American democracy health thread

Come on...GMAFB. Voting for De Santis who is as a fascist as Trump (just not as entertaining) is already a massive red flag. Kinzinger and Cheney, for all their conservative credentials, would not get on board with De Santis. This dude has a history here of taking the most extreme and reactionary positions. Who are we kidding? Let's not pretend he is some sort of an ally or a believer in democratic norms, has never been and will never be.

 

Dude. 30 million people died.

 

Still a pointless conversation at this point.

 

True. But we still get to enjoy their misery.

 

If Virginny was close this year & you felt like your vote mattered, who would you have chosen and why? Bonus points if you can work in US-Americans, maps and like the Iraq and everywhere such as.

 

I still would have stayed home. I don’t feel obligated to give my vote to anyone, unless I believe they’ve earned it.

I’ve been feeling more and more alienated from the American political system in recent years. It’s not really working, so I’m kind of checking out.

 

There are multiple parties in the US. Send a message that the two big parties are no good and vote for one of those. There are even tools where you enter your opinions and it provides you with the closest match.

 

Potowmack's political views, a National Review Republican (Or The Bulwark set) have long passed by and don't really have a place with people.

As for alienation, a family friend of mine who is in their late 70s helped turn a county in Michigan blue. It had been GOP for eight years and has been consistently Republican for as long as the county existed. This person who has been involved in politics for as long as I remember, lived through Reagan.

The only thing where I feel alienated is having to be sympathetic to GOP voters.

 

@Potowmack Boy, I am making no sense at all. What I meant to say is use the web to find a third party that is closer to what you believe. That is at a minimum a message to the other two parties.

 

Me too. I feel the posts above by the OP are merely a symptom of what ails american culture. A culture that is increasingly more individualistic and isolating, and where from cradle to grave you are brought up to think it's the best at everything and there is nothing to learn from others. He has expressed before how he doesn't give a shit about any one that is not doing something for him. I've met so many with this outlook. I also remember you mentioning that Americans have not recently experienced how bad things can get.
So, now thinking about this, it should not be surprising that an election that some of these folks see as not changing anything for them can be blown off.
I live somewhere else now. But I'm sometimes reminded that what happens in America can have a deep effect in what happens here. Other powers (we all know who they are) are just waiting for America to fail to fill that vacuum. I don't think I want to see that happen.

 

You are all fools to believe Potowmack didn't vote. I'm sorry, but turnout in the 2024 presidential election was down only by 3 million votes compared to 2020. And Virginia wasn't one of them. Go look it up! Turnout was up in Virginia! Habitual voters don't just stop voting.

It wasn't Dr House who instilled this in me, but it's an easy point of access: people. lie.

 

Liars will lie.....WFA will lie.....

 

That level of selfishness and pure callousness is truly disturbing.....Unfortunately, that is common with a large segment of the population.

 

What a bizarre post. What possible reason would I have to lie about this on an anonymous website?

 

I'm glad you asked.

Post-election surveys routinely show different turnout with large numbers of people reporting socially-desirable voting preferences. Online and telephone surveys often have higher levels of this phenomenon than in-person surveys.

tl;dr version: People lie more online than not.

 

Your posts assumes I care one way or the other what people on here think about my voting choices. I'd think that based on our interactions, you'd know better than that by now.

 

We're, what, a dozen replies into this back-and-forth?

We both know you care.

 

I think you need to go outside for a while. This train of thought is paranoid.

 

You have a point. However, since the popular vote signals a change in social-desirability wouldn't that mean things have changed? Also, large numbers of people lying doesn't mean most people lie.

 

Anyone that has paid any attention to politics in the last 9 years and didn't vote to not give Trump the keys to the kingdom is simply ignorant. He is doing exactly what he said he would do, starting with his nominations.

This is what they voted for. This is what they wanted. People like Potowmack don't care about anything other then himself, but that will become painful when he realizes he cannot undo what is done.

 

I gave my last lectures today - 32 years of university lecturing has come to an end.

I also received confirmation today the closing date for my home is December 10th.

29 days and counting until I leave the USA.

 

Mazol Tov. 32 years educating is no easy task. Enjoy the next phase!