DocWatts

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Posts posted by DocWatts


  1. 8 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

    Hard to say.

    Supposedly there are some juicy cases brewing against him.

    But I wouldn't hold my breath on him actually getting prison time.

    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). 


  2. 2 hours ago, Parththakkar12 said:

    Let's not downplay the importance of preserving the status-quo. If your change does not work, if you try something and it fails, you do need something to fall back on. In such a situation, if you don't have a status-quo to fall back on, you will collapse. So it is important to preserve the status-quo and this is the role conservatives would play. All they need to do is to stop identifying with this role and with the status-quo.

    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. 


  3. This is a question that's come up as I've pondered on the peculiarities of the American two party political system. While corruption is endemic in the system with both parties complicit to varying degrees, the Republican Party has been rotting from within for several decades now, to the point where it has to use Authoritarian tactics to win elections because it has literally nothing of value to offer for the vast majority of ordinary people.

    With that as my frame of reference, I'm genuinely curious as to what a more reasonable and relatively healthy Conservative political party would look like in a functional Democracy. With as big and diverse of a country as America is, I've long since made peace with the fact that Conservative political parties are a legitimate part of a representative system; so if they are going to exist, I would much rather they be a relatively healthy form of conservatism and not antithetical to democratic norms and institutions.


  4. 1 hour ago, Willie said:

    Most people in Michigan don’t like the governor. I think anything she does at this point would be seen as interfering in favor of Joe Biden because she was one of the potential running mates.

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


  5. 44 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

    Don't hold your breath.

    That will take another decade or so.

    Texans are very proud of their ignorance ;)

    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


  6. 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.

     


  7. On 9/30/2020 at 2:47 AM, Leo Gura said:

    We need more healthy Blue examples in here.

    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.

     


  8. 13 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

    Anyone who isn't obviously anti-Trump at this point is so dumb and uninformed that it's hard to even justify allowing them vote. But here we are. Democracy by the selfish and ignorant.

    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.


  9. 18 minutes ago, aurum said:

    This whole thing reinforced my belief that we should do away with "debates" and replace them with something else entirely. The very idea of "debating" is very Orange, with assumptions of objective facts and rational inquiry as the method to get to the bottom of them.

    Call me naive, but it would be amazing to turn on the TV and just see actual dialogue and conversation between candidates. No one attacking or defending, instead just sharing their beliefs and perspective. That in my mind would be how a Green presidential election would look.

    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.


  10. 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).