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Author Topic: 2020 Election Commentary  (Read 184969 times)

Garry G

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #180 on: September 09, 2020, 10:37:21 AM »
“Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.”
[/size][/color]
[/size]I'm not sure Orwell would be a valued member of this community. [/color]

Pat
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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #181 on: September 09, 2020, 01:18:21 PM »
I'm not sure Orwell would be a valued member of this community.
Based on my experience, no one is welcome here. So he'd be just as unwelcome as the other animals.

Orwell lived in tumultuous times, and his views changed as the world did. He was a rationalist and an intellectual who despised religion, though he attended Anglican services throughout his life. He saw the rise of the Soviet Union, of fascism in Italy and Germany, and first hand in Spain, where he became a socialist while in a hospital bed, after supporting the anarchists against Franco in the Civil War. He created an anarchist theory that all government was evil, but believed that government had to exist to protect people from injustice. At his core, he seemed to value individual freedom and self-determination, and opposed totalitarianism with ever fiber of his being, which is what most people, when they aren't cherry picking to find favor or disfavor for specific personal beliefs, will find in 1984 and Animal Farm.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2020, 01:21:58 PM by Pat »

deadDMwalking

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #182 on: September 09, 2020, 01:35:30 PM »
On July 1st, Trump and the RNC released their June fundraising totals ($131 Million).  His June fundraising was eclipsed by Biden.  On August 5th, Trump and the RNC released their fundraising totals ($165 million) after Biden had announced his.  The June fundraising was a surprise; incumbents usually have the fundraising advantage.  Biden's fund raising in August was $365 million and here it is, September 9th, and Trump and the RNC have yet to announce their fundraising totals.  If it had been anywhere north of $190 million, they certainly would have been able to spin this as ALSO breaking the previous fundraising record held by Barrack Obama. 

Excluding mega-donors, more than $200 million to the Biden campaign came from small dollar donations (ie, just focusing on 'real Americans' would have been enough by itself to have broken the previous record).  While the August figures for the RNC have not yet been released, the Trump campaign is in a cash crunch.  The Trump campaign defends the $800 Million they've already spent as building infrastructure to compete with ActBlue.  In the last two weeks of August, the Biden campaign spent $35 million on advertising compared to Trump's $5 million. 

An article detailing the current ad spends shows Biden with $182 million being spent in the Battleground States to $158 million; of the 10 battleground states identified, Trump won all but one; as a result he is 'playing defense'. 

Trump began fundraising for re-election immediately after assuming office; he has raised $1.2 billion through July.  With July's fundraising total, Biden has now raised over $1 billion as well.




Edit - Trump just announced his August fundraising. $210 Million
« Last Edit: September 09, 2020, 02:18:07 PM by deadDMwalking »
When I say objectively, I mean 'subjectively'.  When I say literally, I mean 'figuratively'.  
And when I say that you are a horse's ass, I mean that the objective truth is that you are a literal horse's ass.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. - Peter Drucker

Pat
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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #183 on: September 09, 2020, 02:32:47 PM »
I'd be curious to see a breakdown of how much Trump got from small donors. ActBlue is a serious advantage for the Democrats.

I'm finding quotes like this (Biden): "Last month we raised $364.5 million -- 95% of the donations from grassroots supporters like you and the majority online." Which doesn't seem to match the $200 million from small donors you found, but he could be playing games with the word "grassroots".
https://news.yahoo.com/biden-campaign-raises-a-record-3645-million-in-august-164352924.html

Ratman_tf

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #184 on: September 09, 2020, 03:53:30 PM »
“Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.”

I'm not sure Orwell would be a valued member of this community.


Hell, man. Someone who could actually make good arguments for democratic socialism without flipping their shit if someone disagrees would be fine. And anyone against totalitarianism is OK with me.

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Ratman_tf

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #185 on: September 09, 2020, 03:54:58 PM »
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-by-norwegian-official


If Obama could get one for no appreciable reason I can see, why not Trump? We can actually point out something specific Trump did to promote peace in the middle east.
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moonsweeper

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #186 on: September 09, 2020, 04:46:40 PM »
“Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.”

I'm not sure Orwell would be a valued member of this community.


Hell, man. Someone who could actually make good arguments for democratic socialism without flipping their shit if someone disagrees would be fine. And anyone against totalitarianism is OK with me.
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There's a reason Orwell is respected by those of us opposed to socialism.
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moonsweeper

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #187 on: September 09, 2020, 05:01:02 PM »
On July 1st, Trump and the RNC released their June fundraising totals ($131 Million).  His June fundraising was eclipsed by Biden.  On August 5th, Trump and the RNC released their fundraising totals ($165 million) after Biden had announced his.  The June fundraising was a surprise; incumbents usually have the fundraising advantage.  Biden's fund raising in August was $365 million and here it is, September 9th, and Trump and the RNC have yet to announce their fundraising totals.  If it had been anywhere north of $190 million, they certainly would have been able to spin this as ALSO breaking the previous fundraising record held by Barrack Obama. 

Excluding mega-donors, more than $200 million to the Biden campaign came from small dollar donations (ie, just focusing on 'real Americans' would have been enough by itself to have broken the previous record).  While the August figures for the RNC have not yet been released, the Trump campaign is in a cash crunch.  The Trump campaign defends the $800 Million they've already spent as building infrastructure to compete with ActBlue.  In the last two weeks of August, the Biden campaign spent $35 million on advertising compared to Trump's $5 million. 

An article detailing the current ad spends shows Biden with $182 million being spent in the Battleground States to $158 million; of the 10 battleground states identified, Trump won all but one; as a result he is 'playing defense'. 

Trump began fundraising for re-election immediately after assuming office; he has raised $1.2 billion through July.  With July's fundraising total, Biden has now raised over $1 billion as well.




Edit - Trump just announced his August fundraising. $210 Million
Jesus, you need to try a little harder...
First it was polls, polls, polls even though I pointed out that public polls are meant to sway opinion, not report on it.  A better indicator of the internal polling was what the campaigns did.
Now its money, money, money...
A) Hardly surprising since all the Neocon warmongers are supporting Biden.
B) I'm just gonna leave this here... https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-presidential-campaign-fundraising/
"I have a very hard time taking seriously someone who has the time and resources to protest capitalism, while walking around in Nike shoes and drinking Starbucks, while filming it on their iPhone."  --  Alderaan Crumbs

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"Government is the only entity that relies on its failures to justify the expansion of its powers." -- David Freiheit (Viva Frei)

Brad

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #188 on: September 09, 2020, 08:55:17 PM »
“Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.”

I'm not sure Orwell would be a valued member of this community.
Is this one of those, "Nazis weren't socialists!," comments?
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

Steven Mitchell

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #189 on: September 09, 2020, 09:55:14 PM »
Every now and then things simplify to two sides:  Those that want to control what everyone else does and those that don't like that.  When you are in the second group and in one of those times, you'll take any reliable person in the fox hole, even if in a more peaceful time you might be opponents.  Get the control freaks out of the picture, then the rest of us can go back to arguing about the borders on less weighty issues.

Pat
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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #190 on: September 09, 2020, 11:01:13 PM »
Is this one of those, "Nazis weren't socialists!," comments?
Absolutely not, Orwell criticized every major strain of socialism and every major socialist figure of his time. He was a universal gadfly or critic of excesses or affronts to common decency.

Ghostmaker

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #191 on: September 10, 2020, 08:08:14 AM »
I suspect Orwell was learning the sad lesson -- that socialism and communism (BIRM) simply set up a new form of feudal style governance, because of human nature.


Thomas Sowell's Vision of the Anointed is very useful if you want to pursue this line of thought.

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #192 on: September 10, 2020, 09:26:52 AM »
I don't think Orwell learned that lesson, because he remained sympathetic to socialism until the end. But while he was widely read in socialist thought -- his personal library was huge -- he seemed to idealize the community-minded workers ruled by common decency, over the theoretical edifices created by intellectuals. This is me guessing nothing more, but I'd say he liked the dream of socialism but never really reconciled the utopian ideals he admired with the inevitable consequences. Since he wasn't the type to cleave to one side, and defend it at all costs, while attacking all others, as many do today, he ended up savaging the failures of his fellow travelers far more than he criticized those on the opposite end of the spectrum, simply because he was more familiar with their shortcomings.

Anthony Pacheco

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #193 on: September 12, 2020, 05:06:43 PM »
I suspect Orwell was learning the sad lesson -- that socialism and communism (BIRM) simply set up a new form of feudal style governance, because of human nature.


Thomas Sowell's Vision of the Anointed is very useful if you want to pursue this line of thought.

I concur with this Sowell recommendation.
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oggsmash

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Re: 2020 Election Commentary
« Reply #194 on: September 15, 2020, 06:58:46 PM »
  I have to LOL at mentioning democratic "fund raising" without mentioning a GIANT ELEPHANT in the room that is likely the source of said fund raising.