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Joe Biden ruled as too incompetent to face charges

Valcazar

Just a bundle of fucking sunshine
Mar 27, 2014
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Isn't it likely that the popular aspects of a third party's platform just gets absorbed into one of the major parties or both? We've had two parties dominating for 160 plus years so there hasn't been a major party collapse for a long, long time.

The post-revolution period and antebellum years were so unique in that regional sectionalism was sharply defined and at the forefront of U.S. politics.
Yes, exactly.

There is a reason people refer to this as the Sixth Party System - because every so often there is enough of a shakeup that what the parties stand for and where they are strong changes radically.

But as you say, the structural forces push things toward the party having these coalition fights internally in the primaries and so on rather than afterwards. When an issue the general public is interested in isn't being addressed, it can bubble up into a third party that is briefly mildly competitive and then those policies get absorbed into the major parties (either one or both). Slavery was sufficiently huge as such an issue that it took down the Whigs and the Republicans took their place. (After a period of chaos.)

That's the thing about the call for a third party, people have to make a case for where it is going to get its votes and from who. And if there is a good case, it just means the most likely result is one of the other two parties just adopting those positions after the vote split costs them an election.

It's also true that the regional aspects have been blunted even more since the parties got more ideologically consistent, so you don't even have that option to grow some third party strength.

The fact that it is a presidential system not a parliamentary one doesn't help. In Canada, we have parties that exist purely because of regional strength, but that's not really supported well in the US system.
We haven't even seen a third party try to organize a purely congress-level push in my lifetime. They just come out for the Presidential elections, where they have the least chance of accomplishing anything long term.
 

Valcazar

Just a bundle of fucking sunshine
Mar 27, 2014
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A moderate right.
Which would mean what?
Do you just mean the old GOP sort of pro-business wing?
They got eaten by MAGA. It seems they didn't have much support.

What would "moderate right" be?
 

nottyboi

Well-known member
May 14, 2008
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Which would mean what?
Do you just mean the old GOP sort of pro-business wing?
They got eaten by MAGA. It seems they didn't have much support.

What would "moderate right" be?
A GOP that was refocused on lower govt spending, less foreign intervention and less interference in peoples lives.
 
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WyattEarp

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May 17, 2017
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Slavery was sufficiently huge as such an issue that it took down the Whigs and the Republicans took their place. (After a period of chaos.)
The 1850s was a tumultuous shift in American politics. Slavery was so fractious that it even split the Democratic party between Northern elements and Southern elements.

In Canada, we have parties that exist purely because of regional strength, but that's not really supported well in the US system.
In your opinion, do regional parties support the healthy functioning of a democracy? I don't know what to think of a party like Bloc Québécois.
 

mandrill

monkey
Aug 23, 2001
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The 1850s was a tumultuous shift in American politics. Slavery was so fractious that it even split the Democratic party between Northern elements and Southern elements.



In your opinion, do regional parties support the healthy functioning of a democracy? I don't know what to think of a party like Bloc Québécois.
You would have to define "healthy functioning of a democracy" - bearing in mind Churchill's quip that "democracy is the worse system of government known to man, except for all the others".

There is unarguably "bad" democracy where nothing can possibly get accomplished - i.e. 18th century Poland or the current GOP House of Reps. That aside, the system appears to work.
 
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mandrill

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You beat me to it...That's just vicious, lol.
Holy kamoly! You and Mitch have discovered Simon Ateba. That's like a junkie discovering an even purer and more intense form of heroin that Tucker Carlson level heroin.

Happy times are ahead for you!!
 

mandrill

monkey
Aug 23, 2001
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I laid out why I don't think there is useful and compelling purpose for the DOJ to be pursuing these cases against a former POTUS and Presidential candidate during an election year. Of course, that's not saying he didn't violate the law and seek confrontation with the DOJ. I'm just looking at the realistic outcomes along with the money and effort that will be expended to reach those outcomes.

Everyone knows Trump will take on the FBI, the DOJ, etc. for no other reason than politics. The prosecutor inadvertently plays into that drama.

It's just an opinion.
Depends. The attempt to subvert the 2020 election is pretty bad and there should be criminal consequences.

Everything else?..... Jean Carroll, Trump's multiple frauds, stealing those documents and hiding them in his toilet?

Let's assume that those are politically motivated lawsuits and are designed to keep Trump in the media spotlight, day in/ day out for months in the worse possible light. Sure, there's a downside for the Dems in that it motivates Mitch to post multiple times a day to tell us how Judge Engoron is corrupt. But the Base would always vote for Trump in any event and the narrative that he is "persecuted" is already embedded into their psyches.

But every time Trump is on TV ranting about Engoron and every time Alina Habba fucks up another cross-examination and every time Trump gets shit-wacked with another optimally horrendous courtroom outcome, a few thousand more moderate Reps in swing states decide that they can't vote Trump in November.

And that's a worthwhile enterprise. The GOP did it successfully against Hillary and they attempt incompetently to do the same thing using Hunter Biden. The Dems just do it a lot better now, because they're smarter and they have many more Trump fuck-ups and frauds to work from.

So if it really IS just political maneuvring, it's pretty damn effective and that's worth a clap on the back any day.

Oh you think it's NOT effective? Why did Trump only get 60% in the SC primary, despite being what passes for the "incumbent" is today's shappy GOP?? And why are most Haley voters not going to vote Trump under any circumstances? In South Carolina of all right wing strongholds?
 

Butler1000

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Oct 31, 2011
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The 1850s was a tumultuous shift in American politics. Slavery was so fractious that it even split the Democratic party between Northern elements and Southern elements.



In your opinion, do regional parties support the healthy functioning of a democracy? I don't know what to think of a party like Bloc Québécois.
The USA is probably more split along rural vs urban divisions from what the elections say. Up here we have much stronger regional identity. East coast, Quebec, Ontario, Prairie and B.C all have pretty distinct cultural frameworks. There is some Urban v Rural, but that really is everyone hates Toronto more than anything.

As a result they can change the landscape. The Reform Party brought conservativism back into Canada from the Red Tory era where there was little daylight between the two major parties. The NDP was a rural based party from the Prairies as well. The Bloc was the Fed arm of the separatist movement, but that is essentially dead now. Its there now mostly as a reminder that that uglness could flair up again.

So in the sense they send real representation to Ottawa for local issues I think they do serve a valuable place.

The thing is a Regional party in the USA that managed to take say 40 seats on the House and 4 in the Senate could become a very real power broker on some issues, even in the sense that it would cause the two majors to have to work together more to blunt them. And reduce the threat of further erosion of their duopoly.
 
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WyattEarp

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The USA is probably more split along rural vs urban divisions from what the elections say. Up here we have much stronger regional identity. East coast, Quebec, Ontario, Prairie and B.C all have pretty distinct cultural frameworks. There is some Urban v Rural, but that really is everyone hates Toronto more than anything.
I thought the Liberal Party drew most of their support from urban areas.

The Bloc was the Fed arm of the separatist movement, but that is essentially dead now. Its there now mostly as a reminder that that uglness could flair up again.
Butler, I will ask you because you won't go into a defensive posture. Isn't it correct that Quebec gets direct subsidies from Ottawa? Would that mean one of the purposes of Bloc Québécois is to ensure Quebec's interests?

One can say Florida with its amount of seniors is subsidized by Washington, but these are programs that target individual citizens wherever they might reside. It's not directly targeted to a State after separatist movements. U.S. anti-poverty and education programs also have less of a regional flavor and target communities.

The thing is a Regional party in the USA that managed to take say 40 seats on the House and 4 in the Senate could become a very real power broker on some issues, even in the sense that it would cause the two majors to have to work together more to blunt them. And reduce the threat of further erosion of their duopoly.
As Valcazar always asks, what does that third party look like? What third party platform would be successful? It's a very idealistic notion until you have to gain enough votes that put the party on the map.

I have held some hope that a third party Presidential candidate could possibly pull enough votes away from the two parties to win. However, I don't think that third party would gain traction in Congressional races.
 

WyattEarp

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Why did Trump only get 60% in the SC primary, despite being what passes for the "incumbent" is today's shappy GOP?? And why are most Haley voters not going to vote Trump under any circumstances? In South Carolina of all right wing strongholds?
Yes, Biden received 96% of the South Carolina vote. However, he was up against Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips.

In my opinion, Nikki Haley is a formidable politician and an incumbent in South Carolina in her own right. She's certainly not liberal on most matters.

Trying to break down the meaning of the S.C. primary beyond Biden won handily, Trump won by a solid margin is mostly conjecture.
 

Butler1000

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I thought the Liberal Party drew most of their support from urban areas.



Butler, I will ask you because you won't go into a defensive posture. Isn't it correct that Quebec gets direct subsidies from Ottawa? Would that mean one of the purposes of Bloc Québécois is to ensure Quebec's interests?

One can say Florida with i of seniors is subsidized by Washington, but these are programs that target individual citizens wherever they might reside. It's not directly targeted to a State after separatist movements. U.S. anti-poverty and education programs also have less of a regional flavor and target communities.



As Valcazar always asks, what does that third party look like? What third party platform would be successful? It's a very idealistic notion until you have to gain enough votes that put the party on the map.

I have held some hope that a third party Presidential candidate could possibly pull enough votes away from the two parties to win. However, I don't think that third party would gain traction in Congressional races.
The Liberal party has virtually no chance in the Prairies. Its either NDP or Conservatives out there. The Liberals are very much an east coast and Ontario/Quebec urban/suburban party. In a way they are a regional party as well.

Every province recieves transfers. We also subsidize the Maritimes. Quebec is "complicated" to say the least. But demographics are slowly changing the province.

I think you could see the rise of a Texas based party, with tendrils to nearby states, rising over immigration policy, and continuing over other social issues. They would have financial backing and "identity" to draw on, no doubt. That would be my first thought. Add on a dozen already elected reps and a charismatic leader and quite a few could come up the middle. We saw it in Canada with the Reform Party. They took the mantle of the CCP but really they are still that party. So it can happen. Especially with a weak President. Imagine if Biden steps down within a year of a win. Harris just wouldn't have the political capital and the Dems would be under fire over it. If the GOP was weakened as well after a Trump loss and dithering while Harris fucked up border policy it can happen.

I will add in to this the USA is really heading for a more isolationist mood. The GOP supporting an unpopular war would very much add to the stew. Lots of hot spots to cause this.
 

Butler1000

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Oct 31, 2011
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Yes, Biden received 96% of the South Carolina vote. However, he was up against Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips.

In my opinion, Nikki Haley is a formidable politician and an incumbent in South Carolina in her own right. She's certainly not liberal on most matters.

Trying to break down the meaning of the S.C. primary beyond Biden won handily, Trump won by a solid margin is mostly conjecture.
She is either going to end up the VP, or will wait and this is the practice run before 2028.
 

The Oracle

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