View Topic

One of the things that Republicans and their allied groups do better than Democrats and their groups is to get people out to vote during the off-elections...you'll see that Democrats do great during Presidential elections, but Republicans do great during mid-term elections, resulting in them taking control of many state governments. In my own state, in 2014 the Republicans seized control of both chambers of the legislature for the first time in 80 years, allowing them to advance and pass items on everything from loosening restrictions on carrying guns to making it harder for labor unions to raise money to legalizing raw milk.

Most importantly on the federal level, the state governments control the redistricting process that must happen every ten years after a census. The party that controls most of the states during this time can make things significantly easier for themselves and significantly harder on the other party by redrawing districts so that those that vote for the other party are "corralled" into a few districts. in 2010, it being a mid-term election, that was the Republicans, but 2020 is a presidential election, so the Democrats have a shot at it this time.

Oh, the wonders gerrymandering has lent American representative democracy...

So, barring some scenario where superdelegates vote against the person with the most pledged delegates, Hillary Clinton is now officially the presumptive Democratic nominee. Thoughts?

Unless Bernie is somehow the nominee...go Trump (well more like go Stein, but still)

I can't vote for Trump...if he's not a racist, he's playing the race card to "energize" (read: incite) white people against minorities so that they vote for him, he's lied about things and then attacked the press when they reported on it, and he's insinuated that he would get back at those who oppose him like he's some kind of thug. His personality, mindset, and tactics are reminiscent of fascist leaders like Hitler and Mussolini, and he's not someone that I can get behind.

At the moment, I'm looking to see what happens with Bernie and what he ends up doing...I'm not entirely opposed to holding my nose and voting for Hillary, but if Bernie is treated badly or disregarded at this point I'll probably vote for the Green Party. I recently liked them on Facebook, and I feel like they've done more to reach out to his supporters than Hillary has...not to mention I think I agree with them most on the issues.

The only problem I have with the Green Party is some of their anti-science stances. Until very recently, the Green Party was pro-homeopathy, and remains remarkably anti-nuclear power. But other than that, I like their positions, and their platform will hopefully change if/when they become more mainstream.

Honestly, I'm a bit cautious about nuclear power myself...I would rather see solar power advance and become more viable. But that's for another topic, I suppose.

I'd say the Green Party has done the best job of courting Sanders supporters so far...if there's one thing I don't like, it's how Hillary and her supporters have at times labeled us as entitled people who want free stuff and don't know how the world really works. You know, many of the things Bernie has campaigned on are actually things in other developed nations...why is it so unrealistic here?

The only problem I have with the Green Party is some of their anti-science stances. Until very recently, the Green Party was pro-homeopathy, and remains remarkably anti-nuclear power. But other than that, I like their positions, and their platform will hopefully change if/when they become more mainstream.

It makes me wonder whether the Green Party will take on a Libertarian Party approach as of late: nominating former disaffected Democratic governors who feel the party is not progressive enough. I know it's different than the actual route the Libertarians have taken, but it is probably the only method I can imagine to become more mainstream on a presidential level, and the discussion will be especially prominent this year depending on the success (or lack thereof) of Jill Stein.

In regards to that, if the Green Party wants to build up on the successes of 2016 (assuming the Stein ticket takes a lot of former Sanders voters), they have to nominate candidates for the House and Senate, arguably more important than jumping directly to the presidency. Having a seat on the Minneapolis City Council isn't enough to gain national relevance.

I'm not necessarily a fan of the Green Party either, due to reasons stated above, and I'd rather have the Democratic Party platform become more progressive to meet the needs of the changing electorate and political landscape. But that doesn't mean I want to undo the successes of the Democratic Party by waging a war between its own supporters and primarying out relatively-moderate candidates. That, I feel, would only lead to a Nader-Gore situation like in 2000.

I'm seeing some interesting theories that Trump never actually thought he'd stand a chance of winning, and ran merely to drive his ego, and now that it seems he stands a real chance, he's trying to destroy his own campaign. I don't really buy it. Doing so would destroy his prospects in other areas of his life too, so this sounds wildly far-fetched to me, but I suppose that with Trump, anything's possible.

Seeing his own party turn him against him over his beef with a soldier's parents is entertaining, at the least. It's amazing that people only began seeing him for what he is when he insulted a soldier and his family. God bless America?

I think it's important to remember that only won about 30% of Republicans supported Trump in the primaries...he won mostly because there were so many other people running and that split the rest of the vote between them. There are a lot of Republicans that aren't happy with their nominee...some are openly supporting Clinton or Gary Johnson, while others are supporting him out of party loyalty more than anything. But his party has only ever been reluctantly on board with him.

I'm seeing some interesting theories that Trump never actually thought he'd stand a chance of winning, and ran merely to drive his ego, and now that it seems he stands a real chance, he's trying to destroy his own campaign. I don't really buy it. Doing so would destroy his prospects in other areas of his life too, so this sounds wildly far-fetched to me, but I suppose that with Trump, anything's possible.

I definitely don't think Trump was expecting to win the nomination when he announced his candidacy. He probably just wanted to shit on the GOP establishment, which he absolutely did (and still does), and get himself back in the limelight, either for his own ego or to try sell something new. Then I think he got into it a bit too much as he loves winning more than anything (and it was fun for him), and now that it's gotten away from him, he obviously can't take back things after he's said them in today's world, though he's tried on many occasions.

I don't know if I would say that he's purposefully trying to destroy his campaign, but he's definitely just going along with the monster he's created rather than trying to change to be more "presidential" as it's much too late for that. I don't think he wants the responsibility of being president, but he already has it now that he's the GOP nomination. No turning back now. He's along for the ride, whether or not that means he potentially gets to be one of the (if not the) most powerful man in the world.