Originally Posted by riseagainstrocks

Yay, political threads!

As a left-leaning centrist, Trump's election was shocking and disappointing. Personality flaws aside, I was bothered by his campaign's unwillingness to discuss issues or policy, outside of purposefully inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric and heavily distorted allegations against Hilary Clinton. There was a lot of "I will do" not "I will lead us to" or "I will work with" - I think he fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the job. Trumo voters effectively elected Mike Pence as president. I hope they knew that going in to the voting booth.

Trying to maintain a positive attitude on this whole thing, I think Trump's election will force discussion on many issues that have been deemed political third rails. Social Security and the retirement age, our relationships with other countries (Russia has been a political enemy, but not engaging out of "tradition" is just as stupid as not engaging with Cuba for 70 years), and First Amendment issues surrounding Speech, the Press, and Public Religion. Trump causes friction on all these issues. It forces all sides to sharpen arguments and work to convince the public. For instance, I'd like to see UK-style libel laws implemented here. Intentional falsehoods, disguised as fact are poison to a republic. How this would look or work or if it's even desirable, I don't know. But the 'fake news' issues that dogged this election will force some kind of reaction and, in the aggregate, I think that's a good thing.

We're not as stupid as our comedians and the world at large things we are. Just over 50% of eligible voters participated in the 2016 race. Apathy is not the same as stupidity. Trump's outrages will inspire greater political participation. As others have said in this thread, he's not a dictator, he's not a king, the Constitution has not been supplanted. This will likely be a test of our system, but the what became the Imperial Presidency began under a Progressive (FDR) and was expanded by Obama (somewhat due to congressional intransigence, but that's another story), so liberals have little moral high ground to protest against executive orders.

I do have to say to whoever put the 'milo <3' tag in this thread, you should really re-evaluate this sentiment. He hides behind the mantle of 'free speech' when he rants about feminism and Islam, but he's inciting hatred through misinformation, hyperbole, and what can only be called 'memeism'. The dumb-ing down of culture starts when guys like him.

Originally Posted by mord

Actually, I like you a lot, Nea. That's why I treat you like ****. It's the MB way.