EPTAs someone who lives in America I can definitely say that our politics are fucking crazy, honestly we have to be the only country that gives a damn about our candidates religious or moral values and doesn't care who supports them or what their economic plans are. In all honesty, I think a very large portion of America would be totally fine with a Christian Theocracy. No bullshit.
How do foreigners view US politics? - Page 11
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overt
United States9006 Posts
As someone who lives in America I can definitely say that our politics are fucking crazy, honestly we have to be the only country that gives a damn about our candidates religious or moral values and doesn't care who supports them or what their economic plans are. In all honesty, I think a very large portion of America would be totally fine with a Christian Theocracy. No bullshit. | ||
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NSGrendel
United Kingdom235 Posts
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trevabob
United Kingdom350 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:28 Rakanishu2 wrote: No its not, and people really need to learn how/why it works and the reasoning behind it before bashing it. There's a list a mile long of things we need to fix before the electoral college, trust me. Agree, no voting system is perfect. A lot of the UK left really want a proportional representation electoral system rather than the current system (similar to that in the US). Thing is, while PR seems fairer, it just causes more crazy unfair bullshit down the line in the form of party horse-trading, compromising of electoral pledges etc. | ||
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overt
United States9006 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:31 trevabob wrote: Agree, no voting system is perfect. A lot of the UK left really want a proportional representation electoral system rather than the current system (similar to that in the US). Thing is, while PR seems fairer, it just causes more crazy unfair bullshit down the line in the form of party horse-trading, compromising of electoral pledges etc. Yes, but at least you have third parties with an actual say in politics. We have two completely incompetent parties with no party to support the rights of the worker or lower class. | ||
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Vile Animus
United States34 Posts
Theres absolutely no serious discussion of changing things to a proportional representation model - it would require constitutional amendments which would have to be ratified by the states, just for starters. Despite all the logistical problems, I still think it could be a good idea. Another important result of our 2-party district-based representation is that we vote for individuals and not for slates of candidates. That has profound effects on how political campaigns are run, likely requiring more money to function well than a similar parliamentary system. As far as money- buisnesses give the most money to the side thats going to win an election. The democrats got more money in 2008, the republicans got more money in 2010. Money has less of an impact the more of it you spend and its not that big to begin with. You have no idea how many times I've seen the same Meg Whitman commercials here- she lost by 10%. You can make people aware of your name and your positions but you can't effectively buy votes, despite the doomsaying. With several days of campaigning still to come, Republican candidates have raised $1.64 billion in total, while Democrats have so far collected $1.59 billion, the group found. $4 billion, of course, comes to $12.90 per person in a nation of 310 million people. For a comparison - the US spend 4.75 Billion on Halloween in 2009. As far as republicans as the party of the rich stereotype, for 2010: Taken together, the nation’s top [10 richest] zip codes have contributed more than $19 million to Democrats, but just less than $12 million to Republicans. | ||
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domovoi
United States1478 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:34 overt wrote: Yes, but at least you have third parties with an actual say in politics. We have two completely incompetent parties with no party to support the rights of the worker or lower class. Unions overwhelmingly support the Democrats... | ||
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Mutaahh
Netherlands859 Posts
On November 04 2010 08:41 Monsen wrote: America is so far to the right from a european point of view, that most of your politics seem backward and stupid to most. Furthermore your political system seems very "weird" for a democracy (not to say broken). I know of no other country with a 2 party system (not even gonna mention the whole corporate/money problem lol democracy). Your "politics" is full of silly "scandals" and throwing dirt at each other like children in the sand box. So yeah, at least in my eyes, you went from the country everybody wanted to be like to the country everbody likes feeling superior to. Edit: The european view on america is basically everthing Bill Maher says about the U.S. minus all his Peta/germs nonsense. This and On November 04 2010 08:45 clementdudu wrote: Edit: Oh and btw,religion has nothing to do in politics,and politics has nothing to do in religion. I dont want to hear my fucking pope views on abortion/condom,i don't understand why you want to hear your priest thoughts about immigration/presidential election. This basicly is what everyone arounds me thinks about the USA. When we hear news from the usa that makes no sense at all, we all say, "only in...." (everyone knows that .... is america) People in the USA are seeing the whole election as a game, they all buy flags and shit, why the hell would you do that? We dutch just talk about it, but nobody even would dare to be such a fanboy for your party (and the people who are fanboys, are members of that political party, The enthusiasts are seen as fools, espessically when they for Geert Wilders or the CDA/SGP) Anyway, I think the entire political scene in the USA is a joke, and I cannot take it serious. Here we have stupid people too btw, everyone who voted on Geert Wilders..... He is just a crowd pleaser, stupid people can't read all the things he actually says. So I don't say USA is lost cause, because the people voting for stupid people exist everywhere.... | ||
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NSGrendel
United Kingdom235 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:31 trevabob wrote: Agree, no voting system is perfect. A lot of the UK left really want a proportional representation electoral system rather than the current system (similar to that in the US). Thing is, while PR seems fairer, it just causes more crazy unfair bullshit down the line in the form of party horse-trading, compromising of electoral pledges etc. Cough, Liberal Democrats? | ||
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trevabob
United Kingdom350 Posts
What of the Liberal Democrats? They were the third party and are currently in goverment while the second party are not. That's a bit funny in my book. Also, how's that coalition going for them? sticking to what they pledged in the campaign? not losing over 50% of their support since the election? PR would distort shit even more than this current rare abboration of FPTP has done | ||
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shaunnn
Ireland1230 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:15 domovoi wrote: Scientology is too fringey to care that much about the negative effects, and it produces a lot of laughs for us. So a net plus there. (4chan would be nowhere near as popular without its anti-scientology efforts... positive or negative?) Mormons have some whacky ideas, but in general, they are very nice, studious and hard-working people. Don't like how they view gay marriage, but overall they ain't so bad. I wish you would stop trying to rationalise everything, you make yourself out to be someone moderately intelligent but too weak to face the facts that your countrys politics is fundamentally retarded, your like those horrible scientists that try to make space for god in science | ||
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overt
United States9006 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:35 domovoi wrote: Unions overwhelmingly support the Democrats... That doesn't make the Democrats a worker's party, lol. Yeah, I guess the Democrats are more supportive of worker's rights than Republicans but they most certainly don't represent the lower class nor do they ever pass legislation that directly benefits the lower class. Shit, they couldn't even get a public option through Congress. | ||
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trevabob
United Kingdom350 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:41 shaunnn wrote: I wish you would stop trying to rationalise everything, you make yourself out to be someone moderately intelligent but too weak to face the facts that your countrys politics is fundamentally retarded, your like those horrible scientists that try to make space for god in science seriously man, chillax with the ad hominum. I disagree to some extent with the Mormon stuff, but you absolutely know that the scientology (which is a cult not a fucking religion) stuff is correct. | ||
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domovoi
United States1478 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:41 shaunnn wrote: I wish you would stop trying to rationalise everything, you make yourself out to be someone moderately intelligent but too weak to face the facts that your countrys politics is fundamentally retarded, your like those horrible scientists that try to make space for god in science Um, scientology and mormons have little to do with politics. I'm just correcting our readers of the notion that they are the "biggest shits" the US has produced. I've already given my opinion on US politics as an overblown spectacle. Your comparison makes no sense. In fact, a lot of the people here spouting baseless and ignorant nonsense are more like those who put God in science; i.e. opinions without evidence. Seriously, the effect of whacko scientologists on the world is like zilch, except for the value we get laughing at them. | ||
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Reborn8u
United States1761 Posts
George says it best, RIP! | ||
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s_side
United States700 Posts
While this is good, and natural, given the position of the United States on the world stage, it's incredibly frustrating when people who have never even set foot in the US are spouting political opinions that they read in Der Spiegel (not to pick on the Germans, but that's the only example of a hilariously biased foreign publication that came immediatly to mind). Obviously the political machinations of the US have much more of an effect on the rest of the world than their politcal goings on do on us, but it's aggravating nonetheless to hear foreigners lecture me on my own country's politics when I would never dream of doing the same to them. | ||
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domovoi
United States1478 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:42 overt wrote: That doesn't make the Democrats a worker's party, lol. Yeah, I guess the Democrats are more supportive of worker's rights than Republicans but they most certainly don't represent the lower class nor do they ever pass legislation that directly benefits the lower class. Shit, they couldn't even get a public option through Congress. I think in general you will find that the poor of most countries have very little political power. | ||
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trevabob
United Kingdom350 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:46 domovoi wrote: I think in general you will find that the poor of most countries have very little political power. Which is why the proletariat should seize power via rebellion! huzzah! seriously though, the democrats are the workers party only because they are the better option of the two and "socialist" is a dirty word in the US (from what I've seen/read) | ||
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overt
United States9006 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:46 domovoi wrote: I think in general you will find that the poor of most countries have very little political power. Except for the part where in most European and Latin American countries there are parties that actually represent them. Y'know, like every most of the political parties in Brazil, the Labor Party in the UK, or the FMLN party in El Salvador. We have two parties that are primarily focused on big business and our party that's closest to the lower class rarely, if ever, passes any legislation that directly benefits them. Yeah, individuals have very little power in most countries, but at least in other countries the lower class actually has a party to represent their wants and wishes. @trevabob, honestly our Democrats are more similar to the Tories than Labor. | ||
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stk01001
United States786 Posts
On November 04 2010 06:27 Mothxal wrote: I think there are polls where they let European citizens choose between Obama and McCain for president, and Obama gets like 80% of the vote. Dutch media also view and often show the Democrats as reasonable and the Republicans as insane. Yea that sounds about right... damn US is like way behind Europe when it comes to social issues because the damn far right lunies in this country are keeping us in the dark ages.... I mean some of them think we should be teaching "creationism" in schools.. it's like medieveal times. And then there's this Ken Buck the republican from Colorodo doesn't believe in seperation of church and state.. I MEAN WTF?? Even our forefathers back in 1776 realized how important keeping religion and government seperate is, but this guy, in the year 2010.. doesn't believe in the seperation of church & state? Some part of this country are so damn backwards it's downright scary.. and don't even get me started on gay rights, abortion, stem cell research, global warming, healthcare, the financial system... the list goes on and on. These people are holding up the evolution of the human race.. seriously. It's like I can't even comprehend how people can think this way in the year 2010. They call liberals "progressives" for a reason. Because we want to progress the human race.... republicans want to keep us in the age of fear & ignorance.. | ||
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domovoi
United States1478 Posts
On November 04 2010 09:49 trevabob wrote: Which is why the proletariat should seize power via rebellion! huzzah! seriously though, the democrats are the workers party only because they are the better option of the two and "socialist" is a dirty word in the US (from what I've seen/read) Well, the Democrats are pretty union-friendly, though this isn't necessarily "worker-friendly." For example, the National Labor Relations Board adjudicates disputes between corporations and unions, so they basically control the labor laws, and whoever is President gets to appoint the judges on that board. When Democrats are in power, the NLRB takes a much friendlier stance toward unions. Unions actually have a big say in Democratic policies, since they are one of their larger and well-funded constituencies. | ||
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