Politics US Edition (2021!)

[Boeroer]

I still don't understand why there are only two major parties in the US.
The fall of the Weimar Republic taught us that too many tiny parties are no good either (hence we have a 5% hurdle in Germany nowadays to prevent the Bundestag from deteiorating into tiny fractures and coalitions to become too unstable) - but only two "real" alternatives sounds bad, too. 

Besides that it's quite weird that Democrats in the US are all labeled socialists, communists and whatnot by Republicans - while half of them would be seen like conservative (CDU) or neoliberal (FPD) in Germany and most of Europe. People like Bernie Sanders who call themselves Democratic Socialists would still fit into our moderately left SPD or be part of the pragmatic wing of Die Linke (leftists) or Die Grünen (greens) - not even part of the hardcore left. Republicans would fit into AfD (populist right wingers) and the right wings of CDU/CSU and FDP. Yet we don't have a socialst system. It seems - compared to Europe - that US's politics as a whole is shifted to the right. Obama wasn't following very left politics if you view it through the eyes of an average European voter.

Why don't the green party or the libertarians etc. get more votes? Is it all the fear that the vote will be in vain what drives people to only vote blue or red? Or is tehre something else? 

[ComradeYellow]

3 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Why don't the green party or the libertarians etc. get more votes? Is it all the fear that the vote will be in vain what drives people to only vote blue or red? Or is tehre something else? 

I'm hoping we can get a 3rd party that can attract both Greens AND Libertarians, making each individually irrelevant.

And yes, I consider myself of the left, American, and I view both Dems and Repubs as right vs. far right, when it should be Left vs Center vs Right.  So when Republicans call Democrats Communists and Democrats call Republicans/Trump "Putin and Xi fanboys" I can't help but feel a bit baffled and dumbfounded at the discourse flying around at present. 

[Raithe]

 

[Guard Dog]

16 minutes ago, ComradeMaster said:

I'm hoping we can get a 3rd party that can attract both Greens AND Libertarians, making each individually irrelevant.

And yes, I consider myself of the left, American, and I view both Dems and Repubs as right vs. far right, when it should be Left vs Center vs Right.  So when Republicans call Democrats Communists and Democrats call Republicans/Trump "Putin and Xi fanboys" I can't help but feel a bit baffled and dumbfounded at the discourse flying around at present. 

The words communism, socialism, facisim, Nazi, Left, right, etc I’ll have real world definitions. And maybe one in 10 Americans actually know what those definitions are. The rest of it just throw the words around to mean whatever the hell they want it to mean in the moment.I’ll have real world definitions. And maybe one in 10 Americans actually know what those definitions are. The rest of it just throw the words around to mean whatever the hell they want it to mean in the moment. Because of that they’ve lost all meeting. 

[Guard Dog]

NY Times on Rift Between Pence and Trump

This is worth reading. But you should probably do so quickly. It’s not behind a pay wall yet but likely will be soon.

[Boeroer]

47 minutes ago, ComradeMaster said:

when it should be Left vs Center vs Right

Yes, somthing like this seems more "normal" to most Europeans I believe (allthough all that left/center/right stuff starts to dissolve in our country, too. The former pretty-left greens drift towards conservatives more and more, former overall-liberals became just neo-liberal, the CDU hopped to the left with seveal topics and some of the left started to talk like right wingers when it came to migration/immigrants).

But anyway: one gets the impression that a broader (meaningful) political spectrum is impossible in the US for obscure reasons.

Eh I mean obscured to me, not in general. 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Boeroer

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

There's been plenty of talk about it. But it's like anything, it will only get actual attention when it happens to someone 'important'.

Kim and Kanye get burgled, big news. You or I get burgled, lucky if the police turn up.

It has been getting attention for years now, and folks even reached out to groups like the ACLU and Intercept (less after Reality Winner) with no reply. In this light columns decrying social media tyranny after the President of the US gets suspended looks a lot more like opportunistic careerism than a real desire to combat social media tyranny. Frankly it's a mirror of the social media companies themselves, who had years to address growing right wing violence being encouraged on their platforms and only acted when it was evident there wouldn't be any blowback from people in positions of power.

34 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

I still don't understand why there are only two major parties in the US.

"The United States is also a one-party state, but with typical American extravagance, they have two of them."

Facetiousness aside, there have been some concentrated efforts by the Democrats and Republicans to make big hurdles from other parties from making any real headway. The political mechanisms of the US also contribute towards this, with voting for other parties being seen as a vote for whatever Democrat or Republican you're further away from.

8 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

NY Times on Rift Between Pence and Trump

This is worth reading. But you should probably do so quickly. It’s not behind a pay wall yet but likely will be soon.

John Yoo, a legal scholar consulted by Mr. Pence’s office.

Isn't that the guy who authored the torture memos?

[ComradeYellow]

17 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

But anyway: one gets the impression that a broader (meaningful) political spectrum is impossible in the US for obscure reasons.

Whelp, we are a major power, so it is very possible in the future we could do away with multiple parties and just have a single party rule, which could very well be the Democrats if the current authoritarian trajectory keeps going the way it is.

Not a prophesy or anything but I certainly wouldn't rule it out.

Edited January 13, 2021 by ComradeMaster

[BruceVC]

It looks the impeachment could seriously got through today, there appears to be 20 Republicans congressmen who   will be supporting the Democrats and the impeachment 

[Boeroer]

18 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

It looks the impeachment could seriously got through today, there appears to be 20 Republicans congressmen who   will be supporting the Democrats and the impeachment 

Cool - fingers crossed.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

But I always assumed it would be the Democrats and the left. They already have a real strong totalitarian bent. They ruthlessly punish dissenting thought in their caucus. They favor an almighty state that regulates everything it does not control. Now that description suits the GOP as well, if not better. 

So, don't talk to me about "lesser evils". There aren't any. 

Interesting. My beef with Dems is that they tend toward incompetence. Another funny example of how the same thing looks completely different to you and I.

[Malcador]

How would a breakup of Facebook or Twitter work, I wonder - randomly assign users to a shard ?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, KaineParker said:

Isn't that the guy who authored the torture memos?

Unless there are two of them, yes

[Guard Dog]

16 minutes ago, Achilles said:

Interesting. My beef with Dems is that they tend toward incompetence. Another funny example of how the same thing looks completely different to you and I.

Grasping ambition and incompetence are hardly mutually exclusive.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Grasping ambition and incompetence are hardly mutually exclusive.

That's probably fair. It's also probably fair to suggest that your take and mine are still pretty contradictory.

My guess is that we both hear Democrats say "we should have universal healthcare" and I think, "you'll never get your act together enough to get that passed" and you hear, "the totalitarians are trying to control me again"

[ComradeYellow]

7 minutes ago, Achilles said:

My guess is that we both hear Democrats say "we should have universal healthcare" and I think, "you'll never get your act together enough to get that passed" and you hear, "the totalitarians are trying to control me again"

And what I hear is "They will blame their failures on Republicans, because it's the convenient thing to do in a 2 party system".

[Darkpriest]

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I still don't understand why there are only two major parties in the US.
The fall of the Weimar Republic taught us that too many tiny parties are no good either (hence we have a 5% hurdle in Germany nowadays to prevent the Bundestag from deteiorating into tiny fractures and coalitions to become too unstable) - but only two "real" alternatives sounds bad, too. 

Besides that it's quite weird that Democrats in the US are all labeled socialists, communists and whatnot by Republicans - while half of them would be seen like conservative (CDU) or neoliberal (FPD) in Germany and most of Europe. People like Bernie Sanders who call themselves Democratic Socialists would still fit into our moderately left SPD or be part of the pragmatic wing of Die Linke (leftists) or Die Grünen (greens) - not even part of the hardcore left. Republicans would fit into AfD (populist right wingers) and the right wings of CDU/CSU and FDP. Yet we don't have a socialst system. It seems - compared to Europe - that US's politics as a whole is shifted to the right. Obama wasn't following very left politics if you view it through the eyes of an average European voter.

Why don't the green party or the libertarians etc. get more votes? Is it all the fear that the vote will be in vain what drives people to only vote blue or red? Or is tehre something else? 

There is a reason, why EU is called by some euro-kolkhoz. 

EU politics is really far on the left. 

[Guard Dog]

27 minutes ago, Achilles said:My guess is that we both hear Democrats say "we should have universal healthcare" and I think, "you'll never get your act together enough to get that passed" and you hear, "the totalitarians are trying to control me again"

Actually what sets me off is when you hear them say as Charles Schumer did two weeks ago “we are close to fundamentally transforming the United States”. Barack Obama said that kind of thing quite a bit too. My response is “into what”?

[Boeroer]

20 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

EU politics is really far on the left. 

Sure. Compared to what? Bolsonaro?

[Darkpriest]

Just now, Boeroer said:

Sure. Compared to what? Bolsonaro?

Compare Germany of 80-90s?

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Actually what sets me off is when you hear them say as Charles Schumer did two weeks ago “we are close to fundamentally transforming the United States”. Barack Obama said that kind of thing quite a bit too. My response is “into what”?

Without context it seems that all one could possibly do is guess

[Boeroer]

31 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

Compare Germany of 80-90s?

West Germany of 80-90s had higher income taxes, property tax, higher and longer unemployment benefits, better health care coverage (glasses, dentures), government-run railroad, government-run postal service, govern-run telephone service, higher pensions, more powerful unions, tighter controls for the financial sector, higher inheritance tax, higher contribution assessment ceilings and more stuff people would call "more left". 

And we had East Germany which was a self-proclaimed socialist state.

So not really. EU politics are mostly neoliberal and conservative. This is also resembled by the factions of the EU parliament (from left to right - literally) :


Of course it really depends on your perspective. If you have far right ideals then of course it's all pretty lefty. If you are a socialist it's all very right-wingy stuff.
  

Edited January 13, 2021 by Boeroer

[melkathi]

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

The former pretty-left greens drift towards conservatives more and more

 

[Boeroer]

Yes, but not only him.

When the green party was founded and first was elected into Bundestag they were the most leftist party. Before that it was only CDU (conservatives), SPD (social democrats) and FDP (liberals). Coalitions were either CDU+FPD or SPD+FDP. Pretty borig really. If you would have asked the greens that they think about forming a coalition with the conservatives they would have laughed very, very hard. Not even with the FDP.

Nowadays CDU+Green it's the most liked option. Not only because the greens drifted to the right when it comes to war/sneding the troops and also ecnonomics - but also because the CDU under Merkel hopped a bit to the left when it comes to cultural topics like same-sex marriage (grudingly because a vast majority of citizens support it) etc.

But I would say the greens moved more to the right than the conservatives moved to the left. Anyway they are grinding the social democrats (SPD) to dust between them...

Edited January 13, 2021 by Boeroer

[Raithe]

A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon | by Rabbit Rabbit | curiouserinstitute | Medium

I am a game designer with experience in a very small niche. I create and research games designed to be played in reality. I’ve worked in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), LARPs, experience fiction, interactive theater, and “serious games”. Stories and games that can start on a computer, and finish in the real world. Fictions designed to feel as real as possible. Games that teach you. Puzzles that come to life all around the players. Games where the deeper you dig, the more you find. Games with rabbit holes that invite you into wonderland and entice you through the looking glass.

When I saw QAnon, I knew exactly what it was and what it was doing. I had seen it before. I had almost built it before. It was gaming’s evil twin. A game that plays people. (cue ominous music)

QAnon has often been compared to ARGs and LARPs and rightly so. It uses many of the same gaming mechanisms and rewards. It has a game-like feel to it that is evident to anyone who has ever played an ARG, online role-play (RP) or LARP before. The similarities are so striking that it has often been referred to as a LARP or ARG. However this beast is very very different from a game.

It is the differences that shed the light on how QAnon works and many of them are hard to see if you’re not involved in game development. QAnon is like the reflection of a game in a mirror, it looks just like one, but it is inverted.