U.S. Politics

So what’s the problem here? Had to look it up and it was only 10 years ago? Thought it was longer.

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OK sure Trump is worse, a lot worse, and I am happy to admit that, but in a way that’s partly because of how ludicrous the USA is on certain issues, the whole pro life, NRA stuff doesn’t really apply to the UK. But in general terms there is quite a strong parallel between modern UK conservativism and Trumps brand of Republicanism: racism towards refugees, immigrants - check; a likely trampling on domestic freedoms - check; the funnelling of money upwards and a decrease in living standards across the bottom - check; dangerous opportunism (May re Brexit, Trump a whole range of issues) - check; the desire to roll back free health care - check; and irresponsible foreign policy - check. Trump is worse as a human, and can operate in a society much more fundamental and extreme in nature, but basic policy isn’t worlds apart. I guess I just find it kind of hypocritical listening to the panic of people who generally support much of what they are now frightened of. I guess one of the novelties of Trump is he articulates his nastiness, whereas most leaders don’t.

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It’s just ridiculous that a guy who does these things has become president.

It’s from 10 years ago at a time no one expected him to run for president one day. It’s even quite fitting to the characters of both Trump and Vince.

Done!

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And its not even about him per se but who he will appoint to the currently vacant supreme court seat and any more that may arise. Pretty much a free run on it with the republican Senate to back his choice.

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You were right about the Latinos in Florida, the only problem was that almost 40% voted for Trump lol. :expressionless:

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Probably also an issue of having their own way of doing elections. If the popular vote was the decider and a lot of states weren’t as good as decided in advance the turnout would surely be a bit higher.

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Clinton didn’t actually mobilise the support of women like many people thought she would. People just know she’s a cunt.

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Read he wants Sarah Palin as Secretary of Education and two oilmen to take care of Energy and Environment :bellerin::cech::expressionless:

I can’t help but take this with a pinch of salt considering that two days ago you were predicting a comfortable Clinton win.

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People from Cuba are still very right-wing.

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This is a ‘shot in the foot’ kind of question considering I am quite opinionated & all; but what is this left wing/right wing ideology?

I never bothered to look it up.

Left wing is more liberal right wing more conservative.

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Hmmm.
There are flaws in both ideology; why would anyone associate themselves with one or other.

Thats a more difficult question so ill pass on answering that :slight_smile:

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Very basically left is supposed to be about living in a society where there is equality among the people and the state looking after everyone which means higher government spending, which in turn means higher taxes.

The right wing is more about, as Thatcher said, “there being no such thing as society.”
It’s about freedom of choice and looking after yourself, rather than being told what to do by the state, which leads to inequality.
This is supposed to mean lower taxes and more power to do what you want with your own money.

Obviously there are a lot more elements, but basically that’s what it is.
But most politicians are a bunch of liars and will say what people want to hear to get their hands on power and control.

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left or right is defined as how much you pool your resources before distributing them.

left vs right economically has to do with how much money you want the state to daddy for you. the further left you go the more you pay taxes and in return the state gives you more stuff in return. Far left you’ll find communism meaning the state daddies most of your money, and provide for most of your needs. The further right you go you handle your own money, and in return pay for your own misfortunes. Far right you end up with strong capitalism.

Shitty left wing rule will mean you don’t really control much of your money and the gvt. is corrupt and/or mistreating your country, you have no healthy competition amongst companies which limits growth, any motivation to pursue difficult jobs for marginally less salary is diminished etc.

Shitty right wing rule means a larger portion of money is funneled upwards in society, the rich stay rich as they have much better conditions to do well, a larger economic discrepancy and a too narrow definition of what constitutes basic needs.

Western Europe applies (to a varying degree) modern socialism which is somewhat inbetween but leaning left, meaning countries (individually) define human rights and basic needs as (varying degrees of) having health care, education, means of transportation, food, a place to live, clothes etc. then you add together the cost of providing this for your population and that becomes the tax rate in that country, whatever you get left you’re free to spend as you like.

you can put left - right wing economy on a horizontal axis in a ‘political compass’ (diagram) and then you do libertarian vs authoritarian on the vertical axis, placing any ideology/package/country somewhere on the compass, they usually go together a bit, but not necessarily as lib vs auth is often times more on a sociological level than economical:

economically leftists are very authoritarian since they want a strong state handling a large portion of the resources and the right wing would be libertarian, arguing that it is my money and I do what I want with it. However since it is meant as a sociological measurement it is the other way around: leftists are usually more liberal arguing a strong state provides the necessities no matter race/religion etc, while the right wing is the other way around, arguing that your value and your fate in society should be reflected more based on how you perform, and an authoritarian state is there to make sure it works.

sometimes conservative is used as an opposite of libertarian, which makes sense in many ways, but more strictly conservative is the opposite of progressive which is an arbitrary scale that is mainly to compare countries to each other rather than using any fixed reference point.

There is more often a correlation between conservative, authoritarian and right wing though, on the argument that you take care of yourself and your close ones and that seals your fate, just as leftist libertarian progressive views often go hand in hand to some degree, arguing for a larger togetherness in society where one tolerates more differences based on more equal opportunites and in turn we agree to also pay for it.

That is a “really short” summary full of holes and generalisations but I already wrote a book so, bluntly that’s it :smiley: you can argue against several points in there but you have to stop writing at some point.

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You should write a book. :slight_smile:

The reasons Trump probably won are the same reasons he’d have probably beaten Sanders too. With nothing at all to lose, he’d have shouted louder and name called the democratic candidate no matter what, so instead of she’s corrupt and evil and should be in jail, it’d be he’s insane he’ll drive us into decades of poverty with his loony lefty ideas. People respond better to fear of how terrible something can he rather than optimism of how good something can be.

He’d probably have got more media favour against Sanders too, since none of them would want either candidate to win whereas he was up against it with Clinton.

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