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[GlyphGryph]

I'm not going to be voting for president at this point. I can't in good conscience choose either of them. Which is unfortunate, but eh.

[Lord Dullard]

Honestly I think this country is screwed unless/until we get a third party whose byline is 'anti-corruption'. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are addressing the biggest problem with our political system right now, which is the campaign process. Even BEFORE Citizens United it was completely screwed up.

In my pipe-dream world, a MODERATE party full of people willing to set aside ideological radicalism in exchange for cool-headed compromise would start out small by taking localities, then move up to state governments, and finally federal. The platform would be 'moderation and integrity', with a staunch fervor for politically witch-hunting the corrupt and hypocritical (especially among their own ranks). And the trick up their sleeve would be that they would control the SWING vote because of their moderate stance, so they wouldn't have to control a large portion of Congress - just the middle ten percent or so, which is a much more attainable goal than a majority and would, practically speaking, be just as powerful as the 40% of the other two parties. No point in even trying for the presidency - leave that to the crazies, and instead just endorse whichever candidate makes it more clear that they will cater to compromise.

[nenjin]

I'm not going to be voting for president at this point. I can't in good conscience choose either of them. Which is unfortunate, but eh.

Unfortunately I feel the same way. I feel like voting for Obama this time around is giving tacit approval for how the bailout was handled, PIPA, SOPA, ACTA, reversing himself on Guantanamo, NDAA, vastly expanding the power of the intelligence community....jesus, I've lost track of how many issues I feel like Obama has been on the wrong side of. And not the grudging "sorry I have no choice" wrong side, but the enthusiastic supporter of wrong shit side.

Honestly, when he's not at the podium, I have a hard time distinguishing him from a Conservative Republican president. Do as I say, not as I do, and all that.

[Darvi]

Seriously why is Cfoofoo not candidating yet?

[Nadaka]

Moderates have no business compromising between a right wing party and an ultra right wing party.

Darvi: this post was going to contain the phrase "One does not compromise with Cthulhu." And it still does.

[GlyphGryph]

Hah, I was just about to add that a moderate party would be way too liberal to ever get elected.

It's funny, but Obama's one (and only, as far as I can tell) "Liberal" triumph was... a Republican health care proposal implemented on the national level.

...right.

[Lord Dullard]

Well, agreed on that, anyway.

ETA:

Weird, I remember that the last time I wrote anything of a vaguely political nature on this board, the general response was 'zomg, there are liberal B12ers!?'. What happened?

[Shinotsa]

I'm guessing everyone here stayed the same and politics changed. I think Bill Maher was the one that said something along the lines of "the left moved to the right, and the right moved into a mental institution." And it's been fairly recent too.

[RedKing]

So in other words, we need technocrats in power rather than ideologues. Have to say, it's worked pretty well for the PRC. We used to mock the Soviets and the Chinese for appointing people to high office based on how much cheerleading for socialism and praise Lenin/Stalin/Mao they could muster, rather than their abilities to do the job. Only "orthodox" political beliefs were allowed, and dissenters were pushed to the fringe of the Party.

Now we have Republicans who get selected to run for President based on how much cheerleading for capitalism and praise for Ronald Reagan they can muster, and dissenters are pushed to the fringe of the Party. At least Jon Huntsman is lucky that nobody came after him with an ice axe.

[Nadaka]

With all due respect, the PRC is pretty terribly run as well.

[Lord Dullard]

Yeah, but they're actually improving, given their history over the last half a century. We're doing the opposite.

Also, yeah, still terrible, and I'd much rather deal with our government (at least this decade - I dunno about the next few).

[MetalSlimeHunt]

They're "improving" in the sense that they're headed towards a violent revolution, yes.

[Sowelu]

I'm guessing everyone here stayed the same and politics changed. I think Bill Maher was the one that said something along the lines of "the left moved to the right, and the right moved into a mental institution." And it's been fairly recent too.

Also, we've been getting older.  People move to the right as they get older.  That doesn't mean it's a good thing; it's also a sign of dying idealism.  Politics needs young people who believe very strongly in liberal ideas.

...I can't see myself voting for Romney, but I'm not terrified of him like I was by McCain.  Once I'm back home I'll have to try and find the website again, but I saw one that showed various politicians' publicly-stated opinions on various issues.  Aside from a small handle of social-freedom issues (which admittedly really pushed my buttons), it looks like some of his policies over the years are things that I really agree with.  I mean...god, we NEED a president who's going to take a hard stance on immigration reform by going after businesses and letting things play out from there.  I don't think he's a moron when it comes to foreign policy, he really doesn't seem like the kind of guy who has something to prove where wars are concerned, he seems to have a good grasp of American states' rights as individual social experiments (like they were originally intended), and for the most part he's willing to keep his hands off of things that I don't want his hands on.  He implemented some health care stuff as a governor that was pretty novel, for a Republican at least.  In fact my biggest beef with him is that he willingly associates himself with the Republican party.  If he didn't owe them anything, and I could trust him not to get into partisan politics, he just might get my vote after all.

...Though I do wish I could find a politician who wants to raise my taxes.  I'm not in a low bracket, and I can take it; we need more social services, and I don't want to burden people who make less than I do.  Give me more taxes.  *grabby hands*

[Lord Dullard]

They're "improving" in the sense that they're headed towards a violent revolution, yes.

Western media seems to have an obsession over playing guessing games about if and when the Chinese government will collapse. I'm writing it off as BS until I see more clear indicators that it's going to happen. I don't trust a government (and by extension media) filled with a lot of right-wing babble to accurately predict when an autocratic self-labeled 'communist' regime is going to collapse, since it's in the interest of the government to make them look shakier than they are.

I remember reading about the 'imminent collapse of the PRC within five years' over a decade ago. Didn't mean it was going to happen just because somebody declared it was.

[RedKing]

With all due respect, the PRC is pretty terribly run as well.

But far, FAR less terribly run than they were. No more "Oops, 60 million people starved to death because we collectivized agriculture, and the local party officials overstated their production, causing us to take too much for the urban allotment and leaving the farmers to die. Oh, and we finally started using real science instead of Lysenkoism."

Ain't easy to run a country that big. At least they're looking for people based on how well they can do the job. Now they just need to find a way to work "and not take massive bribes to ignore the best decision" into the mix. But then, hell...we don't even bother with the last one. We just call it "lobbying".