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Routine Political Dystopia 2021 Edition


April

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In the spirit of ditching dead threads with lots of baggage, I feel like it's time to make a new political thread too.
Especially since the primaries are starting, so I imagine at least some discussion is bound to happen.

Also I just wanted to talk about how Berno is the blatant frontrunner y'all. It's wild to have some actual hope this time around. y;

Edited by Pichi
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I wish foreign countries (let's say just the G8) got to vote in the USA elections and were treated like a small state. I mean, a lot of your policies will affect our countries too. I'm pretty sure Canada would be a Bernie backer. Hell, I'd vote for him if this were a thing, and I've never voted for my own country's leader.

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 I like Tom Steyer because I've been seeing him a lot on the T.V. and is a philanthropist, environmentalist, activist, and has made a nonprofit organization called NextGen Amercia to combat a lot of difficult changes. He has even had a hand it contributing funds and his believes of the current taxation is doing a lot of damage and wants to fix it (no I haven't been looking at Wikipedia..)... Anyways the guy sounds like a good candidate for  me unless proven otherwise.

Edited by Kirbymeister2
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@Kirbymeister2 Steyer's miraculously a good candidate, even though everybody was against him generally for doing the same thing as Bloomberg (single-handedly trying to buy relevance in the election). He's probably the only candidate besides Bernie to run a no-compromise, hard progressive platform.
The only problem is he's polling at nothing.

image.thumb.png.eae42b365160e4d5bf2fe527f720ccbd.png

 

But he pretty much aligns with Bernie on public healthcare, climate change, student debt forgiveness, wealth tax, paid family leave, immigration reform, free college-level education, criminal justice reform. He's a good candidate policy-wise, but he's not likely to keep in the race much longer.
Try comparing for yourself! They're really similar.

https://www.tomsteyer.com/policies/
https://berniesanders.com/issues/

Edited by Pichi
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/13/2020 at 2:56 AM, EH_STEVE said:

I wish foreign countries (let's say just the G8) got to vote in the USA elections and were treated like a small state. I mean, a lot of your policies will affect our countries too. I'm pretty sure Canada would be a Bernie backer. Hell, I'd vote for him if this were a thing, and I've never voted for my own country's leader.

I don't think I'd go quite that far, but for what it's worth, us Americans abroad can still vote, and even participate in primaries with our own delegates. Democrats Abroad, for example, has 13 delegates up for grabs:

 

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-primary-forecast/democrats-abroad/

 

I'll be voting through that again this year, and participating in the general election. It would be nice if we got some additional direct representation, however. There are several million Americans in this situation, and we get appalling and fragmented representation compared to our homeland peers. We do have problems that directly impact us solely because of some backwards US policies (e.g. citizenship-based taxation; FATCA).

 

The United States is very unique in that it continues to keep its citizens overseas in the tax system. We still need to file our taxes to the US every year, and we need to deal with other overhead as well such as Foreign Bank Account Reporting to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Legislation like FATCA means that my banks and investment platforms need to report information about me to the IRS too. Several overseas financial providers have decided to stop doing business with American citizens because of the extra costs that we incur. It's a disastrous situation.

 

While we can still vote in elections, our representation is awful. Other countries do not treat their expatriates like this, and it has been a severe opportunity cost to me. Unless the situation rapidly improves, I'll be renouncing my US citizenship in under three years when I have the opportunity. It's one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made in my life, but I feel I need to do it so that I'm not at a permanent financial disadvantage compared to my New Zealand peers solely because I hold a US passport. Oh, and America also charges $2,350 USD for that "privilege". It's been compared to extortion.

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10 hours ago, Ridley Prime said:

That feel when you're more worried about the corona virus than the election.

I have a story that might be interesting to you.

 

Recently I read a story about an American who was in China for work related reasons and he had healthcare coverage through his employer. During his time there he suspected he had been infected with the coronavirus so he did the right thing and went to the hospital to make sure. It turns out he was okay thankfully but his healthcare provider refused to cover the visit to the hospital. He was suddenly on the hook for several thousand dollars even though he had done the right thing in trying to contain the spread of it. It's a great example of how lack of access and affordability in the current US healthcare system is a problem when it comes to containing the spread of outbreaks.

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Yeah, kinda realized/learned after sleeping following my previous post and then seeing other takes, that all the discussion and paranoia about the virus was merely just taking a toll on my mental health. 
 

That story there is a perfect example too though. A certain chunk of the fear with the virus stems from racism as well unfortunately, like previous similar cases.

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19 hours ago, Ridley Prime said:

That feel when you're more worried about the corona virus than the election.

Hah, we just had our first confirmed case here in Auckland.

 

Work's been on top of the situation. I wonder if I'll be working from home for the next few weeks at this rate...

 

Meanwhile, this is a good read and a terrifying - but likely realistic - perspective:

 

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/27/21155901/coronavirus-in-us-spread-paid-sick-leave

 

The work culture in the United States doesn't seem compatible with a proper quarantine. When employees have to choose between not working and not being paid, of course they're going to do what they can to continue putting food on the table.

 

My work experience in the US was horrifying. I, too, was in a position where I did not get paid if I did not go to work. Regardless, I was incredibly sick at one point and tried to call in to work. I was still bullied to come in because I was "the only one" who could do some on-site work. I caved, had a miserable time, and went through all that stress (possibly infecting others) for a measly $9/hr.

New Zealand in comparison has fantastic workers' rights. Guaranteed annual leave, sick leave, parental leave, bereavement leave, etc. Plus, employers can't fire you on a whim. I really hope that Americans can get out and vote in November so that the country can finally catch up to the rest of the developed world.

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22 hours ago, purple_beard said:

I'm not feeling any of the candidates.  And when I try to hear what they say in say a debate, it ends up being arguments instead of ideas and solutions.  I'm no Trump guy even if some of his points make sense.

that's just natural in a primary, since there's not as much platform differentiation now that the Dem platform is finally being pulled left somewhat.
the race has basically come down to bernie's socdem platform vs moderates selling themselves on being a compromised bernie-lite or just being a regular neoliberal.
if you want their unfiltered, unchallenged answers on policy, just go to their websites or listen to their campaign speeches.
tl;dr every dem is campaigining on tackling climate change to some degree, bernie is campaigning on working class support, complete healthcare overhaul in favor of universal coverage like most other countries, getting money out of politics, preventing the rich from exploiting tax loopholes, heavily reducing US imperialism, etc.
warren is bernie-lite and they mostly have similar policies, but her and buttigieg are afraid of campaigning on full healthcare overhaul. and buttigieg is trying to be a moderate.
biden is the full neolib moderate, basically the exact same as hillary.
bloomberg is literally just trying to buy the election lol

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16 hours ago, Kirbymeister2 said:

I fucking hate bloomberg. I get texts that should be to my parents get to me by the campaign and spam mail from them too.

 

 Anyways since Steyer is out of the running I have no idea who to vote for.  

you hate one billionaire trying to buy the election but you were gonna vote for the other billionaire trying to buy the election? 🤔

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In the weakest defense, I never saw much of his ads on YouTube. Or any.  
 
... I said it was a weak defense.  
 
Voting Pete, even if he has flaws (since when do people EVER say that when talking about their candidate of choice), and might not have a chance of winning the primaries. Best of luck to him! 
 
As of now: He’s out now. Shoot. 
 
Going either Warren or Bernie then.

Edited by Link, the Hero of Dreams
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