All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[PwrdOn]

Pretty much this.

Communism is an abject failure that needs to be consigned to the ash heap of history.

Socialism does NOT equal communism.

Capitalism has numerous flaws - and so called laissez fare capitalism (I call it laissez faux personally) is also an abject failure that needs to be consigned to the same ash heap of history as communism. The evolution of capitalism into social democracy seems to have done a great deal to address the numerous flaws of capitalism (but not all of them) while keeping the parts that work. However, in the US that evolution will take quite some time.

Social Democracy vs Planned Economy seems to be the economic fight of the future.

And, as always, any system will be wrecked by rampant corruption.

Social democracy isn't some "evolution" of capitalism, it was a compromise position devised to placate workers and prevent them from going full on Marxist. As there has never been much of a threat of that in the US, there is virtually no chance of that happening here any time soon, particularly given how even a milquetoast moderate like Bernie Sanders was demonized as if he was the next coming of Stalin. We have a system that puts all the power in the hands of the wealthy, and we expect that asking them nicely to give some of that up to help the rest of us is actually going to work.

[AnakinFlair]

Stacey Abrams does have a major qualifications question. No one has ever been selected to national office if their top experience is as the minority leader of a state legislative body.

She hasn't been in Congress, statewide office, a Cabinet-level position or served as mayor.

From what I've seen her, the knock isn't that she's low-energy.

Demings had an Op-Ed in the Washington Post with the title "My Fellow Brothers and Sisters in Blue: What the hell are you doing?" where she called for reform.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...are-you-doing/

That was about a month ago.

How are they mistaken?

Qualifications no longer matter after Trump. He proved you could have NO qualifications and still get elected President.

[Tami]

Qualifications no longer matter after Trump. He proved you could have NO qualifications and still get elected President.

Just because he did it, does it lower the bar that much for every future president? After all, it's not like Trump proved you could not only win an election and actually be a good president with no qualifications. It's more like he proved the opposite.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Social democracy isn't some "evolution" of capitalism, it was a compromise position devised to placate workers and prevent them from going full on Marxist. As there has never been much of a threat of that in the US, there is virtually no chance of that happening here any time soon, particularly given how even a milquetoast moderate like Bernie Sanders was demonized as if he was the next coming of Stalin. We have a system that puts all the power in the hands of the wealthy, and we expect that asking them nicely to give some of that up to help the rest of us is actually going to work.

Sanders was the wrong vehicle to push this, he made headway except he too many disadvantages and refused to bend with the system and his own allies in the Democrats. And he didn't help himself by doing things like signal boosting Castro's Cuba as a positive. But what he really needed was the backing of a strong left wing apparatus, no leftist presidential candidate can do that on his own or with a tiny portion of congress. Lack of organisation has hurt the left far more than their candidates. AOC is going in the right direction from the Sanders model but she's going to be in the same position if the left are as scattered as they are with Sanders.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Just because he did it, does it lower the bar that much for every future president? After all, it's not like Trump proved you could not only win an election and actually be a good president with no qualifications. It's more like he proved the opposite.

I imagine that in the future, Trump will become short for 'completely unqualified'.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just because he did it, does it lower the bar that much for every future president? After all, it's not like Trump proved you could not only win an election and actually be a good president with no qualifications. It's more like he proved the opposite.

Trump was the mother of all outliers as the Republican Party was desperate to have ANYONE beat Hillary Clinton, qualifications be damned. However, going forward, standards will have to be set for people running for President, such as a working knowledge of the Constitution, at least five years in political office, and, perhaps, a psychiatric examination to keep unhinged sociopaths like Trump from being candidates for the highest office in the land.

[Kirby101]

And electoral college aside, the majority of Americans have never supported Trump.

[PwrdOn]

And electoral college aside, the majority of Americans have never supported Trump.

The national popular vote has never mattered, and nobody has ever treated it like it does. Trump won by the rules that everyone knew about and agreed to going in, and there's still a pretty good chance he'll pull off the same feat again in 2020. Of course pushing to abolish the electoral college would be too radical and upset too many moderates, so the only option I suppose is to just impotently whine about it and hope that the outcome will be different the next time around.

[Steel Inquisitor]

The national popular vote has never mattered, and nobody has ever treated it like it does. Trump won by the rules that everyone knew about and agreed to going in, and there's still a pretty good chance he'll pull off the same feat again in 2020. Of course pushing to abolish the electoral college would be too radical and upset too many moderates, so the only option I suppose is to just impotently whine about it and hope that the outcome will be different the next time around.

Many Democrats want to get rid of the EC, we just know it's a pipe dream. How is that any different than what a leftist candidate would do? The EC won't disappear just because we ran a leftist for president. What's the left done to destroy the EC?

[Tendrin]

The national popular vote has never mattered, and nobody has ever treated it like it does. Trump won by the rules that everyone knew about and agreed to going in, and there's still a pretty good chance he'll pull off the same feat again in 2020. Of course pushing to abolish the electoral college would be too radical and upset too many moderates, so the only option I suppose is to just impotently whine about it and hope that the outcome will be different the next time around.

Fifteen states have ratified the Popular National Vote compact.

[Kirby101]

The national popular vote has never mattered, and nobody has ever treated it like it does. Trump won by the rules that everyone knew about and agreed to going in, and there's still a pretty good chance he'll pull off the same feat again in 2020. Of course pushing to abolish the electoral college would be too radical and upset too many moderates, so the only option I suppose is to just impotently whine about it and hope that the outcome will be different the next time around.

In the context of unqualified candidates, it is pertinent.

[PwrdOn]

Many Democrats want to get rid of the EC, we just know it's a pipe dream. How is that any different than what a leftist candidate would do? The EC won't disappear just because we ran a leftist for president. What's the left done to destroy the EC?

We've tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas!

[Mister Mets]

Qualifications no longer matter after Trump. He proved you could have NO qualifications and still get elected President.

The last few Presidents have been historically unqualified.

Bill Clinton was the only small state Governor elected President.

George W Bush was Governor in a state where the legislature had the power, and his only prior job was due to his dad's friends, when his dad was in national offic.

Obama didn't serve a full term in the Senate.

Trump wasn't ready to be President, but it did come after some others who didn't have the qualifications of most previous Presidents.

[Steel Inquisitor]

We've tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas!

This isn't the gotcha you think it is.

[Tendrin]

This isn't the gotcha you think it is.

It's not even true, anyway.