DocWatts

The former mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, actually ended up serving time in prison for his crimes while in office. So it doesn't strike me as impossible, just really unlikely in Trump's case, since Kwame wasn't a multi millionaire like Trump is (despite the fact that he's likely broke, I have no doubt he still has formidable resources at his disposal to fight a prosecution).

So what are the chances that if Trump survives this and goes on to lose the election that he actually gets prosecuted for his numerous crimes? One in ten? One in a thousand?

Her nickname here is 'Big Gretch'

That's quite insightful, and probably one of the better arguments as to how Conservatives can serve a useful and necessary role (as opposed to just holding society back, as it can appear sometimes). Actually these are all great points, and it's really unfortunate that there's not a viable non-destructive political party which represents these values in the US. The way things stand, with the Republican party appealing primarily to wealthy people and whites that harbor some sort of racial resentment, I don't see how it will be able to win elections as demographic changes render thier voting base smaller and smaller. Hopefully something better can eventually take its place, and it won't have to rely on Voter Suppression to win elections for it to be able to push an unpopular agenda on the country.

Even though she wasn't my preferred candidate in the primary, she's impressed me with how competently her administration's response to the pandemic was. I'm more than happy to cast my vote for someone who's competent and reasonable considering the state the country is in right now. Plus she seems like a decent person.

Not true; a vocal minority despises her, the rest of us are grateful to have someone reasonably competent in charge during a pandemic.

Speaking of Texas... 'Texas governor to close mail-in ballot drop-off boxes, limiting one per county' https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/texas-mail-ballot-drop-vote-2020-election-b744020.html

So I don't know if it counts as a full on existential crisis, but I found Peter Singer's argument that people living in wealthy nations have a Moral Obligation to help people living in less developed parts of the World to be really compelling; so much that I feel it is unethical to not give at least some portion of your income to charitable causes if you're fortunate enough to be a middle class person living in a developed nation. Also helped me put my own privilege in to perspective, and to reframe the way I think about my obligations to other people.

Library of Congress video discussing the implications for humanity if and when life is discovered beyond Earth (seems relevant with the recent discovery of possible bio signatures for microbial life being discovered in the atmosphere of Venus).

Dwight Eisenhower also comes to mind as a highly principled Blue political leader (CIA shenanigans during the Cold War not withstanding).

I forget whether this was posted in here, so feel free to remove if this is a duplicate post. But this video does a great job at pointing out how Hank Hill is a nuanced and largely positive portrayal of Blue, as he's someone who tries to live by his values, and is even capable of accepting other viewpoints if he feels its coming from a place of integrity.

Also the ability deconstruct ideas and concepts, as well of an awareness of Social Constructs generally begin at Green; both of which are necessary for an understanding of the Systems Thinking that Yellow employs.

For an example a bit closer to home, this article brings up an interesting case to expand Voting Rights to people under the age of 18. https://www.vox.com/2015/11/28/9770928/voting-rights-for-kids

Awesome, thanks!

I also think that if a compelling argument isn't made as to why politics is relevant to someone's day to day life, the default position is to treat politics as an abstract notion that they pay attention to once every four years, then forget about for the times in between.

"What's going on right now isn't normal" is a mantra everyone should be repeating to themselves right now. I think of people like my grandparents, who are sweet lovely people, but think Trump is off putting because he's a loudmouth who insults people, and not because he's a authoritarian con man who's looting the country and causing long term damage to democratic institutions.

On another note I've heard good arguments that a lot of the 'undecideds' are actually Trump voters who are too ashamed to admit it.

Yup, and one of the inherent contradictions is that people who don't believe in democracy (and would rather be living in a white ethno-state) can use thier votes to elect candidates to dismantle and destroy Democracy.

Wasn't familiar with the 48 Laws of Power but now I'm intrigued.. Is it something like a modern day version of Machiavelli's 'The Prince'?

Masterful depiction by James Gandolfini of how someone at stage Red handles difficult emotions

Agreed, but the system you're describing only works if both sides are acting in Good Faith and have a modicum of respect for one another, otherwise the whole thing falls apart. In a healthy and functioning Democracy, the system you're describing would be the way to go. Becomes very hard to have a meaningful dialogue when the opposing political factions are living in completely different versions of reality. Only way I could see that happening is if the moderator is a stage Yellow person with a deep understanding of how to facilitate dialogue between people with wildly different worldviews, *and* both parties were there in Good Faith.

If we had a system in America that was as democratic as it claims to be then sure. With the rules being what they are, we've had two of the last five elections go to the candidate who lost the popular vote.

Just imagining a world where Bernie is taking Trump to task on the bullshit erupting out of his mouth (and doing so with conviction in a way that connects with people), instead of an uninspiring old man who's plan is to hope that Trump self destructs and he wins by default, without having to inspire people or get anyone excited for what a Biden presidency would look like. Might as well have had a loaf of white bread at that other podium for all the good that these debates are doing. Trump has had four years to make an ass of himself; I just hope that working class and elderly people in the Swing states have become sick of Trump's antics, and that a peaceful transition of power can take place (can't believe I'm actually saying this).

I know Leo touched on this briefly in the Spiral Dynamics Stage Red video, but I thought I might bring it up again to get some other thoughts and opinions. While one might argue that it's splitting hairs to even bring up the question because at the very least he's an authoritarian con-man who needs to be removed from Power regardless, I'd push back on that a bit by saying that it can still be useful for framing the Discussion around Trump as an election approaches. Also if we are going to use the 'Fascist' label, we want to make sure that it's not being misused in situations where it's not appropriate, robbing the word of its original meaning. I think the difficulty here is that Fascism isn't a coherent ideology (like say Marxism), but a messy patchwork of nationalistic far right ideas and practices that have some commonalities such as : - Extreme xenophobia and ethnocentrism - Militarism and corporatism - Heavy use of propaganda to set up an 'Us vs. Them' narrative that blames all the world's evils on some Other - A subjugation of the individual to the needs of the State - A cult of personality around a powerful leader - A disdain for electoral politics and liberal democracies While obviously many of these fit Trump, it also seems clear that he's opportunistically tapping in to some of these elements (which have existed below the surface of American society) for his own political advantage, without having any strong convictions or being fanatic in the same way that Hitler was. I honestly see Trump as closer to a Tony Soprano figure myself, who's willing cynically latch on to whatever belief structure or ideology benefits him personally. Or is all this just what fascism looks like now in our Modern world? Interested to hear some other thoughts and opinions on this.

I wouldn't go that far. I could see the beginnings of RBE in a Social Democracy that adopts a Universal Basic Income program which expands as automation increases and attitudes towards work change. Probably still some ways off, and of course what a RBE is will evolve and change over time just like every other economic system.