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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

[Zangi]

TL;DR - Americans generally have all their basic needs covered, food and shelter.  Americans have tons of creature comforts, bored Americans are more likely to find a creature comfort rather then think about how much their society sucks.

Surveillance - Government to go unchecked with its surveillance, Corporations push back on this.  ...  Corporations already do this to their own customers, unchecked.
Government versus Protests - 'Hands off approach', leaving blame and action to the local police forces.  Provides support and help in the background.  Systematic suppression of media and demonization of protests.  (Everyone else in the world can say now justify doing the same thing... + a little more.  More importantly, as a deterrent to homegrown protests.)

Capitalism - Exceptional influence on the political system.  Profit motive, most cases profit is the only thing that matters.  Is that shitty uncle, only helps when it benefits him, otherwise, does his best to get around the restrictions put on him and to ultimately help himself.

[RedKing]

So....Bill Maher is a bit of a c**t these days.

http://myfox8.com/2014/11/02/bill-maher-slams-clay-aiken-jokes-that-half-of-north-carolina-is-redneck/

So...beyond tarring my beloved home state as a bunch of unwashed homophobic rednecks (and mocking Aiken's sexual orientation himself), he's also been misogynist and Islamophobic lately. He's sort of turning into the political mirror image of Dennis Miller -- a formerly caustic but mostly politically-independent comedian whose shtick is just turning into "Hey, look at me! I'm an asshole!" 

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

So, I'm waking around my college, and someone hands me a paper:

Code: [Select]

Keep this reminder to take to the polls
Write in Harold Davis for Missouri 3rd district Representative to the United States Congress
NO PARTY AFFILIATION
NO FAVORS OWED
Show your disgust with Democrats and Republicans
Wouldn't have been noteworthy except for two things:
This is the first time I've heard from anyone wanting the position.
Apparently, the person who handed me the paper was the candidate.

[SalmonGod]

That does not really explain why these things are such a problem in Europe as well... Climate change is a widely accepted fact, and environmental policies are a given for every party - the Greens are the third-most important party around here. There is no industry-sponsored anti-science propaganda either, and still we haven't stopped emitting greenhouse gasses on our own.

But your work days are roughly comparable to American's, right?  Workers still needing to drive around due to time constraints impose on them?  You still have businesses obligated to compete in the global economy against others that are not environmentally conscious, right?  And despite that, Europe's emissions are 40% lower per capita than the U.S.

[Angle]

Let's not tear each other to pieces arguing, guys. Play nice.

My political views - let's see. I'm very liberal when it comes to social and cultural stuff - I support gay marriage, I support science, I support women's rights, I'd like universal healthcare, I'd like to end the surveillance state, etc etc. I'm of the opinion that religion is most frequently an excuse for a person to believe whatever they like, without needing to base it on reality, and that when it's not, it results in a crippled, insufficient moral viewpoint. Ditching religion is of course not necessarily enough to cure this, I've seen plenty of atheists who are proof of that (Cough *Bill Meyers* Cough). I think that it takes a certain dedication to critically examining ones own viewpoints, and to be fair, that's really difficult. It's like cutting your own chest open, sorting through your internal organs, and discarding the ones that don't make spec - then doing it again in a week, repeatedly, forever. Nobody wants to do that. Still, I think it's necessary. At the very least, we need some kind of cultural change- the whole wallowing in selfishness and "I got mine, screw you" just isn't going to work out for us. I'd really like to see a large-scale discussion about whats valuable to us as a society, and what we should be going out of our way to reward. I also feel that the things we use to give ourselves value as individuals are rather flawed - there's a lot of stress on having things, and on tearing other people down to make yourself feel more important. I'd rather that people had more value in themselves simply as human beings, and that they sought to distinguish themselves by doing beautiful things, and by being kind and generous, and seeking to build each other up.

Politically, I think our government needs to be reigned in big time. No more ubiquitous spying, no more insider deals, no more blatant corruption. I'm not sure exactly how to do this - I think it mostly requires that the majority of the populace actually put some effort into it. Right now, most people are content to ignore their politicians the majority of the time, and that needs to change.

When it comes to economics, I think that capitalism can be a useful system, but it needs to be very carefully managed. It's not magic, you can't just wave your hands in the air and go "OOOOOOO!". It needs active government intervention, in the form of high progressive tax rates, thorough regulation, and strict limits on how big any business can get. The goal is to have a large number of small to medium size businesses, in order to maximize competition and minimize the potential for abusing the system. I also have some more radical economic ideas, but they're far from finished, so I won't post them here.

[SalmonGod]

Let's not tear each other to pieces arguing, guys. Play nice.

Just to be clear, if my last post came across as harsh, it wasn't meant to. I don't mind Helgoland's questioning, so long as it doesn't stray too far into "explain every detail of how you think everything should work" territory.

[Angle]

That was more aimed at Scriver, Bauglir, Helgoland and FJ. You've been pretty good, so far as I can tell.

[nenjin]

So....Bill Maher is a bit of a c**t these days.

http://myfox8.com/2014/11/02/bill-maher-slams-clay-aiken-jokes-that-half-of-north-carolina-is-redneck/

So...beyond tarring my beloved home state as a bunch of unwashed homophobic rednecks (and mocking Aiken's sexual orientation himself), he's also been misogynist and Islamophobic lately. He's sort of turning into the political mirror image of Dennis Miller -- a formerly caustic but mostly politically-independent comedian whose shtick is just turning into "Hey, look at me! I'm an asshole!" 

Bill Maher has become the democratic equivalent of that white guy, typically conservative, who loudly states bonehead ideals and whose mind is still in the 1980s. Like a democratic, poorer version of Donald Trump.

There was a time when Maher was still loud and combative, but was on point. Now, he just spouts off like a smug jackass about whatever gut reaction he's feeling. At times I feel like he's a DINO, for some of the things he says he believes. One minute, he'll try to offer up a nuanced discussion about what's right or wrong, or who has the right to be right or wrong, geo-political and social issues......then the next minute he'll lay into women like it's the 1950s, with all the blustery alpha male bullshit that comes with it.

I'd love to go on his show and do nothing but talk about his role in the movie "Amazon Women of the Avocado Jungle", just to fucking remind him where he comes from and why he needs to put a pin in his own ego on a daily basis. Yes, that's right Maher, oh pillar of incisive political thought, you were a fucking mainstay on USA Up All Night. That politically puts you in about the same category as Howard Stern and Honey BooBoo.

[smjjames]

That movie should have been titled Avacado Women of the Avacado Jungle just because.

[Bauglir]

@Angle
Yeah, that's fair. I got overly defensive about some shit (which is more than a little absurd since I jumped into the conversation of my own volition anyway) and could have stood to be quite a bit more diplomatic about it. My bad.

[Angle]

Eh, it happens. It's really easy to mistake the intent of peoples words, especially on the internet.

[FearfulJesuit]

Yeah. It's probably a good idea to let sleeping dogs lie, now. SG, I think I owe you an apology.

[SalmonGod]

No harm done, FJ.  Thanks, everyone, for once again proving the unique maturity of Bay12 among internet forums.

[Angle]

<INSERT IMMATURE JOKE HERE>

[RedKing]

It's GO TIME, MOTHERFUCKERS!

Election Day 2014! If you're an American, and you haven't yet voted (and you're eligible to vote)....GET YOUR ASS OUT THERE AND VOTE.

Prognosticator and all-around wizzahrd Nate Silver gives the Democrats a 24% chance to retain control the Senate. Which, as he points out, is not a death sentence -- the average baseball player only hits 25% of the time.

Sounds like it's going to come down largely to NH and NC as bellweathers. If the Dems hold both of those, they have a shot. If they lose both of those, you can pretty much stop watching, because the fundamentals are such that they're going to get creamed in other competitive races.

Most polls here in NC show Kay Hagan (D) with a small lead over Thom Tillis (R). The weather is chilly but clear here in NC, so no huge weather effect other than some heavy snow in the mountains over the weekend. With the exception of Asheville and Boone, the mountains are heavily Republican anyways. And with record turnout for early voting (over 17% of registered voters have already voted prior to this morning) it may have even less of an effect.

For Murrican B12ers out there, what's the election situation like where you are?