Actually, they weren't even in the abortion debate prior to two generations ago. It was brought up as a wedge issue in the late 70's.
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PoliGAF 2013 |OT2| Worth 77% of OT1
- Thread starter The Librarian
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ClassyPenguin
Banned
Same with guns.
Somehow this does not surprise me in the slightest.
Frank the Great
Banned
EV banned? What happen?
Minimum wage thread, started calling posters idiots and pathetic human beings. Rookie move to lower to insults.
The Librarian
Banned
US added 195,000 jobs in June. April was revised up from 145,000 to 199,000. May was revised up from 175,000 to 195,000.
looks like i better get my house sold soon before the interest rates slow down loans
The Librarian
Banned
Average number of jobs added per month since 2008.
https://twitter.com/Simas44/status/353146332531273730
https://twitter.com/Simas44/status/353146332531273730
We woulda had way more if not for Obama's job killing tax hikes on the job creators!
Anyone know what the total amount of private sector jobs created so far is?
Why is direct democracy terrible? I mean, going by the polls, America would have universal health-care, introduced some minor gun-control measures, addressed climate change, legalized marijuana and legalized gay-marriage, if it were a direct democracy.
Not that direct democracy doesn't have it's flaws -- without proper protections for minorites and dissidents being codified, it can devolve into mob-rule -- but that's true of any system, you always need checks and balances. You could have a cabinet alongside direct-democracy like Switzerland. I think America would actually be a excellent candidate for Swiss-style democracy given how diverse the population is.
Again, there's still plenty of valid criticisms you can hurl at the concept, but I don't see how only being allowed to vote every two years on which group of privileged technocrats (who are obliged to prioritize corporate interests on a systematic level) get to be in charge is any better.
That look on Rosa's face....
cooljeanius
Member
It's not just mob rule that people worry about, but the rapidly-changing passions of the masses. It's not just that the mob is ruling that is the problem, but also how quickly public opinion can change on some things, which can lead to uncertainty about what the laws will be. New Hampshire has so many representatives and has elections so often that we're practically a direct democracy, and we've just swung back-and-forth rapidly between a liberal, progressive legislature, an ultra-conservative teabagger legislature, and now back to a more reasonable liberal legislature, and most of the time they've spent just undoing the legislation passed by the previous legislature. Having such rapid shifts in the law is no way to govern.
Rapid change isn't the problem with direct democracy. The problem is that the masses really don't understand how to govern and aren't qualified for it.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
I have no idea how to interpret this cartoon. I can't even tell if it's pro or anti.
Link
The Autumn Wind
How's that different from most of Congress?
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
To put it in a way that can't be spun quite as poorly (although I agree) a direct democracy in which everyone votes on every minor bill and issue is a democracy that is controlled by an uninformed body because people can't spare the time to actually read up on and be knowledgable about everything. That's kind of the idea behind the professional representative, that they dedicate all of their time to doing that (weather they actually do is, of course, another question)
Oh, and also a direct democracy in our current cultural context would just basically hand government even further over to the control of the media juggurnaut, and I'd rather not do that.
Arrowgigantic
Member
It's anti-. Mike Lester is a terrible human being.
It's anti, but the artist, Mike Lester, is just horrible when it comes to metaphors.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
And a terrible politcal cartoonist, as well. Can't even make a point, it seems.
PhoenixDark
Banned
The gays are sitting on the left, Rosa is sitting on the right. Guess she was a republican like MLK.
I don't think horrible covers how bad he is at them...
This isn't the only way to have a direct democracy. Did you read the Wiki article I posted about Switzerland?
I think Switzerland proves that you can give the unwashed masses a little political power, without bringing on the end-times. In fact, I think Switzerland is a great example of the positive effect allowing people to vote on issues has, rather than electing technocrats who usually only care about their own interests. The Swiss voted against adopting the Euro and have done a fine job protecting their sovereignty.
look what happened to the rest of europe, lol
How so? I'm not disputing what you're saying persay, but I think the 2-party system encourages tribalism in a way that dryly voting on issues that are important to you doesn't.
I don't think the vast majority of these politicians care or even understand 99% of the public.
Shadow Hog
Member
Well, from their point of view, the gays are on the right and Rosa Parks is on the left, so...?
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
I genuinely don't get that cartoon. Can someone explain it to me very basically?
It confused me at first as well, but then I realized how it's supposed to work. If you genuinely believe that gay people are fundamentally bad, then seating a couple of them right next to Rosa Parks can be viewed as making a mockery of a civil rights icon. To someone who is anti-gay, the cartoon underscores their belief that gay rights is not really civil rights and that calling it civil rights is an insult to the civil rights movement of the 60s.*
The joke just doesn't make sense to us because we don't have that key built in assumption that his audience does. You can only really get the punchline if you're a bigot.
* After decades of social pressure and change, cognitive dissonance allows such people to agree on a rhetorical level that the CRM was a good thing while still opposing everything it stood for.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
I get it now.
I see a lot of conservative "humor" that I need to run through a filter like this to understand, but this one was so far out of my ability to relate to even hypothetically that I missed it.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
Huh. I kind of get that? I guess?
JesseEwiak
Member
Bingo. If we had direct democracy for the budget (for example, you choose where to allocate your "tax dollars."), many things that get alot of public facetime would get greatly funded like say, cancer research, but things that do good work, but either don't make sense at first blush or don't have a lot of attention would get shafted (ie. drug rehab, weird scientific funding, etc.).
Nah dude, it's saying that radical Islam is the metaphorical "head" that is driving democracy in Egypt, and it's a god of death and shit.
That isn't even especially incomprehensible for a right-wing cartoon.
Welcome to hard mode.
Yeah, I don't even have the faintest idea on that one.
Radical Islam is the Pharaoh, but with a heart of Democracy and dick made out of Egypt. In crude terms he's saying that Egyptian radical Islam is fucking democracy and ruing it for everyone.
Lucky Forward
Member
One of those guys only has one leg.
I like this better than mine.
Slippery slope my friend, slippery slope.
In all honesty I think the reason that there are few (if any) conservative comedians out there is because all the topics that are central to comedy (sex, drugs, self-deprecation, tongue-in-cheek racism, religion, etc.) are all sensitive to conservatives.
All I'm seeing is homoeroticism.That isn't even especially incomprehensible for a right-wing cartoon.
Welcome to hard mode.
That isn't even especially incomprehensible for a right-wing cartoon.
Welcome to hard mode.
This one is obviously foretelling the return of an ancient Egyptian priest as an undead, unkillable, all powerful mummy. It also shows that he can only be killed by using a foot-long sickle with a rabbit's foot attacked to the back end. It's all there.
zero shift
Banned
Direct Democracy certainly has its advantages, but it needs to be used carefully. It works in Switzerland but not as well in California. It all depends on the implementation. Looking at public opinion and the fact that elections are controlled by gerrymandering with the presidential controlled by swing states, this country needs more democratization and not less.
Serious question, how much longer until the economy gets back to how it was before the recession?
Average number of jobs added per month since 2008.
https://twitter.com/Simas44/status/353146332531273730
Serious question, how much longer until the economy gets back to how it was before the recession?
No one can say that for sure and anyone who tells you they can is an idiot. That said it is getting better, slowly but surely.
tanooki141
Member
Question for Poligaf:
How much is underemployment factored into the unemployment figures?
Does a job have to be 40 hrs to count?
I'm wondering now partially because of all the hours cuts that Obamacare has induced employers into making (ex. Walmart cutting most ppl over 30 to under 30).
How much is underemployment factored into the unemployment figures?
Does a job have to be 40 hrs to count?
I'm wondering now partially because of all the hours cuts that Obamacare has induced employers into making (ex. Walmart cutting most ppl over 30 to under 30).
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
"He is a bad president" made me literally laugh out loud.
Good thing nobody is here today.
Good thing nobody is here today.
zero shift
Banned
Likely within the next 5 years? 10 years? 15? Surely someone could assume when it will likely be over by assume things stay the course.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
The homosexual couple finally gets to sit at the front of the bus with Ms. Parks, who is astonished that it has taken so long for them to join her. A good cartoon.
For a second I thought I had gone to the horrible political cartoons thread at SA. Don't bring Lester here, just don't do it guys.
(Bors and Bennett can come)
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