clinton vs. sanders your vote? — Page 132

There is an extremist leftwing movement swelling that I find just as disturbing as the rightwing Teabaggers.

Is the Internet to blame (social media, disreputable blogs passing as legit news sources, etc.) for this extreme behavior in either direction?

People online LOVE to make their point in ALL CAPS with phrases like THE BEST EVER or THE WORST EVER. They do it here on BWW on the Main Board. It's laughable and rarely true that "Show X" is "the worst show I've ever seen in my life."

All I know is there are growing numbers of people moving to the outer edges of the political parties now. They are loud, rude, mean-spirited, childish, angry, and they love to wag their fingers at "moderates" in either party (as they call them) who are betraying the group's integrity as a whole.

I'm not sure where this is going or where it will end. I do know it's unsettling. And I'm speaking about both parties and both extreme views. Delusional, uncompromising, shortsighted (in their radical, visionary goals---oh, the irony), and anything but "progressive" in execution.

Scary stuff.

best12bars said: "There is an extremist leftwing movement swelling that I find just as disturbing as the rightwing Teabaggers.

Is the Internet to blame (social media, disreputable blogs passing as legit news sources, etc.) for this extreme behavior in either direction?

People online LOVE to make their point in ALL CAPS with phrases like THE BEST EVER or THE WORST EVER. They do it here on BWW on the Main Board. It's laughable and rarely true that "Show X" is "the worst show I've ever seen in my life."

All I know is there are growing numbers of people moving to the outer edges of the political parties now. They are loud, rude, mean-spirited, childish, angry, and they love to wag their fingers at "moderates" in either party (as they call them) who are betraying the group's integrity as a whole.

I'm not sure where this is going or where it will end. I do know it's unsettling. And I'm speaking about both parties and both extreme views. Delusional, uncompromising, shortsighted (in their radical, visionary goals---oh, the irony), and anything but "progressive" in execution.

Scary stuff.



"

I can't speak for the behaviour of many, and I'm not sure if you are specifically referring to Bernie Sanders' policies (I assume so given the context of this thread). If so, I personally don't see his policies as radical/visionary/extreme. I think part of the frustration is that he is advocating for rather common-sense principles that perhaps within a broken US political system might seem 'extreme', but compared to many other western (and non-western) countries the policies are standard fare. I don't think it's radical that many people expect universal healthcare, a liveable minimum wage, a political system influenced by the people rather than big money interests, paid parental/sick leave, lowered wealth inequality etc.

CarlosAlberto said: "Oh and this primary last week was soooo rigged. "

How?

best12bars said: "qolbinau---I was talking about the extremists on either side, not Sanders himself or his policies. He didn't create this fire, he just propelled it. But so many of his followers are revealing a very ugly side of themselves, fueled by propaganda, half-truths, and outright lies. They are operating under this "mass hysteria" and anger that is quite frankly just as unsettling as the Tea Party movement.



"

Ah ok I see, I understand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"As an aside...

Any sign of same-sex marriage equality in your Australian utopia?
"

I have said at least twice in this thread that my country is not perfect. Even the policies that are implemented are not perfect and can sometimes have unintended consequences (or negative consequences that are accepted). A high minimum wage, public healthcare, accessible education, paid parental/sick leave etc. can have some negative consequences for businesses, for quality of services and therefore for individuals. However, they also can have a lot of benefits for individuals too, benefits that help avoid some of the issues many people face in the US.

The main reason I am involving myself in this political discussion is because as a human being I can see that there are issues that human beings are facing on the same planet that I live on, and I want to advocate for a position that I personally think can help. I am not doing it so I can sit here in my ivory tower enjoying a bit of schadenfreude. It's actually a lot easier and less time consuming to simply do that and ignore this thread. A thread that can become incredibly tedious because some people want to keep derailing the discussion into irrelevant personal qualities rather than actually discussing the issues.

And speaking of enjoying a bit of schadenfreude, that's exactly what the tone of your comment seems to be to me. If you want to involve yourself in a political discussion about the issues of my country (e.g., gay marriage), why don't you do exactly what I have been doing for weeks and weeks in this thread and advocate for some kind of political position or process that you think could help me influence overturning this law? In fact, I'd love you to do that because it's an awful thing about living in this country. Otherwise, to sit here and express some kind of satisfaction that we don't have gay marriage is a pretty sad thing to do. This law personally impacts my mental health, (I suspect) my relationships and reinforces a societal norm that LGBT relationships (and therefore, in my opinion, people) are some how second class. A very snarky comment indeed.

Updated On: 4/24/16 at 10:18 PM

It read snarkier than I intended, which is maybe true of a lot of my posts. I'm sorry for that.

Thanks qolbinau for bringing some sanity to this thread.

The Sanders campaign appears to be beginning to wind down, and they're now working on getting some of their ideas into the party's platform this summer.



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I suppose it's good he is supporting the wider Democratic Party, which I know he received criticism for on here. Is he dehumanising Hillary? That's a strong word.



Just watched some recent Clinton interviews. If there is one thing she definitely has over Bernie it is her communication skills. It's pretty interesting Bernie has been able to inspire the people he has - he is far less polished. It'll be so interesting to watch her debate Trump.

Just got home from a trip to Phoenix. Folks out there in Maricopa County are still pissed at Helen Purcell and other election officials for the abominable job they did scaling out the polling places. An investigation by the Justice Dept is underway. Thankfully, there wasn't much discussion about the White House horse race within the circles in which I traveled.

It is Rhode Island (my state.) They cut them back by 66%.

brdlwyr said: "Arts - what is the reported need for the voting cut?"

They claim that it's simply because they can handle the volume using only 1 out of 3 polling places. I'll let you know how that turns out.

It's a Dem state so I would assume a Dem decision. It appears Independents can vote in RI, which is going to make the Clintonites look bad again if another Arizona happens.