In 1928, when Al Smith became the first Catholic to run for US president, a major concern among the electorate was that he would build a tunnel between the White House and the Vatican, so he could receive instructions directly from the Pope.
I think it’s important to look at what’s happening with domestic US politics in the context of what is happening internationally. The US global influence in waning, nationalism here and abroad are on the rise; support for NATO is wavering signaling an end to Pax Americana. Clearly, American global influence is declining and when empires die they often fall apart internally as well. If you look at the UK, they managed to navigate the dissolution of their empire and the decline in global influence and adjust to their new reality. Other nations have engaged in wars and bitter infighting, guess which way we’re going?
When Obama was elected, I argued in this thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=456732&highlight=declining+influence) that Obama’s challenge would be to navigate a soft landing for America’s decline, but I think with the election of Trump we have opted for the uglier option.
This CNN story doesn’t have the actual quote, but says:
And what Richard Parker said about SLC being broken up: you’re nitpicking like crazy, being pedantic for the sake of being pedantic.
That’s what they did in the leadup to the American Civil War, yeah.
Contrary to popular belief, the Civil War was not a clearly-defined-borders thing everywhere. A Google search of “Bleeding Kansas” will swiftly reveal how depressingly quickly people within the same state will start killing each other.
A solid majority has always believed in the JFK conspiracy. A majority of democrats believed Bush knew about or was complicit in the 9/11 attacks. A majority of Republicans thought Obama’s birth certificate was faked. A majority of democrats think that Russia hacked the last presidential election.
Lots of people have always believed stupid things about the other party.
In a country as big and diverse as the US change should be very hard. Look at Obamacare. It was put through on a party line vote with a parliamentary maneuver and it is an unworkable disaster. The problem is the lack of Tiebout competition means that the federal government can collect so much more in taxes than state governments that the federal government has all the money and thus the power.
I do not believe that a solid majority believe in the JKF conspiracy. Nor do I believe the Bush was complicit in 9/11, though it was certainly the happiest day in the lives of Cheney and Giuliani.
I’m sure that a majority of Republicans believe Obama to be foreign born. They’re idiots.
I’m sure that a majority of Democrats believe the last election was hacked by Putin, because it’s true.
And in your mind it is other people who live in an alternate reality.
Yes, it’s important to remember how much people relied on hard, objective facts back then. Drug policy wasn’t based on hysteria and racism, it was based on cold hard facts. Opposition to homosexuality wasn’t based on religion and prejudice, it was scientifically proven. You definitely wouldn’t have people thinking of films like “Reefer Madness” or “Boys Beware” as educational and factual!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjHOBJzhb0 (Trailer only)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17u01_sWjRE (Whole 10-minute film)
Do you literally think Putin hacked the election itself, as in he had his agents manipulate the voting machines and ballot counting?
I think his aim was to weaken Hillary so that as president, he could run roughshod over her. Not in his wildest fantasy did he think she would lose. But to weaken her, his henchmen broke into DNC computers and released things to make her look bad. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has something on Comey that made the FBI ignore the Russian hacking and focus exclusively on the everpresent email “scandal”. I believe they ran a social media campaign, using fake news sites to spread lies on Facebook and Twitter. They had money and personnel to put the lies all over social media and promote Hillary’s opponent.
Actually manipulating the voting machines, no.
Don’t forget the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and McCarthyism.
People who say it’s worse now than ever before often do so in an attempt to give their arguments (and opinions) more weight. Trump does it all the time.
Take a deep breath. Remember that Democrats and Republicans actually agree on most matters. You only hear about the stuff on which they disagree.
Take a deep breath and step outside the SDMB. The SDMB is ridiculously biased against Trump and many OPs are just making unfounded and unwarranted allegations about or against him (sample, sample). Actually, I think the bias is seriously damaging the Dope’s reputation.
Take a deep breath. And remember that this too shall pass.
And if all of those had existed back then, you don’t think it would’ve been the same as it is today? Human nature doesn’t change. It’s just like the whole, “but everything is so much worse nowadays!!!” No, it’s just that we hear about it more because of mass media.
Two words: Tammany Hall
(And this is NOT a defense of Trump & Co. Dude needs a good hard kick in the nads)
I don’t think I’m being nitpicky so much as being precise, but since both of you feel otherwise, I’ll try to refrain. The broader concern seems to be that Utah’s Legislature gerrymandered their Congressional districts to eliminate any chance of a Democrat winning:
I think you’re both wrong, but before I write a lengthy post on that, maybe we should take this discussion to another thread, and even then, I don’t want to spend an hour or two writing a detailed post if it’s not an assertion either of you really believe. So, is it?
I lived in south-western Utah ~10 years ago and was somewhat troubled when I learned that my district included some of SLC. However, outside of the SLC-Orem-Provo corridor Utah is pretty sparsely populated and it would be difficult to apportion Utah into districts with an equal number of people that didn’t break up SLC. I’ll note that my district did have a Democrat representative at the time.
We can not have a revolution, we are not under the control of an outside entity, and we have not as yet reached a point where the people have found the government system completely lacking and devoid of it’s intended purpose.
I do not even think the latter can be called a revolution since the articles that create this country specifically provide for the latter event.
In othe rwords, it would be same country, same articles of law, new government better suited to hold to the intended design.
More like a mass firing and restructuring.
Civil War?
Extremely doubtful
Trump and Hillary camps may yell at each other a lot, but if you told a bunch of trump supporters that you were forming a militia to go gun down the Hillary camp, i am afraid you would find the Trump camp gunning you down before you made it out the door.
And the same for the Hillary camp.
You are talking about destroying the country, ripping it apart, and watching our children kill themselves because they are from different states or political parties.
You think anyone is going to agree to that anymore? Especially in this day and age where the killing would be live 24/7 on CNN and people could watch their very own children be shot to pieces and die on live TV.
The media may like you to believe that, it’s good for ratings, but they thankfully are not in charge of anything.
Barring some major incident like an asteroid strike wiping out half the country, I dont see any big changes coming.
What I would LIKE to see is both parties picking candidates based on youth, vigor, and desire to work to make the country strong. What Hillary, McCain, Gore, and Bob Dole, all had in common was they were “My Turn” candidates. Party stalwarts and icons but not really effective leaders. Clinton, Obama, and yes even Trump, were really “outsiders”.
Every time one of the bolded things happen, Trump becomes more popular. People jump off the left because they realise how insane they are. How it ends? With Trump creating millions of new jobs, the economy soaring, and a 400 electoral vote landslide re-election victory in 2020.
Those bolded things don’t really happen. What you predict won’t happen, either.
(“realise”? Is that an affectation or are you one of the British “experts” on US government?)