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Author | Topic: Yes, The Real The New Awesome Primary Thread | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
NoNukes writes: I don't believe the wealthy should be allowed to pour as much money as they want into a political campaign, whether their own or someone else's.
I don't like the idea either. But I might like some of the possible fixes even less. I cannot comment on a proposal that you haven't made. Do you have a proposal? I thought that *was* a proposal. Maybe you're asking if I have a proposal that takes into account the concerns you listed later in your post? If so, no, I don't. Maybe it's less a proposal and more a goal. Maybe I should say that our goal should be to make it impossible or at least much more difficult for the very rich to pervert the political process. Right now they're running roughshod over the whole thing. Not that they haven't in the past, but it's worse now, and it goes beyond politics. The repeal of Glass-Steagall, the Supreme Court position that money is speech, special laws that free the rich from significant taxation, they all help grant the rich advantages beyond the hoi polloi that they shouldn't have and that they certainly don't need given they already have money. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
Cat Sci writes: How does one go about buying an election? Seriously?
Cat Sci in Message 269 writes: I'm not being flippant, I'm just completely ignorant of political processes. Maybe this isn't the thread for you. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
Cat Sci writes: Cat Sci writes:
Seriously? How does one go about buying an election? Yeah, I think you guys are full of shit. Money can't buy elections. Well, that kind of gives the lie to where you just a few messages ago claimed, "I'm not being flippant, I'm just completely ignorant of political processes." Suddenly you're absolutely certain of your knowledge of the election process. But then you can't even be consistent, as here you state the opposite belief that the wealthy can control politics:
Has there ever been a point in time in this country where politics wasn't run by wealthy people? It was obvious before that you were just being a nuisance and wasting people's time, and this just makes it more obvious. Wasn't it you who recently said you thought web anonymity important so that you could be a dick without people knowing who you were? Ah, yes, here it is, Message 27. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
This isn't really a reply to your post, it's just that since you've attempted to answer the question I think I should try to chime in with my own view, so here goes.
Focusing just on legal and above board approaches, elections can only be effectively contested by those with sufficient money for advertising, events and organization. Money doesn't guarantee electoral success, but lack of money often assures defeat. Television advertising, which is very expensive, often plays a significant role in electoral success at the state and federal level. Local organizations can also be very influential, and when volunteers are lacking then money can help a great deal in creating a critical mass of local support. This is why money is so important. Apparently just putting ads on the air and feet on the ground can generate a great deal of support that would otherwise never happen. Political campaigns have become too much a battle of ads and doorbells, and since money is required to make this all possible it becomes more a battle of money than of ideas. We need to change that. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
A couple of your recent posts have very long quote sections. Could you make your arguments in your own words, providing links and short quotes for support?
Just a friendly request from a fellow participant, I'm not moderating this thread. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
Pressie writes: Is being branded 'liberal' a bad thing in the US? When pandering to conservatives, 'liberal' is an epithet. Conversely, when pandering to liberals, 'conservative' is an epithet. My guess is that the definition of liberal and conservative differs considerably between countries and continents. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4
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Only listen to the first 5 seconds. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
My prediction: Donald Trump and the Republican Party will make nice before the convention, though there will be many individual Republicans who refuse to have anything to do with him.
Locally in my own state of New Hampshire Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte says she will not be attending the convention. I like Kelly most of the time - a fair number of her votes seem sensible rather than political, but get a load of this piece of verbiage from a recent statement:
quote: Ayotte supports but does not endorse Donald Trump? Uh, okay. Many Republicans currently touching Trump with ten foot poles will get much closer as the election approaches, but probably not Ayotte. She's in a tight contest with current Democratic governor Maggie Hassan. --Percy Edited by Percy, : Minor wordsmithing.
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4
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Turns out Hillary's a UFO nut. In today's New York Times: Hillary Clinton Gives U.F.O. Buffs Hope She Will Open the X-Files. Eye-opening excerpts:
quote: Throughout history there have been claimed sightings of the favorite denizen of then popular culture. Today it's UFO's, in the past it's been dragons, angels, ghosts, witches, whatever. We've studied our own solar system well enough to know that Earth is it when it comes to intelligent life, and possibly any life at all. The imponderable vastness of the universe means that even if there were other life out there, it could never get here. E.T. ain't here, he ain't ever been here, he ain't ever gonna be here.
quote: The same government that can't keep anything secret has been hiding aliens for over half a century? I don't think so. This is conspiracy theory nuttiness. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4
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Trump's primary drawing card is that he talks straight instead of in political-speak. It's refreshing when a politician talks to the same reality everyone else sees. Trump speaks to the real concerns of everyday people. He's a populist, and a darn good one.
But it isn't as if we haven't seen populists before. The problem they tend to share is that the qualities that make them so appealing are not ones that lend themselves to governing. Many of Trump's ideas would make good premises for movie plots - they're things we'd like to see just to see what would happen, like building 30-foot walls, devaluing our debt, dictating policy to allies, etc. Trump *is* ignorant (on a grand scale) of things political, but he is obviously brilliant and a quick study. We'd have to hope that these qualities come to the fore in a Trump presidency, but given the slow gait at which he's morphing into a campaigner who isn't alienating huge portions of the voting populace (woman, Latinos, Muslims, blacks, military veterans, etc.) there seems little reason to expect it. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22508 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
me in Message 434 writes: My prediction: Donald Trump and the Republican Party will make nice before the convention, though there will be many individual Republicans who refuse to have anything to do with him. Yesterday on CNN:
quote: Oh, what a surprise. --Percy
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