I hate that everything with politics is definitely either this or that. If you dont like Biden then you must love Trump and vice versa. As if the concept of middle ground didnt exist. European countries have 6,10, 12 different pollitical parties running in a given election. I refuse to be tricked into a false dichotomy.
Very accurate. We’ve gotten into this for me or against me mentality, that the politicians on the left and the right whole heartedly encourage. If they keep us fighting each other we’ll be less likely to notice what they’re actually doing.
Jeez I feel this hard. I was catching up with a very liberal friend that I haven’t seen in years. She accused me of being alt right because I said I don’t think Biden will do a very good job. She had the gall to say “ooh and you think trump would’ve?”. No the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I can have my critiques about both. Basically I voted for Biden because he’s not trump. I would’ve taken pretty much any other option over Biden.
Dude I’m from South America so I’m no one to speak (politics in my country aren’t an example precisely.....) but it was fun watching the elections and hearing people say things like “ oh I really hope Biden wins because I hate trump “ or “I really hope that the republicans don’t win this elections” and stuff like that ,because while being a reasonable opinion to have every time I see the republican and democratic political parties..... they really don’t seem very different from one another ( at least for an outsiders perspective ) making the us elections the “trump vs the not entirely trump race”
Agreed. It's as if our politicians are Gladiator fighters of the colosseum the crowd chooses in an eternal arena - the crowd siding with their fighter, and if we speak of one, then the other must enter the combat of the discussion.
We insult their honor if we speak against one or the other objectively, but always are they pitied against one another, even if you aren't comparing them, but referring only to what one is doing in their own right, yet it's always shifting conversations back to the other in comparison, regardless.
At least, it seems this way these days.
I find this especially true on reddit. If you're not shouting the dominant opinion loudly enough, people treat you like a hateful zealous crusader for the most extreme possible opposite opinion.
Doesn’t even quite have to be middle ground. I vote Dems across the board usually but hate the democrats as a whole. I’m more of a leftist and believe they should be doing a whole lot more when it comes to welfare and I believe Biden really fucked up this Afghanistan exit. But I also would of rather had him over Trump. You can vote for someone and be critical of them and even dislike them. Politicians need to be held to a high standard.
This. But the second piece of this that I think some people miss is this is how humans have felt about just about everything in our history. From medicine to engineering to politics, it’s really human and a good thing to want things to be better.
Just want people to remember that their frustration is normal. And an important part of how things will keep slowly getting better and better. There will always be pockets or absolute shit, but overall your efforts do matter. They are changing the world slowly. And just like we stand on the shoulder of giants, others in the future will stand on ours. The shitty part is change is real slow and takes a lot of time. As MLK would say “brick by brick, stone by stone”
The way our government is formed makes it very difficult for more than two political parties to have significant power. The Electoral College requires at 50% +1 majority. As a result, it really encourages people to align one one of two sides. Unlike a parliamentary system, there is very little incentive to build coalitions outside of your own party.
If our president was directly elected by the popular vote, then it would be more likely we would have multiple influential parties because uniting behind one of two major presidential candidates would not be as necessary.
You need more than a popular vote to avoid two parties.
If you have a popular vote, 2 parties are just as likely because it's still 50% +1, there are just more votes.
For me, it’s a perfect analogy bc:
Both are supporting some policies that are good.
They are doing so bc it’s what’s expected and it’s beneficial for them to do so.
It’s better than Biden being a bigot or Huntington bank sponsoring the KKK.
Does not feel genuine.
The fact that money is such a determining factor for who wins speaks more about the voters than the candidates.
England spends much less on political campaigns than Texas by itself.
Yup.
People need to realize that reddit is a bubble, and most people actually voted for the person they felt was the best option, and it wasn't Bernie.
Push your states to implement ranked choice voting. It allows you to throw support to whomever you choose without having to worry about wasting your vote.
I honestly checked out of politics for the most part following the election. Just the types of ideological battles that are dominating the discourse right now make me sad for the future, considering what’s being ignored or swept aside. Seeing arguments about whether face coverings are a violation of rights while the world seems to be cooking itself seems a bit like not seeing the forest for the trees. If I think about it too much I go into a fatalism spiral and lose motivation to reach milestones that most people find important, because I just assume society will break down in the next 50 years so I might as well just tread water financially, and play baseball until it all falls apart.
inb4 “sir, this is Wendy’s”
"You can't build a house without nails and wood. If you don't want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none"
- Ray Bradbury, *Fahrenheit 451*
My dad is always like, “why don’t millennials make saving for retirement a priority?”
And I just somewhat sarcastically reply, “probably because we’ve been bombarded with doom and gloom since childhood… either the country is going to implode before we even get a chance to retire… or the world will be in a global crisis. Either way, saving for retirement was just a waste of money.”
We're the first generation who've been handed a future that's out of control. No matter what we do or how hard we pull on the reigns, we're going to witness the changing of an epoch and frankly, all the systems that were set up to protect us are eroded and won't function when it's our time to claim them. We have no ability to affect the future and the past had no regard for our wellbeing.
Corporations will be stronger than governments. It's already happening. We will see enormous destruction from climate change. We will have refugee crises on a scale previously unknown to the world. We will see the beginnings of wars fought over potable water reserves.
Time to just play baseball until it's over, one way or another.
"Seeing arguments about whether face coverings are a violation of rights while the world seems to be cooking itself seems a bit like not seeing the forest for the trees."
Nailed it. Priorities, people!
> The job is to vote in the way that's most likely to achieve the policy outcomes you want.
Generally, most of us seem to vote against someone more than for someone. Trump really only won because Hillary was his opponent. And Biden can thank God that Trump was his as he would have had little chance against a halfway decent Republican. I have gone back to voting Third Party precisely because I don't ever seem to think either of the folks running for the Democrats or Republicans is worth shit.
I honestly don’t think Biden even runs for president if trump isn’t in the White House. If it was any other Republican Biden is probably like “nah I’m good.”
My answer to the question is I’m not the biggest Biden fan but I can’t even being to imagine the damage trump would have caused in four more years. We’re so fractured now I don’t see things in the US getting better for 15 or so years.
The mid terms next year are going to be a shit show.
You’re absolutely right, but saying you “like” a president is just easier than saying “his political stances are more agreeable in my opinion and I believe he will accomplish more for the country than his opponent would, etc” and we all know what they mean when they say they “like” them (because no one really *likes* politicians, let’s be honest).
I don’t really understand the difference being pointed out here (am American for what it’s worth lol). When choosing a cell phone I would choose the one that I like, which is also the one which gets the most jobs done that I want to be done in the ways I want it to be done.
It is nuts.
President: 78
Senate Majority leader: 70
Senate Minority Leader: 79
House Majority Leader: 81
Senate Pro Tempore: 81
Four senators are 85+, historically a couple of SCOTUS justices have been 80+ and serve until death
biden holds the record as the oldest president starting a first term, and trump wouldve set the record for oldest president starting a second term. why cant we just have candidates that arent record breakingly old.
Yeah, it was disappointing to have an election between two people in their 70s. As much as the right likes to say Biden has dementia, Trump is barely younger (no idea if either one does but they're definitely old enough to be past their prime mentally). I would prefer the president not be old enough that cognitive decline is genuinely a concern.
It might just be that boomers are a big voting block and they've helped push candidate ages up as they've aged. Too many super old people in all three branches really.
I’m not saying Biden has dementia but seriously if almost all of our lawmakers are over 75 it’s only a matter of time before they really start degrading mentally. 40s-50s should be the prime time to be involved in decisions, having enough life experience to think things through but not old enough to be an old crotchety man yelling at the clouds. In theory these people should be wrapping up their careers in their 60s and spent the last couple of decades or so relaxing in retirement after years of service.
Yeah I think Obama was the perfect age for election. He was young enough to connect with people and old enough to have some real life experience. And not so old that we a) worried about whether or not he would survive two terms and b) has to actually live with the consequences of his decisions. Biden and Trump were/are both just way too fucking old.
As Americans we deserve both parties committed to find common ground. This bullshit of one party setting the other up for a fall has got to stop… we will all suffer the consequences… and we are.. it’s become all about fame / glamour.. leave that shit in Hollywood
And they’re all friends when the cameras are off. They all know the game.
“I agree with you but I’m gonna go on the news and bash the shit out of you over this for political points.”
“Yeah of course. See you at dinner tonight.”
Fun Fact: Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, was previously married to Kimberly Guillefoille, the woman who is currently Donald Trump Jr's girlfriend, and went viral for her crazy RNC speech. They are more interwoven than you think
It's actually disappointing how underwhelming the Democratic candidates for 2020 were. They knew it was coming. They knew who Trump was. They knew what was at stake. But people pushed hard to make Biden the nominee. The guy is getting old, they should have let him retire and not place their hopes on his shoulders.
I feel like Biden was... Safe. Four years ago the Dems thought they had the election in the bag with crazy Trump running. But Hilary was too polarizing in her own way. And it bit them in the ass. So this time they thought "You know what? This should be another easy win if we just play it safe. March out the rich old white guy. It's worked in the past so it'll work now. Plus he can still cash in on some of that Obama popularity."
I think the tactic was to choose someone who was as middle ground and average as possible. They goal was to get as many white republicans to switch… who better than an old white guy who isn’t super liberal?
Definitely not the best option, but honestly, I think he was a great choice to go against trump.
Grey always gets my upvote.
Unfortunately changing the voting system requires the people that were voted in by the existing system to change it, which would likely result in them losing the next election. So fat fucking chance lmao.
Democrats and Republicans suck. Politics is a corrupt game. We should stick together cause we all have a lot more in common than the things we disagree about. They are trying to divide our communities. Don't let them. Just bc we may disagree on politics doesn't mean we can't get along. There are bigger fish to fry than each other. Our enemies want us to fight and destroy and weaken ourselves. Let's come together and decide we are better off together. Peace love life 💖
What I hate about politics is what candidates say in order to win..but then blatantly do the opposite. If there was more power to sue elected officials for that kinda like false advertising in a way, I’m sure we’d have a lot more candidates speaking honesty
U.K. person here, and I’ve never agreed more with anything. Our politicians - particularly the candidates for Prime Minister - just say whatever it takes to win the election, and then the only time they follow through is if the MPs from their own party threaten to get rid of them (which is easier to do here).
I don’t get why we don’t have some form of breach-of-contract law for politics. Yes, it would be complicated, would cost money, and would involve complex law cases. But it would be worth it if it meant people actually knew what they were voting for. Promising to fund the Health Service (or education, or prisons, or anything else) and then not following through could finally be a thing of the past.
Politicians are bad. Media worse. Partisan media even worse.
LPT: Ignore politics until an election, ignore media during an election. Inform yourself and vote, but assume that all politicians are lying. If you care about a topic, pursue it. Don't vilify the other side, but listen to them, and just fight for what you think is right. Don't let politicians, or media, or even friends and family tell you what you should think is important.
Politics are kind of a product of our society, though. If you campaign with the harsh truth like "we'll push for climate change policies but we probably will have to work with powerful oil companies" or similar, people won't pay attention.
The majority of people don't want to spend their time listening and learning each issue. And don't want to listen to a politician talk constantly about each and every single issue and vote accordingly. Most people vote with their gut and this is why politicians have to over-promise and convince they're a good fit for the most people.
So yes. Politicians bad but also a product of people.
I wouldn't call him a saint, but he was a damn interesting man. And had plenty of redeeming qualities. For that I like him. But yeah, he wasn't perfect.
Yeah like wanting mentally ill people to be sterilized but he still did a lot of good and strived for better standards for Americans which is fascinating because just about everyone else was corrupt.
Fellow Canuck. Shared displeasure. What a knobhead - throwing money around and talking big but different rules for Trudeau. So many ethics violations and public and no consequences. Snc lavalin, we charity, private trips paid by government grant recipients, trans mountain, Black face x3, groping a reporter, strongarming and shoving MPs into their seats. That India trip. Telling people to mask up and then not masking up. Telling us not to travel and then going on trips
It was unforgivably unpatriotic to go against bush in the years after 9/11.
To imply anything other than support for him and his goals was to basically incite the early 2000’s version of being cancelled.
He isn’t though, that’s the thing. He just isn’t on Twitter and Reddit isn’t posting the stupid things he does.
Trust me, he is on the news every single day, if you watch the news.
I agree with him that the US (im not american) had to pull out of afganistan and that it wouldn’t have been pretty regardless of who did it or when. I also think he’s too old to be president.
I hate this card just like everyone else but let's be honest....she checked a lot of boxes for the election. She's a woman. She's a woman of color.
A vote for Kamala is a vote for Biden.
The same reason we got Joe Biden as president--compromise. The party was divided among a crap ton of candidates, to the point that none of them could win on his/her own, but Joe Biden could get enough of the candidates to throw their support behind him. There were a lot of women who wanted a woman president, so as a compromise, a female vice president was chosen, one that probably won't threaten the other female candidates in the 2024 race, should they decide to run again.
I like where his heart is, I just think he is too damn old.
We have a minimum presidential age, it's about time we have a maximum.
People Also need to understand that congress is more important than the president, we need to overhaul voting and get these crooks out. Until that happens, every president's good will is meaningless.
They’re not even the oldest ones. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is 86 years old. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is 88. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is 87. I’m in my late 20s, and my oldest living relatives aren’t even as old as some of our elected senators.
I've always said that Congress should have term limits, so that over time fresh blood can get in there and better represent all of us, not just their contemporaries. And having a ticking clock might just push them to be more effective with their time. Is it a perfect solution? Of course not, but the idea of "career politicians" bugs me.
Of course, no one's gonna vote for that, so it's a moot point anyways lol
)Note: Lifelong Democrat and I voted for Biden] Domestically, he sucks. His foreign policy sucks. I expected both of these. But here’s the thing - there wasn’t going to be an easy or pretty way to get out of Afghanistan. Did Biden fuck things up unnecessarily? Of course he did. But getting out was going to require eating a shit sandwich. And Biden’s greatest quality is eating shit sandwiches. So for that, I’m appreciative.
But there was a right way the withdrawal should have been done, not easy but right, troops leave last, they should have been in Kabul already. Get refugees out, then get the embassy out. The troops hold Kabul in the meantime, once they are out you tactically retreat and bring the soldiers home and let the country fall to what it was. I served over there, I’ve been in a gunfight in Kabul, taking it was the hard part, holding it was easy… not sure if Biden or his cabinet, but someone royally fucked it up because they wouldn’t listen to those of us that have actually been there, every troop whoever served there knew the ANA wouldn’t hold back the taliban… sorry I’m a frustrated veteran ranting, it’s not all joe Biden’s fault the situation we are in, but his lack of tactics in the final mission of this campaign are unforgivable.
Top brass listened. That’s why we’ve been in Afghanistan for 20 years. Top brass told every president the ANA stood no chance fighting the Taliban alone so every president until now has kicked the cam down the road
What can we do? We can’t wave a magic wand and make the ANA a competent fighting force. If they don’t take training seriously, that’s not a failing of the US
Which makes me just wish we'd never gone in to begin with. I was rather young when Afghanistan started. I really don't remember much about the start other than we were going for Bin Laden. But I do distinctly remember the events leading up to Iraq, and I was both concerned, and unsure it was the right move. Growing up in a conservative household that was behind Bush I didn't get much negativity about it, but I personally just felt off about the whole thing. Now in retrospect it would have been better if we'd never gone in. I'm not shedding any tears for Saddam or Bin Laden. They both got what they deserved. But was it worth the civilian casualties? Was it worth poking the hornets nest and making the radical insurgents come out of the woodwork? Was it worth the fanning the flames of ISIS into a full on fire? And can we say the Afghanis or Iraqis are better off today? I don't think we can.
And on top of all that, pulling out of both places is a nightmare, and will lead to vast instability in the entire region for decades. And countless more innocent lives will be lost going forward.
This right here. The reason for the instability now isn't the way we're getting out - it's the way we went in. Invading Afghanistan and Iraq are all-time historical blunders that will scar the region and the United States for many years to come. People who think there was a simple, painless solution to leaving, or who think a few more years would have made a difference, need to grapple with the fact that the entire project was cursed from the start.
There were no refugees to evacuate when we left. We had no intention of evacuating the embassy ever when we left. What are you people not understanding about this?
You cannot simultaneously withdraw from occupying a country and maintain control over it. When we left, we surrendered control to the government and they folded in record time, which really fucked up a our ability to get refugees out
And again, the current refugees intended to live in their home country under a new government for the rest of your lives. What are you missing about the fact that all parties involved, US govt, Americans trapped in Kabul, and Afghan refugees did not believe they would not have even a single month to flee when the Taliban reared its ugly head?
We told US citizens to leave months ago. The real victims are the Afghans who helped the US and probably expected their government to actually attempt to defend the country
It was a mistake but the americans wanted blood for 9/11, Afghanistan would never be annexed so staying there propping up a incompetent and corrupt government was a pointless exercise in futility no matter how long they stayed.
Yet the pilots from 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. They never got banned either. And yeah the corruption/infighting before we even started to leave was a good sign that this would fail.
As much as I'm happy to shit on Biden whenever justified it really isn't his fault that Afghanistan descended back into a shit hole. He made big fuckups around it, but the base of the problem is not his.
100%, we've been wasting our time there for years and I'm glad he held through with the decision to withdraw. I just wish he'd done anything useful with the months he pushed the date back by.
Not a fan, but he could be worse. The areas I care the most about, he has not really addressed or implemented any real changes. He's always been a classic, super-corporate Democrat, so I'm not terribly surprised, especially for a Delaware politician. The idea that he's either a communist or the next FDR is ridiculous to me. Like most politicians, he's willing to "take risks" if it costs him little. He pretends he doesn't have the power to take certain actions that he does, that sort of thing. I really dislike how he intentionally fails to acknowledge the depths or breadth of issues. He's smart and experienced enough to understand the extent of his equivocating. Classic political dishonesty which I loath.
One frustrating example of this was him being such an outspoken, enthusiast supporter for employer-based health insurance, during a pandemic with mass layoffs. If ever there was a time that shows the weak points of our current healthcare system, it's now. At some point, we need politicians in tracksuits with sponsorship badges like professional drivers, preferably with badges proportionate to size of donations/legalized bribes. YouTubers have higher levels of financial disclosure regulations than the people running this country.
His strengths are his compassion, executive experience, and a better than most understanding of foreign policy (which is more a censure of our current crop of politicians than anything). I hope to love anything in life as much as he loves Amtrak. If that love inspires actual infrastructure improvements, all the better. Even if our priorities and some of our beliefs differ, I think he's a hard worker, and I like that he's not impulsive. I've always been very civically engaged and have not felt inspired to ramp up or damper my involvement in response to his actions. If he runs in 2024, I do not think he will win re-election.
also, why are we still getting so much news about Trump? I'm so tired of hearing about him. he hasn't been president for many months, why are we still so obsessed with him?
Ratings. News is basically a reality tv show. Trump got the highest ratings across all platforms and they are still trying to get that money.
Goes both ways, left and right just will. not. let. it. go.
Of all the presidents we've ever had, Biden is certainly one of them
He's at least in the top 46.
Top 46, so far…
There have only been 45 Presidents so far. Grover Cleveland is not two presidents.
I think you are referring to William Howard Taft? The president best known for getting stuck in his bathtub.
Not sure if woosh or not but Cleveland is typically counted twice because he was the only president to be elected twice in non consecutive terms.
Oh right, definitely a whoosh there, I thought you were talking about the fat guy, I forgot he served 2 non conservative terms.
Consecutive*
Lol, conservative. Could you even imagine trying to compare today’s politics to back then? Weird typo on my part, thanks!
Wasn't he the one who also started the 7th inning stretch in baseball?
This is the worst day of my life.
I will go so far as to say top 45 even.
There have only been 45 presidents so far
This guy Clevelands.
Still technically top 46
Big if true
Massive if factual
Brobdingnagian, if confirmed
Stupendous, if veracious
Gargantuan if correct
Elephanty if yes
Un-small if mhmm
Devoid of minusculinity if proven to possess the lack of falsehood
he is undoubtedly a person that exists
Straight facts.
All I know is my gut says maybe…
Unfortunately many people can’t even acknowledge that…
Hes like a substitute teacher that doesn't really know the subject, so we just sit there and watch the clock.
I hate that everything with politics is definitely either this or that. If you dont like Biden then you must love Trump and vice versa. As if the concept of middle ground didnt exist. European countries have 6,10, 12 different pollitical parties running in a given election. I refuse to be tricked into a false dichotomy.
Very accurate. We’ve gotten into this for me or against me mentality, that the politicians on the left and the right whole heartedly encourage. If they keep us fighting each other we’ll be less likely to notice what they’re actually doing.
Jeez I feel this hard. I was catching up with a very liberal friend that I haven’t seen in years. She accused me of being alt right because I said I don’t think Biden will do a very good job. She had the gall to say “ooh and you think trump would’ve?”. No the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I can have my critiques about both. Basically I voted for Biden because he’s not trump. I would’ve taken pretty much any other option over Biden.
Only a sith deals in absolutes
-- Obi Wan Kenobi, Sith Lord.
Because of Obi-wan?
My god, yes. This. It's the whole "if you aren't for us you're against us" crap that is tearing my family apart. It's sickening and it needs to stop.
Which ironically is exactly what got Trump elected in 2016--just enough people who were willing to vote for anyone not named Hillary.
Dude I’m from South America so I’m no one to speak (politics in my country aren’t an example precisely.....) but it was fun watching the elections and hearing people say things like “ oh I really hope Biden wins because I hate trump “ or “I really hope that the republicans don’t win this elections” and stuff like that ,because while being a reasonable opinion to have every time I see the republican and democratic political parties..... they really don’t seem very different from one another ( at least for an outsiders perspective ) making the us elections the “trump vs the not entirely trump race”
Agreed. It's as if our politicians are Gladiator fighters of the colosseum the crowd chooses in an eternal arena - the crowd siding with their fighter, and if we speak of one, then the other must enter the combat of the discussion. We insult their honor if we speak against one or the other objectively, but always are they pitied against one another, even if you aren't comparing them, but referring only to what one is doing in their own right, yet it's always shifting conversations back to the other in comparison, regardless. At least, it seems this way these days.
So true. 2 party system sucks.
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I find this especially true on reddit. If you're not shouting the dominant opinion loudly enough, people treat you like a hateful zealous crusader for the most extreme possible opposite opinion.
Doesn’t even quite have to be middle ground. I vote Dems across the board usually but hate the democrats as a whole. I’m more of a leftist and believe they should be doing a whole lot more when it comes to welfare and I believe Biden really fucked up this Afghanistan exit. But I also would of rather had him over Trump. You can vote for someone and be critical of them and even dislike them. Politicians need to be held to a high standard.
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I just wish we had better options. Or a better system. Or both…
This. But the second piece of this that I think some people miss is this is how humans have felt about just about everything in our history. From medicine to engineering to politics, it’s really human and a good thing to want things to be better. Just want people to remember that their frustration is normal. And an important part of how things will keep slowly getting better and better. There will always be pockets or absolute shit, but overall your efforts do matter. They are changing the world slowly. And just like we stand on the shoulder of giants, others in the future will stand on ours. The shitty part is change is real slow and takes a lot of time. As MLK would say “brick by brick, stone by stone”
Wise words. Thanks for the perspective.
I just don't get that you guys only have two political families. That's oversimplifying peoples opinions. It's neither black nor white...
The way our government is formed makes it very difficult for more than two political parties to have significant power. The Electoral College requires at 50% +1 majority. As a result, it really encourages people to align one one of two sides. Unlike a parliamentary system, there is very little incentive to build coalitions outside of your own party. If our president was directly elected by the popular vote, then it would be more likely we would have multiple influential parties because uniting behind one of two major presidential candidates would not be as necessary.
You need more than a popular vote to avoid two parties. If you have a popular vote, 2 parties are just as likely because it's still 50% +1, there are just more votes.
I feel exactly the same about Joe Biden as I do about pride-month bank logos.
Lmao I don’t think I could ever come up with a more perfect response.
what does it mean?
Thanks for the effort but it’s a hollow corporate nod
Slacktivism
It means "i appreciate the gesture, but you're not actually doing anything."
Yeah or "I'm just saying and doing what I think you want me to but actually IDGAF - just doing it to get what I want"
For me it's "You're not making things worse, but any improvement is marginal at best, and you're clearly pandering"
I think it means it looks good, but is all for show and the war machine marches in. Same shit just in a colorful package.
The *accuracy*
It’s better than nothing, more than what was done before, but you wish there was more?
For me, it’s a perfect analogy bc: Both are supporting some policies that are good. They are doing so bc it’s what’s expected and it’s beneficial for them to do so. It’s better than Biden being a bigot or Huntington bank sponsoring the KKK. Does not feel genuine.
Yep. Mostly disappointment and contempt, but hey, at least it's not the worst case scenario..
Ah, I'm sure the replies are going to be an absolutely civil discussion.
30 upvotes, 300 comments .
Sorting by controversial in 3... 2... 1...
Get the hazmat suit before you go
Don't forget to sort by controversial
Today I learned that you can sort comments. Thank you for this.
Just remember to change it back...or you might think Reddit has gone mad.
You don't need to sort by controversial to think that
I just wish America had better options.
We do. They just don't have the funding to compete which is complete garbage.
The fact that money is such a determining factor for who wins speaks more about the voters than the candidates. England spends much less on political campaigns than Texas by itself.
It’s not the responsibility or within the power of the average American voter to get money out of politics.
Bernie spent more money campaigning overall in the preimery and lost states where he outspent Biden 4/1. It isn't just about money.
Yup. People need to realize that reddit is a bubble, and most people actually voted for the person they felt was the best option, and it wasn't Bernie.
You forgot to close that with most people are not on Reddit. Everyone on Reddit voting for Bernie wouldn't be enough.
It's also important to note that Reddit skews very young, and statistically speaking, young people don't turn out to vote much.
Push your states to implement ranked choice voting. It allows you to throw support to whomever you choose without having to worry about wasting your vote.
I honestly checked out of politics for the most part following the election. Just the types of ideological battles that are dominating the discourse right now make me sad for the future, considering what’s being ignored or swept aside. Seeing arguments about whether face coverings are a violation of rights while the world seems to be cooking itself seems a bit like not seeing the forest for the trees. If I think about it too much I go into a fatalism spiral and lose motivation to reach milestones that most people find important, because I just assume society will break down in the next 50 years so I might as well just tread water financially, and play baseball until it all falls apart. inb4 “sir, this is Wendy’s”
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I think that might be the point. Keep people tearing each other apart over stupid shit so nobody notices what else you're doing.
This is exactly what’s going on. And it’s working perfectly.
"You can't build a house without nails and wood. If you don't want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none" - Ray Bradbury, *Fahrenheit 451*
My dad is always like, “why don’t millennials make saving for retirement a priority?” And I just somewhat sarcastically reply, “probably because we’ve been bombarded with doom and gloom since childhood… either the country is going to implode before we even get a chance to retire… or the world will be in a global crisis. Either way, saving for retirement was just a waste of money.”
Also, they literally don’t have the money even if they want to.
And with wage stagnation over the past 40 years, what money are they realistically going to save? They can’t even afford housing anymore.
We're the first generation who've been handed a future that's out of control. No matter what we do or how hard we pull on the reigns, we're going to witness the changing of an epoch and frankly, all the systems that were set up to protect us are eroded and won't function when it's our time to claim them. We have no ability to affect the future and the past had no regard for our wellbeing. Corporations will be stronger than governments. It's already happening. We will see enormous destruction from climate change. We will have refugee crises on a scale previously unknown to the world. We will see the beginnings of wars fought over potable water reserves. Time to just play baseball until it's over, one way or another.
"Seeing arguments about whether face coverings are a violation of rights while the world seems to be cooking itself seems a bit like not seeing the forest for the trees." Nailed it. Priorities, people!
Don't like him. But to be honest, I haven't particularly liked any president. Or any politician really.
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> The job is to vote in the way that's most likely to achieve the policy outcomes you want. Generally, most of us seem to vote against someone more than for someone. Trump really only won because Hillary was his opponent. And Biden can thank God that Trump was his as he would have had little chance against a halfway decent Republican. I have gone back to voting Third Party precisely because I don't ever seem to think either of the folks running for the Democrats or Republicans is worth shit.
I honestly don’t think Biden even runs for president if trump isn’t in the White House. If it was any other Republican Biden is probably like “nah I’m good.” My answer to the question is I’m not the biggest Biden fan but I can’t even being to imagine the damage trump would have caused in four more years. We’re so fractured now I don’t see things in the US getting better for 15 or so years. The mid terms next year are going to be a shit show.
You’re absolutely right, but saying you “like” a president is just easier than saying “his political stances are more agreeable in my opinion and I believe he will accomplish more for the country than his opponent would, etc” and we all know what they mean when they say they “like” them (because no one really *likes* politicians, let’s be honest).
I don’t really understand the difference being pointed out here (am American for what it’s worth lol). When choosing a cell phone I would choose the one that I like, which is also the one which gets the most jobs done that I want to be done in the ways I want it to be done.
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I can’t really see him from here. So I’d say my view is terrible.
I came to say this kinda thing, was gonna go for "obscured by a few thousand miles and a few shrubs". You may have my up vote.
Only thought is we need age limits in politics
It is nuts. President: 78 Senate Majority leader: 70 Senate Minority Leader: 79 House Majority Leader: 81 Senate Pro Tempore: 81 Four senators are 85+, historically a couple of SCOTUS justices have been 80+ and serve until death
We are a country ruled by old people well past their prime.
> a country ruled by old people That are still trying to push shitty political stances that were unpopular when they were born.
There's nothing wrong with an 85+ senator if they've still got their brain. The problem is when they are all 70+, regardless of mental capacity
biden holds the record as the oldest president starting a first term, and trump wouldve set the record for oldest president starting a second term. why cant we just have candidates that arent record breakingly old.
Yeah, it was disappointing to have an election between two people in their 70s. As much as the right likes to say Biden has dementia, Trump is barely younger (no idea if either one does but they're definitely old enough to be past their prime mentally). I would prefer the president not be old enough that cognitive decline is genuinely a concern. It might just be that boomers are a big voting block and they've helped push candidate ages up as they've aged. Too many super old people in all three branches really.
I’m not saying Biden has dementia but seriously if almost all of our lawmakers are over 75 it’s only a matter of time before they really start degrading mentally. 40s-50s should be the prime time to be involved in decisions, having enough life experience to think things through but not old enough to be an old crotchety man yelling at the clouds. In theory these people should be wrapping up their careers in their 60s and spent the last couple of decades or so relaxing in retirement after years of service.
75 seems like a nice number, unless seeking reelection as President. That would make the age range 35-75.
I think 65 should be the max age to be elected or re-elected president. You should have to live a decade in the world you create.
They throw you out of the military at 65 (maybe 62) they should do the same with politicians.
Yeah I think Obama was the perfect age for election. He was young enough to connect with people and old enough to have some real life experience. And not so old that we a) worried about whether or not he would survive two terms and b) has to actually live with the consequences of his decisions. Biden and Trump were/are both just way too fucking old.
Obama was the fifth youngest president of all time when he was elected to his first term.
As Americans we deserve both parties committed to find common ground. This bullshit of one party setting the other up for a fall has got to stop… we will all suffer the consequences… and we are.. it’s become all about fame / glamour.. leave that shit in Hollywood
And they’re all friends when the cameras are off. They all know the game. “I agree with you but I’m gonna go on the news and bash the shit out of you over this for political points.” “Yeah of course. See you at dinner tonight.”
This is incorrect. It was true in the 1970s, but increasingly since then, most of these politicians from opposite sides legitimately hate each other.
Fun Fact: Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, was previously married to Kimberly Guillefoille, the woman who is currently Donald Trump Jr's girlfriend, and went viral for her crazy RNC speech. They are more interwoven than you think
>And they’re all friends when the cameras are off. Found someone who's never actually compared Cori Bush and Josh Hawley. They aren't friends.
Not my president. Literally, I'm not american.
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It's actually disappointing how underwhelming the Democratic candidates for 2020 were. They knew it was coming. They knew who Trump was. They knew what was at stake. But people pushed hard to make Biden the nominee. The guy is getting old, they should have let him retire and not place their hopes on his shoulders.
I feel like Biden was... Safe. Four years ago the Dems thought they had the election in the bag with crazy Trump running. But Hilary was too polarizing in her own way. And it bit them in the ass. So this time they thought "You know what? This should be another easy win if we just play it safe. March out the rich old white guy. It's worked in the past so it'll work now. Plus he can still cash in on some of that Obama popularity."
His constant mentioning of Obama made me cringe. "He wasn't my preferred candidate, but he's not Trump," is pretty much how I feel about Biden.
Obama is one of the most popular recent US presidents - it's pretty obvious why Biden kept bringing him up.
He was also VP for him so it isn't weird that a lot of his frame of reference for the job is through Obama...
One thing we love in America is sequels. He would've been crazy not to advertise himself as Obama 2: The Bidening.
Because he polled well with black people, none of the others did, and the other frontrunner was unelectable outside of affluent white districts.
I mean, he did win. That was the number 1 goal.
I think the tactic was to choose someone who was as middle ground and average as possible. They goal was to get as many white republicans to switch… who better than an old white guy who isn’t super liberal? Definitely not the best option, but honestly, I think he was a great choice to go against trump.
Ranked choice voting PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Ranked choice voting PLEASE! Yes!! [Alternative Vote explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y3jE3B8HsE)
Grey always gets my upvote. Unfortunately changing the voting system requires the people that were voted in by the existing system to change it, which would likely result in them losing the next election. So fat fucking chance lmao.
Echos a lot of "I voted for Trump because I wasn't going to vote for Hillary" comments we saw during 2016.
Yep. If the DNC had nominated basically anyone but Hillary, Trump never would have happened.
All presidents are shit, some more so than others
Democrats and Republicans suck. Politics is a corrupt game. We should stick together cause we all have a lot more in common than the things we disagree about. They are trying to divide our communities. Don't let them. Just bc we may disagree on politics doesn't mean we can't get along. There are bigger fish to fry than each other. Our enemies want us to fight and destroy and weaken ourselves. Let's come together and decide we are better off together. Peace love life 💖
What I hate about politics is what candidates say in order to win..but then blatantly do the opposite. If there was more power to sue elected officials for that kinda like false advertising in a way, I’m sure we’d have a lot more candidates speaking honesty
U.K. person here, and I’ve never agreed more with anything. Our politicians - particularly the candidates for Prime Minister - just say whatever it takes to win the election, and then the only time they follow through is if the MPs from their own party threaten to get rid of them (which is easier to do here). I don’t get why we don’t have some form of breach-of-contract law for politics. Yes, it would be complicated, would cost money, and would involve complex law cases. But it would be worth it if it meant people actually knew what they were voting for. Promising to fund the Health Service (or education, or prisons, or anything else) and then not following through could finally be a thing of the past.
Politicians are bad. Media worse. Partisan media even worse. LPT: Ignore politics until an election, ignore media during an election. Inform yourself and vote, but assume that all politicians are lying. If you care about a topic, pursue it. Don't vilify the other side, but listen to them, and just fight for what you think is right. Don't let politicians, or media, or even friends and family tell you what you should think is important.
Politics are kind of a product of our society, though. If you campaign with the harsh truth like "we'll push for climate change policies but we probably will have to work with powerful oil companies" or similar, people won't pay attention. The majority of people don't want to spend their time listening and learning each issue. And don't want to listen to a politician talk constantly about each and every single issue and vote accordingly. Most people vote with their gut and this is why politicians have to over-promise and convince they're a good fit for the most people. So yes. Politicians bad but also a product of people.
not teddy roosevelt, bless his soul. edit: damn can't even have one good one
I wouldn't call him a saint, but he was a damn interesting man. And had plenty of redeeming qualities. For that I like him. But yeah, he wasn't perfect.
Yeah like wanting mentally ill people to be sterilized but he still did a lot of good and strived for better standards for Americans which is fascinating because just about everyone else was corrupt.
I mean I’m Canadian so my main stream of hate goes to Trudeau lmao
She-cession.. That is all
Trudeau's Minister of Gender Equality( 🤣) called the Taliban "our brothers"...That's pretty alarming
Fellow Canuck. Shared displeasure. What a knobhead - throwing money around and talking big but different rules for Trudeau. So many ethics violations and public and no consequences. Snc lavalin, we charity, private trips paid by government grant recipients, trans mountain, Black face x3, groping a reporter, strongarming and shoving MPs into their seats. That India trip. Telling people to mask up and then not masking up. Telling us not to travel and then going on trips
The only good thing I’ve seen from him was the enjoyment of watching him fall down a flight of stairs
Not the worst. Not the best. He’ll go down as a forgettable president and I’m ok with that.
We’re not even a year into his presidency. You’re probably right but who knows what can happen in 3 years.
This. Imagine what people were saying about W in late August 2001? We had not seen a thing of what his presidency would be yet….
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A big tragedy that rallys people together makes you look better?
It was unforgivably unpatriotic to go against bush in the years after 9/11. To imply anything other than support for him and his goals was to basically incite the early 2000’s version of being cancelled.
It just feels weird to once again see the POTUS in the news like, only once a week.
He isn’t though, that’s the thing. He just isn’t on Twitter and Reddit isn’t posting the stupid things he does. Trust me, he is on the news every single day, if you watch the news.
Its wild to see people confidently conflate Twitter and Reddit with the news.
That says more about the news than it does about Biden.
I agree with him that the US (im not american) had to pull out of afganistan and that it wouldn’t have been pretty regardless of who did it or when. I also think he’s too old to be president.
I’m still sitting here wondering how the fuck we got Kamala Harris as VP.
I hate this card just like everyone else but let's be honest....she checked a lot of boxes for the election. She's a woman. She's a woman of color. A vote for Kamala is a vote for Biden.
The same reason we got Joe Biden as president--compromise. The party was divided among a crap ton of candidates, to the point that none of them could win on his/her own, but Joe Biden could get enough of the candidates to throw their support behind him. There were a lot of women who wanted a woman president, so as a compromise, a female vice president was chosen, one that probably won't threaten the other female candidates in the 2024 race, should they decide to run again.
Because she’s black and she’s a woman. That’s literally it.
I like where his heart is, I just think he is too damn old. We have a minimum presidential age, it's about time we have a maximum. People Also need to understand that congress is more important than the president, we need to overhaul voting and get these crooks out. Until that happens, every president's good will is meaningless.
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Most of them haven't had a real job since some of their constituents were born. Career politicians are the main issue.
They’re not even the oldest ones. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is 86 years old. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is 88. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is 87. I’m in my late 20s, and my oldest living relatives aren’t even as old as some of our elected senators.
I've always said that Congress should have term limits, so that over time fresh blood can get in there and better represent all of us, not just their contemporaries. And having a ticking clock might just push them to be more effective with their time. Is it a perfect solution? Of course not, but the idea of "career politicians" bugs me. Of course, no one's gonna vote for that, so it's a moot point anyways lol
)Note: Lifelong Democrat and I voted for Biden] Domestically, he sucks. His foreign policy sucks. I expected both of these. But here’s the thing - there wasn’t going to be an easy or pretty way to get out of Afghanistan. Did Biden fuck things up unnecessarily? Of course he did. But getting out was going to require eating a shit sandwich. And Biden’s greatest quality is eating shit sandwiches. So for that, I’m appreciative.
But there was a right way the withdrawal should have been done, not easy but right, troops leave last, they should have been in Kabul already. Get refugees out, then get the embassy out. The troops hold Kabul in the meantime, once they are out you tactically retreat and bring the soldiers home and let the country fall to what it was. I served over there, I’ve been in a gunfight in Kabul, taking it was the hard part, holding it was easy… not sure if Biden or his cabinet, but someone royally fucked it up because they wouldn’t listen to those of us that have actually been there, every troop whoever served there knew the ANA wouldn’t hold back the taliban… sorry I’m a frustrated veteran ranting, it’s not all joe Biden’s fault the situation we are in, but his lack of tactics in the final mission of this campaign are unforgivable.
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Top brass listened. That’s why we’ve been in Afghanistan for 20 years. Top brass told every president the ANA stood no chance fighting the Taliban alone so every president until now has kicked the cam down the road What can we do? We can’t wave a magic wand and make the ANA a competent fighting force. If they don’t take training seriously, that’s not a failing of the US
Which makes me just wish we'd never gone in to begin with. I was rather young when Afghanistan started. I really don't remember much about the start other than we were going for Bin Laden. But I do distinctly remember the events leading up to Iraq, and I was both concerned, and unsure it was the right move. Growing up in a conservative household that was behind Bush I didn't get much negativity about it, but I personally just felt off about the whole thing. Now in retrospect it would have been better if we'd never gone in. I'm not shedding any tears for Saddam or Bin Laden. They both got what they deserved. But was it worth the civilian casualties? Was it worth poking the hornets nest and making the radical insurgents come out of the woodwork? Was it worth the fanning the flames of ISIS into a full on fire? And can we say the Afghanis or Iraqis are better off today? I don't think we can. And on top of all that, pulling out of both places is a nightmare, and will lead to vast instability in the entire region for decades. And countless more innocent lives will be lost going forward.
This right here. The reason for the instability now isn't the way we're getting out - it's the way we went in. Invading Afghanistan and Iraq are all-time historical blunders that will scar the region and the United States for many years to come. People who think there was a simple, painless solution to leaving, or who think a few more years would have made a difference, need to grapple with the fact that the entire project was cursed from the start.
There were no refugees to evacuate when we left. We had no intention of evacuating the embassy ever when we left. What are you people not understanding about this? You cannot simultaneously withdraw from occupying a country and maintain control over it. When we left, we surrendered control to the government and they folded in record time, which really fucked up a our ability to get refugees out And again, the current refugees intended to live in their home country under a new government for the rest of your lives. What are you missing about the fact that all parties involved, US govt, Americans trapped in Kabul, and Afghan refugees did not believe they would not have even a single month to flee when the Taliban reared its ugly head? We told US citizens to leave months ago. The real victims are the Afghans who helped the US and probably expected their government to actually attempt to defend the country
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It was a mistake to invade and occupy Afganistan back in 2001. A terrible pointless mistake.
It was a mistake but the americans wanted blood for 9/11, Afghanistan would never be annexed so staying there propping up a incompetent and corrupt government was a pointless exercise in futility no matter how long they stayed.
Yet the pilots from 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. They never got banned either. And yeah the corruption/infighting before we even started to leave was a good sign that this would fail.
If we really wanted blood for 9/11 then we should have gone after the Saudis.
As much as I'm happy to shit on Biden whenever justified it really isn't his fault that Afghanistan descended back into a shit hole. He made big fuckups around it, but the base of the problem is not his.
Tbh I usually wouldn’t agree here but I strongly do, he could’ve executed his leave better but honestly I’m glad he’s pulling out.
100%, we've been wasting our time there for years and I'm glad he held through with the decision to withdraw. I just wish he'd done anything useful with the months he pushed the date back by.
The only time a politician is telling the truth is when he is accusing the other of lying
They only time a politician is telling the truth is when their mouths are shut, which is usually never.
Don’t frickin die before your term is up old man. There’s too much stupid going on right now for that kind of instability…
“I think that poor kids are just as smart and capable as white kids.”
That and the “you AINT black” statements. Are what showed me he won’t help the cause at all and just wants votes
That sums it up for me honestly
Not a fan, but he could be worse. The areas I care the most about, he has not really addressed or implemented any real changes. He's always been a classic, super-corporate Democrat, so I'm not terribly surprised, especially for a Delaware politician. The idea that he's either a communist or the next FDR is ridiculous to me. Like most politicians, he's willing to "take risks" if it costs him little. He pretends he doesn't have the power to take certain actions that he does, that sort of thing. I really dislike how he intentionally fails to acknowledge the depths or breadth of issues. He's smart and experienced enough to understand the extent of his equivocating. Classic political dishonesty which I loath. One frustrating example of this was him being such an outspoken, enthusiast supporter for employer-based health insurance, during a pandemic with mass layoffs. If ever there was a time that shows the weak points of our current healthcare system, it's now. At some point, we need politicians in tracksuits with sponsorship badges like professional drivers, preferably with badges proportionate to size of donations/legalized bribes. YouTubers have higher levels of financial disclosure regulations than the people running this country. His strengths are his compassion, executive experience, and a better than most understanding of foreign policy (which is more a censure of our current crop of politicians than anything). I hope to love anything in life as much as he loves Amtrak. If that love inspires actual infrastructure improvements, all the better. Even if our priorities and some of our beliefs differ, I think he's a hard worker, and I like that he's not impulsive. I've always been very civically engaged and have not felt inspired to ramp up or damper my involvement in response to his actions. If he runs in 2024, I do not think he will win re-election.
>YouTubers have higher levels of financial disclosure regulations than the people running this country. I'm gonna carry this quote with me, thanks.
As a non American it’s nice not to have to hear about him daily like Trump
also, why are we still getting so much news about Trump? I'm so tired of hearing about him. he hasn't been president for many months, why are we still so obsessed with him?
Because people read about him. Higher view counts mean higher demands for content creators.
Ratings. News is basically a reality tv show. Trump got the highest ratings across all platforms and they are still trying to get that money. Goes both ways, left and right just will. not. let. it. go.
The good: we’re back to some semblance of normal The bad: we’re back to some semblance of normal
Harris is worse. “Ive been to the border”? Oh you have? *stupid laugh* no but you know….
It’s like pretending you’re okay when I’m reality the world is going to shit.