for Chris Wallace tbh. He did a good interview with Trump recently and generally you watch him and realise he's an important voice providing some sense to Republican Fox viewers. 

I don't think he was prepared for the extent to which trump came out hell bent on making it a shitshow. But he didn't help himself and moved on at times he should have pressed harder, and let blatant lies go unchecked.

 

Maybe that’s why the orange man seemed intent on debating him at times.

[Azeem]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

So I’d rather the country that does push the world around be one that holds its politicians to account, rather than somewhere like China.

Granted, you can make a good case that the US is not a good example of a country that holds its leaders to account... and I wouldn’t disagree tbh.

I think the world is perfectly balanced right now with a bipolar world or maybe tri. Don't really want this balance to go away, but this also puts the world on the edge of a high intensity conflict all the times.

[Dr. Gonzo]

7 minutes ago, Azeem said:

I think the world is perfectly balanced right now with a bipolar world or maybe tri. Don't really want this balance to go away, but this also puts the world on the edge of a high intensity conflict all the times.

Yeah I’m not sure being on the edge of conflict is really a great thing. In the 1910s that sort of environment boiled over into a world war.

[Bluewolf]

30 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The next debates they better add the ability to cut mics

This would at least go some way to stopping what can only be viewed as kids squabbling in the playground... No civilised debate should be ruined by people gobbing off constantly especially given the seriousness of what is going on... The fact that Trump continued to ignore requests to shut the fuck up tells you everything you need to know about that man... 

The state of Politics these days and the standard of leadership in some countries in general gives me little to no hope for the future... The same can be said for over here, It's saddening really that they can seem to do and say as they please when they please and not one of them is being held accountable for anything no matter how many lies they tell or their level of competence to be in that position in the first place... 

[nudge+]

18 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think that’s a nice ideal... but even before Bush we were seeing China rise up as the eastern US going around attempting to dictate the course of action to the rest of the world.

I may be too cynical, but I think people and, especially, governments are too selfish and shitty to ever allow for a time where one country doesn’t try to dictate to the rest of the world how things will be.

So I’d rather the country that does push the world around be one that holds its politicians to account, rather than somewhere like China.

Granted, you can make a good case that the US is not a good example of a country that holds its leaders to account... and I wouldn’t disagree tbh.

Yes, superpowers flexing their muscles and using all sorts of influence to dictate the course of events around the globe has been happening for thousands of years and it's part of geopolitics, so I agree with you that it's an inevitable reality, sadly. I can also understand prefering one superpower over another, though as you duly noted in your last paragraph, that's also often questionable. It's not what grinded my gears though. It's the suggestion that the world actually NEEDS the president of the US to assume the role of "the leader of the free world" (lol) in order for the humanity to be saved and prosper, as if the rest of the world were a bunch of peasant hillbillies with no skill, knowledge and competence and needed the guidance of a benevolent figurehead from a glorious superpower to save them all. That's borderline Cold War rhetoric full of demagoguery that is condescending and, frankly, quite insulting to the rest of the world.