Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[The new erato]

There's going to be hell toupee!!

Toupee or not toupee, that's the question!

[Karl Henning]

Toupee or not toupee, that's the question!

Very nice!

[André]

In the NC primary my brother voted Sanders and his wife, Clinton. My bro adheres to the Clinton murders theory. What's funny is that he is anything but a socialist. 

Up here in Canada, a nationwide poll says that 77% view a Trump election as a very bad thing. 78% of those surveyed favour Clinton.

[Karl Henning]

In the NC primary my brother voted Sanders and his wife, Clinton. My bro adheres to the Clinton murders theory. What's funny is that he is anything but a socialist. 

I know a number of instances where the husband supports Bernie, but the wife, Hillary.

[Pat B]

They are demanding the GOP put its money where its mouth is, so to speak.  Even Mayor Bloomberg ought to sign that petition.  There is no way the party can say no without further alienating its base.

Bloomberg is an ex-Republican.

It's up to 41k now and seems like one of the few things that Rs and Ds have agreed on recently.

[drogulus]

They are demanding the GOP put its money where its mouth is, so to speak.  Even Mayor Bloomberg ought to sign that petition.  There is no way the party can say no without further alienating its base.

     So they just let it happen? This is insane. What the fuck does this have to do with a party and its base? Quite a few of the conventioneers who would exercise this "right" are hotheads. Don't you think the provocateurs who disrupted Trump rallies know exactly what their Cleveland strategy will be? I know what mine is. Riot helmets and bullet proof vests sounds about right to me.

[Karl Henning]

High time they had all those good guys with guns!

[Brian]

I'm really, really, really hoping that this whole thing ends with Trump and Cruz resorting to their fists.

[Parsifal]

I'm really, really, really hoping that this whole thing ends with Trump and Cruz resorting to their fists.

Maybe the next debate can be scheduled in Texas and the NRA can demand that open-carry is permitted for participants on stage...

[(poco) Sforzando]

Maybe the next debate can be scheduled in Texas and the NRA can demand that open-carry is permitted for participants on stage...

If Burr could get away with killing Hamilton . . . . .

[Madiel]

Meanwhile, satirical site The Onion has published an article saying that hundreds of Cubans have reached America by clinging to Air Force One, large numbers of anti-Obama folk have believed it (no doubt they wouldn't normally read The Onion), and Snopes has published a finding that the article is false.

Let's just let that sink in for a moment: Snopes has actually had to comment on an article from The Onion. Because people believed that the hated Obama had brought hundreds of Cubans into the country attached to his plane.

Presumably these people are qualified to vote. The people who believed the article, I mean, not the Cubans.

[Gurn Blanston]

Meanwhile, satirical site The Onion has published an article saying that hundreds of Cubans have reached America by clinging to Air Force One, large numbers of anti-Obama folk have believed it (no doubt they wouldn't normally read The Onion), and Snopes has published a finding that the article is false.

Let's just let that sink in for a moment: Snopes has actually had to comment on an article from The Onion. Because people believed that the hated Obama had brought hundreds of Cubans into the country attached to his plane.

Presumably these people are qualified to vote. The people who believed the article, I mean, not the Cubans.

I share your scorn, but not your incredulity. Snopes has had to 'debunk' dozens of Onion stories, as well as those from other satirical websites. It seems there is a huge contingent of people in this world who are conceptually vacant when it comes to satire. It makes me sad... sad that they not only vote, but on a more essential level, they are allowed to breed.

[Karl Henning]

It seems there is a huge contingent of people in this world who are conceptually vacant when it comes to satire. It makes me sad... sad that they not only vote, but on a more essential level, they are allowed to breed.

Thanks, Obama.

[Todd]

I suspect you would like to bury this huffie and puffie trump style stuffie. Please conservative up Todd.

Huh?

On my reading list is God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World by Walter Russell Mead. It's not an uncritical analysis, it wouldn't be any good if it were. If it doesn't irritate you, you're not reading it right.

A good book, but it's too narrow in scope, too enamored of the rise of the English speaking world without seeing the impact of other influences.

My point about Muslim revolutions of purity is how they destroyed this highly promising phase of their history. There are various versions of how and why. Some have the Crusades in them, and afterward colonial imperialism.

Don't forget the role of the Pax Mongolica, particularly as it pertains to trade and the impact on the Islamic world.

Up here in Canada, a nationwide poll says that 77% view a Trump election as a very bad thing. 78% of those surveyed favour Clinton.

How many electoral votes does Canada have again?

[Madiel]

Thanks, Obama.

*chortle*

[Florestan]

Presumably these people are qualified to vote.

It makes me sad... sad that they not only vote, but on a more essential level, they are allowed to breed.

I find it extremely amusing that when the outcome of the vote is in line with one´s own ideas democracy is a good and functional thing (Obama´s getting elected), but when the outcome of the vote is not in line with one´s own ideas (Trump´s getting nominated and perhaps even elected) then suddenly democracy becomes flawed and dysfunctional. And furthermore, voters who think and vote like one does are smart and responsible while voters who do not think (at all, in some cases) and vote like one does are irresponsible morons. (In the same vein I remember the shameful and dictatorial blackmail to which EU subjected Austria when the Freedom Party won the elections).

Now, either one accepts as sane and sound and beneficial the basic premise of democracy - ie, an irresponsible, uninformed, uneducated guy´s vote has the same weight and importance as the vote of a responsible, informed, educated guy´s vote (and in practice much more, because the former category vastly outnumbers the latter, irrespective of ideologies) - or one doesn´t. I know I don´t, but you gentlemen seem to do, so why then the surprise and sadness?

As an aside, we are often reminded that Hitler came to power through democratic elections and this fact should make us eternally apprehensive about the extreme right --- but it never crosses the mind of those who keep repeating it that it is also an argument for being eternally apprehensive about democracy itself. 

[The new erato]

Now, either one accepts as sane and sound and beneficial the basic premise of democracy - ie, an irresponsible, uninformed, uneducated guy´s vote has the same weight and importance as the vote of a responsible, informed, educated guy´s vote

Yes, it would be nice if the really important stuff was decided by vote and not by money. The US ought to try it.

[Jo498]

It's somewhat misleading to claim that Hitler came to power because "(too much) democracy". He never had the majority of a popular vote (because the Reichskanzler was not elected by popular vote but appointed by the president who was the old/senile Hindenburg, a rightwing monarchist general with no love lost for democracy who was influenced by rightwing elites). Hitler gained a majority in parliament by coalition with another right wing party and was also helped by several un-democratic elements of the Weimar constitution.

Overall the unlucky 15 years (! this is such a short time, 9/11 is about as long ago now) of the Weimar republic are not a very good example of the dangers of democracy because of the complicated constitution (that gave a lot of power to the president), the difficult situation after a lost war and an overall dislike of democracy by both people and elites, the general climate of "street fighting" between rightists and leftists etc. There are just too many factors that have nothing to do with democratic procedure.

That's why I really dislike "Weimar America" (Rod Dreher is fond of the expression but he does not seem to know much about the 1920s Weimar Republic) as it is really misleading in almost every way.

But as you certainly know the problem of the "stupid voter" is not anything new and most defenders of democracy have either imposed checks and balances to counter it and/or hoped for education and enlightenment (which go only so far, especially if mass media don't really work in their favor).

[Florestan]

Yes, it would be nice if the really important stuff was decided by vote and not by money. The US ought to try it.

In 1999 the Austrian Freedom Party came first with 26.9% of the votes. Was it then decided by vote who would be the next chancellor? No, it was dictated by the EU that it was not going to be Jorg Haider but someone else who was more ideologically palatable to the supernational and supranational Brussels bureaucracy that was elected by nobody.

In 2008 the Irish people rejected by referendum the Lisbon Treaty. That should have killed it off for good because it was decided by vote, right? Wrong. Ireland was pressured into holding a second referendum.

As of today, I know of no more important European problems than the refiugee crisis and the islamic terrorist menace. Would you agree that they be settled by vote, ie by referendum? Would you agree to asking the people if they want or not their country to accomodate more muslim immigrants, and are you willing to accept the result? Would you agree to asking the people if they want or not mosques where radical imams preach be shut down, and are you willing to accept the result? If no, why?

[Mookalafalas]

I'm really, really, really hoping that this whole thing ends with Trump and Cruz resorting to their fists.

Sorry, Brian, but that is a rather piffling wish.

As true Republicans, they should settle it with their M16s or better.