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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[FearfulJesuit]

So, to summarize.

For the entirety of 2012, the spectacle of American politics was dutifully recorded by our very own American Election Megathread, which hit seven hundred pages before collapsing under its own weight just after New Year's.

To fill the gap, RedKing started a new politics megathread, intended to carry us over until we could legitimately start a new election thread sometime in late 2014 or 2015- which is a long time.

It lasted about a month and 67 pages before degenerating into a pile of flames and personal attacks. Largely this was the work of one member who has now fallen under the justice of Toad's mighty banhammer, although it does take two to flame, and a number of others helped it on its way.

I'mma put my foot down and make this clear: do not flame. Under any circumstances. Now I trust that y'all are adults enough to self-police most of the time and cool down when things look like they might get out of hand, but I won't hesitate to lock the thread for a day or two to let everybody simmer down. Do not make me lock the thread. I reserve the right to ban people from the thread if they start picking too many fights (although I don't actually know whether the Toad will back me up on the right to do so.)

Other ground rules:

-Everyone is welcome: conservatives, moderates, liberals, libertarians, socialists, communists, monarchists, fascists (er, do we have any of those?). We're generally a fairly liberal bunch here on Bay12, and I don't want to make everyone else feel unwelcome. Still, bigotry will not be tolerated, although I'll draw a line between actively acting bigoted and simply stating you don't support gay marriage.

-Do not pull a claim out of thin air without anything to support it. The old guard here is usually pretty good at doing this, but it's worth mentioning. If you make a random-ass claim without a citation, or a citation to Conservapedia or Time Cube, you should only expect that we'll ignore you.

-This is an American politics thread.


Parallels and citations from abroad are of course permitted, but don't create a ten-page discussion on David Cameron's latest policy.

-And it is an American politics thread. So keep meta-ing to a minimum. We also don't need ten-page discussions on the Randroid utopia. Or the Juche idea.

Ladies and gentlemen: Washington never sleeps, though it is often comatose, and here we are, Shinji Ikari-like, ogling the body politic.¹ Get to politickin'!

And to start us off: Justice Scalia may be the greatest troll in the history of the Supreme Court.

^{1. I am far prouder of this metaphor than I have any reason to be.}

Spoiler: The Future, preserved forever for our children (click to show/hide)

[FearfulJesuit]

[post reserved just in case]

[RedKing]

I couldn't be arsed to dig up the state politics thread, so I'm putting this here. My beloved home state of North Carolina, Jewel of the South, bastion of the progressive New South for much of the 20th century (Jesse Helms notwithstanding)...is going down the shitter wid' a quickness.

Really started after the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, buoyed in by a Tea Party surge. Not only did they take control, but they took such a margin of control that their decisions were more or less veto-proof. Our mostly milquetoast Dem Governor at the time, Beverly Perdue, broke out the veto pen like crazy, in no small part because the legislation coming across her desk WAS crazy.
This is the legislature that *mandated* that state planning boards could not legally plan for increased sealevel rise, despite a number of scientific studies (some commissioned by the state government) to the opposite.
The same legislature that said anyone wanting an abortion had to have an invasive intra-vaginal ultrasound first and be shown the ultrasound feed.
The same legislature that opened the door wide to fracking in the state, despite studies indicating that there aren't really any big deposits and a number of concerns about groundwater pollution.

Now, we just elected a Republican governor who ran as a pro-business moderate Republican rather than a partisan or culture warrior. And people actually believed that shit. Here's a sample of the latest few ideas to bubble up in the State Capitol:

1. A bill to let the GOP legislature fire any and all members of a number of state boards and commissions, and replace them with appointments of their own choosing.
2. Comments by the governor that he would like to eliminate all state funding for humanities and liberal arts in public universities.
3. A bill that would basically reverse the last administration's decision, and say "Hell no!" to expanding healthcare coverage in the state.
4. Legislators crafting a constitutional amendment that would permit concealed-carry pretty much anywhere other than schools and courthouses, and sets up a pre-emptive firewall against Federal gun laws.

The scary part is, our legislature has already shown that they're batshit crazy enough that they'd actually pass this shit. And our governor appears to be plenty eager to sign off on it. Henceforth, I will no longer be referring to the great State of North Carolina, but rather the Republic of Cacalackistan.

Now onward with our proud march backwards, so that we can be more like the rest of the South! Git 'er done!

[Jervill]

On the other hand, in my state, the Governor just made probably one of the most Progressive speeches I've ever heard that touched on his budget mostly with some unexpected parts about legalizing same-sex marriage and recognizing climate change.
Dayton Delivers Surprises throughout state of state speech.
Of course, the Democrats may control both legislatures but they're notoriously weak willed when actually defending Democratic stances.

The Governor's proposed budget is as follows:Helpful page.
1-Raise Income Taxes on highest 2% of earners ($250,000+)
2-Lower Sales Tax to 5.5% (from 6.875%), and expand it to more services
3-Property Tax rebate for all Minnesota homeowners ($500).
4-Also some cigarette & alcohol tax increases.
5-Lowering corporate tax, but expanding it and closing loopholes.
6-Adding revenue to education (which has been gutted for about a decade), Local-Government Aid (which helps lower Property Taxes, the most regressive of the taxes), and a few other changes.

Last I checked, the State House is waiting for new forecasts before moving on the budget, which is kind of irritating.

[RedKing]

Dammit. Y U SO COLD MINNESOTA?

Seriously, why is it that liberalism only seems to flourish in cold-as-fuck places like the Northeast or Scandinavia, while I'm condemned to living in Jesuslandia just because I want to be warm?? 

[Flying Dice]

It's because progressives are all trolls; their brains function much more efficiently in cold weather.

[Frumple]

Heat makes the brain melt.

I actually vaguely remember that being somewhat scientifically correlated. Supposedly our brains work a bit better when they're somewhat cool. As opposed to, y'know, 110F in the shade. You don't think in that weather. You sweat. And suffer.

Lackadaisic fact checking's mostly showing that it's extremes in general that causes more of a problem, though, so you'd expect temperate climates to be doing better about that. Who knows.

I'll stick with brain melting. Florida is a goddamn miserable place to live ~3/4ths of the year. Maybe it's not as bad further north, but... yeah.

[Techhead]

That explains why so many Chess champions are from Russia!

Also, the word 'Doom' in the title of the previous thread turned out to be oddly prophetic.

[RedKing]

Didn't take much prescience to know that the thread would eventually go to hell in a handbasket. Just didn't think it would be that fast, or in so derpy a fashion.

So...we have a nice new handbasket. Where are we going?

[Cthulhu]

The sun fucks you up, man.  I haven't been paying a lot of attention to state politics, though.  I'm in Ohio.

Interesting note on the subject of heat, Ohio has a ridiculous binary weather system.  Summer is completely dry, still and so hot you hate to be alive, while winter is bitter cold and blizzards shut down cities for a week at a time.  Likewise, we're also the swing state.

[MonkeyHead]

Pee Tee Eff.

[Zangi]

That explains why so many Chess champions are from Russia!

Also, the word 'Doom' in the title of the previous thread turned out to be oddly prophetic.

The end results were not surprising though.

Florida actually doing some pushback against party favoring redistricting?  Though, on a technicality...

[RedKing]

Oh yeah, another nifty item....NC legislature is looking at slashing uneployment benefits, EVEN THOUGH doing so would mean passing on $600 million in Federal funding. Of course they would be doing this right before I'm going to be laid off.

The measure would reduce the maximum weekly benefit from $530 to $350 per person. If it passes, North Carolina workers will no longer receive long-term compensation starting in July, since states cannot remain eligible for federal unemployment insurance if local lawmakers cut weekly benefit amounts.

They're literally passing up free money to fuck over the unemployed. I'm beginning to think this is their plan to reduce unemployment -- force the unemployed to move somewhere else.

[Trollheiming]

Let me dip my toe into this latest, and probably ill-fated, version of APM...

Now, we just elected a Republican governor who ran as a pro-business moderate Republican rather than a partisan or culture warrior. And people actually believed that shit. Here's a sample of the latest few ideas to bubble up in the State Capitol:

1. A bill to let the GOP legislature fire any and all members of a number of state boards and commissions, and replace them with appointments of their own choosing.
2. Comments by the governor that he would like to eliminate all state funding for humanities and liberal arts in public universities.
3. A bill that would basically reverse the last administration's decision, and say "Hell no!" to expanding healthcare coverage in the state.
4. Legislators crafting a constitutional amendment that would permit concealed-carry pretty much anywhere other than schools and courthouses, and sets up a pre-emptive firewall against Federal gun laws.

The scary part is, our legislature has already shown that they're batshit crazy enough that they'd actually pass this shit. And our governor appears to be plenty eager to sign off on it. Henceforth, I will no longer be referring to the great State of North Carolina, but rather the Republic of Cacalackistan.

I realize that this thread is mainly progressives preaching to the choir, but actually, those things aren't crazy. Best policy? Maybe not. Gibbering mad? Nope. Since this is local politics, I really wouldn't know the details, but being able to fire people is a really useful thing, even on state boards.

The proposals that touch on spending are good or bad policy compared to the state deficit. You certainly don't think New York, Illinois, and California are sane with such debt levels, do you? Is severe unserviceable debt a sane practice?

As for conceal-carry, many states have will-issue policies and armageddon hasn't happened yet.

[Zrk2]

Yeah, I don't see the concealed-carry thing being a big issue. Maybe I've missed something?