U.S Presidential Election 2016 Not Otherwise Specified

[Stavros]

Blackchubby thanks for your response. It seems institutional or structural reform is difficult to make be it the US electoral system or the British, the UN or the EU. In most cases this is because reform needs the agreement of too many parties with their own interests unwilling to allow any change that might weaken their position, just as change when it happens often comes after a disaster, like war. There is also apathy - in 2011 UK voters were asked in a referendum if we wanted to change the way we choose our representatives by moving from a Single Member Simple Plurality ('first past the post') system or opt for a form of proportional representation. Change was rejected, but voter turnout was 42.2%. If Trump behaves in an outrageous way this might force minds, and he himself wants to reform the terms that govern the House so we shall see if he is a revolutionary or not.

[bluesoul]

so, was at a bar last night in the prague when the results came in. and today i read that trump is "considering" ben carson as education secretary (ha- that's a laugh).

congrats to ben carson on his new position as secretary of urban housing and development

is it just me or does anyone read that as a joke?

[blackchubby38]

congrats to ben carson on his new position as secretary of urban housing and development

is it just me or does anyone read that as a joke?

I guess Trump figures since he looks like most of the people that live in urban housing, Carson would be the perfect fit.

[Ts RedVeX]

[Stavros]

Brought to you by the same people who gave you regime change in Iraq and permanent war in Afghanistan -cost: choose a number and add $Trillion after it; the same people who gave you the collapse of Savings and Loans banks in the 1980s and the financial crisis of 2008; the same people who use State law to limit a woman's right to an abortion; the same people who want to ban same-sex marriage and criminalise homosexuality and what they deem 'deviant' sexual behaviour; the same people who want you to pay every time you click on a link on the internet which they also want monitored and censored in line with their political views. And from the same people who created the Moral Majority and other fanatical Christian groups -rather than 'Marxists'- who sit in Congress allegedly as 'Republicans' but who refuse to recognise that the Constitution they are sworn to maintain is a secular, not a religious document.
It is not 'cultural Marxism' that these people are opposed to, it is the fact that Americans vote for someone else, not them. And if 'cultural Marxism' has been so effective in schools and universities and the media, why do people vote Republican or vote for Trump? This rubbish has been doing the rounds of the internet and YouTube for years, it is the American version of Salafist Islam and should be treated in the same way.

[Ts RedVeX]

I cannot say that I agree with all of what the movie preaches but it surely makes more sense than your pro-communist bullshit which just does not make any sense. There is no reasoning with you guys. You seem to acknowledge information given to you and simply take it for granted without question. Most of you do not even bother watching movies like this one because you already lost your ability to reason. All I can say that maybe election of Trump is going to open up your eyes a bit, as he makes quite a lot of sense.

[Stavros]

I cannot say that I agree with all of what the movie preaches but it surely makes more sense than your pro-communist bullshit which just does not make any sense. There is no reasoning with you guys. You seem to acknowledge information given to you and simply take it for granted without question. Most of you do not even bother watching movies like this one because you already lost your ability to reason. All I can say that maybe election of Trump is going to open up your eyes a bit, as he makes quite a lot of sense.

In my case I posted a severe critique of Castro just yesterday and far from just supping up 'information' without criticism I have been both active in left-wing politics and engaged with it and other forms of politics through intellectual scrutiny for many years so my conclusions are drawn from a reasoning that does involve questions, of the kind which many more do not ask of Donald Trump who has told so many blatant lies, and fooled so many people it is surely going to be his supporters who will feel 'Castroed' this time next year -?

On a more serious level, I do not accept that political correctness is a form of 'cultural Marxism', just as I would argue that free market capitalists, anti-EU and anti-trade deal billionaires like Rupert Murdoch have been more influential in swaying public opinion against the NHS, against same-sex relations and internet freedom, against political correctness through their media outlets like Fox News, and newspapers and websites in the UK. It is up to individuals to make their own choices, but I think it is patronising to assume posters here do so without much thought given the quality of argument in most of the posts in P&R.

[blackchubby38]

While I have made my feelings known about how anti-political correctness sentiments played a role in this year's election (and will continue to a play role in future elections if the Democrats don't get their shit together), I would never refer to it as "cultural marxism". I also can't take that video seriously when one of the first people speaking is Pat Buchanan and the words "militant secularism" comes out of his mouth.

[Ts RedVeX]

Have you even watched the movie or just read its title? You are accusing capitalists, who in contrast to communists actually get things done for others to use, of telling lies while your propaganda is nothing but lies.

Frankly, I cannot see why a capitalist would have anything against same sex relations or internet freedom. Moreover, as a businesswoman, I would like to promote whatever suited my business, on-line! However, you lefties, wanna have the media all controlled because you want to be the "more equal" class in your world of "equality". You are against free trading. You are against competition.

You want to induce fear in black, latino transgendered, homosexual people with your promotion of violent acts against them on the media you control. This causes some of us to do silly things like all sorts of parades, marches and other things that in turn make the "normal" part of the society feel uneasy. It increases racism, xenophobia and hate in general. All one needs to do is look around them to see all this and interpret it in the properly.

Luckily, your bullshit seems to have lost a bit of its momentum... Fingers crossed that you guys will be pushed back to your universities and the general public is going to get a break from all that crap.

[trish]

It’s always been something of a mystery to me what Americans even mean by ‘political correctness.’ Language is always on the move. Usages go out of fashion and meanings change. Other usages come into fashion. I assume that to most Americans ‘political correctness’ refers to this ebb and flow in the context of political language, especially within identity politics. “Crippled” was displaced by “disadvantaged” was replaced by “challenged” etc. as each substitution acquires through abusive usage more and more negative freight. Once very common, words like “wop” and “kike” and others have fallen almost completely out of disuse. Why? You tell me.


How are these evolving usages enforced? Nobody is using clubs, knives or guns: “militant political correctness” is outright hyperbole. In most cases there are no laws involving language use. You can call me a “jungle bunny” if you like - there is no law against it. If you commit a violent crime against me while using such epithets the State may have a case that the crime was a “hate crime” which may carry harsher penalties. You might lose your job if you referred to a client using an epithet. Most managers realize such behavior is bad for business.


If on the other hand, a person uses “political correctness” to refer, not to language, but to rights; e.g. your right to use the rest room you deem appropriate for you gender, I would say they are conflating “political correctness” with “civil rights”. The fight for civil rights not unconnected to political correctness, but it is certainly a more substantial issue. There are laws protecting our civil rights. There weren’t always such laws. Most of them were hard won and some of them (our emancipation from slavery, for example) did indeed involve militancy. Still not everybody has full protection under the law. ALEC is constantly pushing laws in state legislatures that would abridge the civil rights of women, LGBTQ persons, Muslims and others.


But instead of facing up to these substantial issues, we are now entering the War-Against-Christmas season, where we listen to O’Reilly rant about the militant attack against Christian values and how Christianity is about to be displaced by Anti-Christian Secularism.