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Author Topic: Current Politicians You Actually Like  (Read 11488 times)

Mordred Pendragon

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« on: January 01, 2019, 03:38:57 AM »
It's no secret that in today's world, the vast majority of politicians are terrible and unfit for their jobs, either due to corruption or stupidity.

You've got a lot of untalented hacks out there here in America alone, such as Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

But what about the politicians currently in office you can actually tolerate or even respect?

For me, there's really only two that stand out to me.

First is Bernie Sanders, an Independent Senator from Vermont. The fact that he is Independent and places his principles above partisan bullshit is noteworthy, as is the fact he stood up to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and almost won. Had Hillary not rigged the primaries and used the broken super-delegate system to her advantage, Bernie would have won the nomination and possibly the election.

I like a lot of Bernie's policies but not all of them, however he's a lot better than either Grandma Nixon or Orange Berlusconi.

Next is Joe Manchin, a Democratic Senator from West Virginia. In many ways, Manchin is the last of the old-school Union Democrats. He's the closest thing we have to a classical liberal in the Senate and he is one of the few remaining Democrats who is pro-Second Amendment and is also pro-First Amendment, willing to call out Antifa's bullshit but also stand up to the Republicans when needed.

Yeah, at times Manchin can be a little too corporate, especially when it comes to the energy companies, but nobody bats a thousand and Joe Manchin is in many ways the last vestige of the old Democratic Party of JFK, LBJ, and Jimmy Carter, or as close as we're going to get to that in this day and age.

Basically, the two best politicians left are an independent mixed-market socialist and a moderate Democrat. Everyone else has gone to shit in my opinion.

Feel free to disagree with me on my choices and instead post your own choices!
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moonsweeper

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« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2019, 10:37:49 AM »
1. Rand Paul == He stands by his principles, which I agree with about 95% of the time

2. Donald Trump == for a few different reasons

    for all his personal faults, he generally is trying to do the things he promised that matter to me. (border security, less government, out of the ME)

    he has pulled the curtain back from the media hacks/establishment/crony capitalists to expose them for what they are.*

    lower taxes. For my wife and I, it exceeds the TOTAL of all the reductions that all previous administrations have gotten passed since we started working in the mid/late 80s...
and we are right at the border of low/middle income category.**[/LIST]

     
*I love the TDS inspired insanity.  Doesn't anyone besides me remember how the Koch bros were the most evil, vile influence peddlers on the planet a few years ago...Haven't heard that lately...I wonder who they have been donating to since then? ;)

**But, hey, it only helped out the rich...:rolleyes:

I actually used to respect Bernie even though I disagree with him on everything of any substance...that went away when he rolled over for the DNC when they screwed him over in the 2016 primary.  On the other hand, maybe I should send a Thank You note to the DNC...They interfered and managed to help get Trump elected.
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Snowman0147

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« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2019, 12:42:43 PM »
Very much with monsweeper here.

Trond

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« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2019, 01:44:49 PM »
I checked a few politicians on the left and the right.

 First off, EVERYONE seems to care about the middle class economy, so they've got that covered (I am no economist so I am not going to pretend I know which approach works best).

Second; the environment (taking care of pollution, biological species diversity, avoiding extinctions) is very important to me*. Bernie Sanders seems to cover this more than most, so I guess I still like Bernie. I can live with the things I disagree with him on, although they can be irritating as hell.

*and BTW, something people need to realize; USA could be better on this, but it is not the biggest sinner, nor is Europe. Mexico is noticeably worse than USA, for instance.But: IT'S CHINA DAMMIT. So, in addition to cutting down pollution and saving their own endangered species, I would like to see some politicians in the West that put more pressure on China.

Motorskills

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« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2019, 02:59:02 PM »
Quote from: Doc Sammy;1070224
It's no secret that in today's world, the vast majority of politicians are terrible and unfit for their jobs, either due to corruption or stupidity.

You've got a lot of untalented hacks out there here in America alone, such as Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

But what about the politicians currently in office you can actually tolerate or even respect?

For me, there's really only two that stand out to me.

First is Bernie Sanders, an Independent Senator from Vermont. The fact that he is Independent and places his principles above partisan bullshit is noteworthy, as is the fact he stood up to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and almost won. Had Hillary not rigged the primaries and used the broken super-delegate system to her advantage, Bernie would have won the nomination and possibly the election.

I like a lot of Bernie's policies but not all of them, however he's a lot better than either Grandma Nixon or Orange Berlusconi.

Next is Joe Manchin, a Democratic Senator from West Virginia. In many ways, Manchin is the last of the old-school Union Democrats. He's the closest thing we have to a classical liberal in the Senate and he is one of the few remaining Democrats who is pro-Second Amendment and is also pro-First Amendment, willing to call out Antifa's bullshit but also stand up to the Republicans when needed.

Yeah, at times Manchin can be a little too corporate, especially when it comes to the energy companies, but nobody bats a thousand and Joe Manchin is in many ways the last vestige of the old Democratic Party of JFK, LBJ, and Jimmy Carter, or as close as we're going to get to that in this day and age.

Basically, the two best politicians left are an independent mixed-market socialist and a moderate Democrat. Everyone else has gone to shit in my opinion.

Feel free to disagree with me on my choices and instead post your own choices!

Pelosi may be many things, untalented is not one of them.

I've been impressed with two politicians who are local to me. The first is Beto O'Rourke who ran an amazing campaign against Ted Cruz, ran him extremely close. I was particularly taken with his response to the NFL kneeling issue.

The other is Dan Crenshaw, who actually lives in my neighbourhood - you would know him from SNL where he appeared alongside Pete Davidson in an excellent segment.

The other guy that impressed me recently, who is very local, albeit not to me,  is Pete Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend IN.
I first came across heard him on the Axe Files podcast, but I've seen him pop up in a couple of other places since. Definitely has a future on a bigger stage.
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Snowman0147

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« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2019, 03:01:24 PM »
Until you tackle both China and India for their gross disregard to the environment I don't even want hear about it.  Mostly because it doesn't matter if all the other countries are squeaky clean if those two have free reign to do what they want.  Each has a billion, or over people just dumping things where ever.

The Exploited.

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« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2019, 03:20:33 PM »
I can't really say much about American Politics. But from what I've seen I'd be more a Bernie Sanders type of guy.
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Trond

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« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2019, 03:33:52 PM »
Quote from: Snowman0147;1070255
Until you tackle both China and India for their gross disregard to the environment I don't even want hear about it.  Mostly because it doesn't matter if all the other countries are squeaky clean if those two have free reign to do what they want.  Each has a billion, or over people just dumping things where ever.

Well, I don't think that's true, leading by example is a thing. China and India do have environmental movements, and those were largely inspired by similar groups in the west. If western science didn't exist, many species would simply have gone extinct, and nobody would have cared until they realized what hit them. As much as China sometimes pretends to be the big boy, they actually do have a great deal of respect for USA (nobody can deny the amounts of Chinese who would rather live in America, or the prestige of western education etc). But putting on political pressure would also help.

On top of that, consumption is very high per person in USA, and virtually everyone in LA agrees that the air has gotten a lot better here after they started caring about cleaning lead out of gasoline etc. So there's that too.

moonsweeper

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« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2019, 04:17:53 PM »
Quote from: Trond;1070252

*and BTW, something people need to realize; USA could be better on this, but it is not the biggest sinner, nor is Europe. Mexico is noticeably worse than USA, for instance.But: IT'S CHINA DAMMIT. So, in addition to cutting down pollution and saving their own endangered species, I would like to see some politicians in the West that put more pressure on China.


That right there is the litmus test for who is ACTUALLY concerned about the environment and who is using it as a lever for political power or monetary gain.

...and speaking of the air in LA.  There is a book called Ecocide in the USSR (published late 80s or early 90s) that I have in my library somewhere.  I used it in a Soviet History class back then.  One of the basic takeaways that I remember was that ALMOST EVERY industrialized city over about 30k (give or take) had a 'good' day pollution level that was worse than LA on a 'bad' day. Some really scary shit.
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Ratman_tf

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« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2019, 04:42:49 PM »
None. Although some amuse me from time to time.
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jhkim

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« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2019, 04:47:41 PM »
For the general question, I don't trust any politicians personally. There may be some who really are decent people, but I feel like it's impossible to judge this from the general information available. I think the last person I really looked up to in Washington was Justice David Souter.

Quote from: Snowman0147;1070255
Until you tackle both China and India for their gross disregard to the environment I don't even want hear about it.  Mostly because it doesn't matter if all the other countries are squeaky clean if those two have free reign to do what they want.  Each has a billion, or over people just dumping things where ever.
I agree that we should pressure China and India to have higher standards. Getting them to sign the Paris Agreement, for example, was a good step. Still, the U.S. has vastly higher carbon output per capita than either China or India. While carbon emissions aren't everything - they are one of the most important things to my mind globally.

Ratman_tf

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« Reply #11 on: January 01, 2019, 05:20:44 PM »
Quote from: jhkim;1070268
I agree that we should pressure China and India to have higher standards. Getting them to sign the Paris Agreement, for example, was a good step. Still, the U.S. has vastly higher carbon output per capita than either China or India. While carbon emissions aren't everything - they are one of the most important things to my mind globally.

Anyone serious about carbon emissions should become a proponent of nuclear power. Until then, they're just farting in the wind. (Pun intended)
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jhkim

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« Reply #12 on: January 01, 2019, 05:48:01 PM »
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1070271
Anyone serious about carbon emissions should become a proponent of nuclear power. Until then, they're just farting in the wind. (Pun intended)
I'm a huge proponent of nuclear power. I am pleased to hear that the  Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act has passed both the Senate and House recently, for example, with overwhelming bipartisan support.

https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/neima

https://www.powermag.com/bipartisan-nuclear-modernization-bill-clears-congress/

moonsweeper

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« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2019, 06:17:36 PM »
Quote from: jhkim;1070273
I'm a huge proponent of nuclear power. I am pleased to hear that the  Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act has passed both the Senate and House recently, for example, with overwhelming bipartisan support.

https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/neima

https://www.powermag.com/bipartisan-nuclear-modernization-bill-clears-congress/


Wait...Congress actually did something useful?
Isn't that one of the signs of an impending apocalypse??
"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

"Just, can you make it The Ramones at least? I only listen to Abba when I want to fuck a stripper." -- Jeff37923

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

The Exploited.

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« Reply #14 on: January 01, 2019, 06:43:45 PM »
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1070271
Anyone serious about carbon emissions should become a proponent of nuclear power. Until then, they're just farting in the wind. (Pun intended)

Nuclear power is where it's at for the moment. The latest generation of power stations are highly efficient and put out very little waste. However, try telling that to someone who doesn't want to listen to the science. :(
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