Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)

[PhilM]

Sarah Weddington, attorney who won Roe v Wade abortion case, dies aged 76

Texan lawyer and Linda Coffee won landmark 1973 case, safeguarding right now under threat from US supreme court

www.theguardian.com

 

[TN Toffee]

 

[Martin Alvito]

Consider: it took a year for them to make an obvious decision. The threat of litigation is a very potent tool.

 

[BlueTX]

I've taken a differing position on loads of Fukuyama's assertions in the past but this seems spot on to me:

Opinion | One Single Day. That’s All It Took for the World to Look Away From Us.

The Jan. 6 attack on Congress marked a significant decline in American global power and influence.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Martin Alvito]

I've taken a differing position on loads of Fukuyama's assertions in the past but this seems spot on to me:

Opinion | One Single Day. That’s All It Took for the World to Look Away From Us.

The Jan. 6 attack on Congress marked a significant decline in American global power and influence.

www.nytimes.com

It has never been clear to me how he managed to play being absolutely dead wrong on prognostication ("The End of History") into his present level of influence.

My reply to him would be that the world already did. Kenneth Waltz was right on this one all along, though perhaps not for the right reasons. A bipolar world is much like a first-past-the-post electoral system in that everyone is forced to line up behind what they consider to be the lesser of two evils. Collapse one of the poles, and everybody else starts maneuvering for power and influence in the new order. Since there's no one broadly forcing the other players into the orthodoxy of one of two poles, inevitably the dominant country is going to lose influence over other players unless/until a genuine challenger appears.

What Trump did was certainly damaging. It drives a wedge even further between the EU and the US, which is exactly what Putin wants. Reality, though, is that what happened during Trump's presidency simply accelerated a process that was already happening in the background anyway.

 

[BlueTX]

It has never been clear to me how he managed to play being absolutely dead wrong on prognostication ("The End of History") into his present level of influence.

My reply to him would be that the world already did. Kenneth Waltz was right on this one all along, though perhaps not for the right reasons. A bipolar world is much like a first-past-the-post electoral system in that everyone is forced to line up behind what they consider to be the lesser of two evils. Collapse one of the poles, and everybody else starts maneuvering for power and influence in the new order. Since there's no one broadly forcing the other players into the orthodoxy of one of two poles, inevitably the dominant country is going to lose influence over other players unless/until a genuine challenger appears.

What Trump did was certainly damaging. It drives a wedge even further between the EU and the US, which is exactly what Putin wants. Reality, though, is that what happened during Trump's presidency simply accelerated a process that was already happening in the background anyway.

Fukuyama's influence with the Reagan crowd cemented his reputation with that generation and the subsequent one, IMO. Being correct or incorrect means very little with them, wouldn't you say?

 

[Martin Alvito]

Fukuyama's influence with the Reagan crowd cemented his reputation with that generation and the subsequent one, IMO. Being correct or incorrect means very little with them, wouldn't you say?

In 1990 being right counted for something. By the time of the neo-cons...sure, I'll give you that one.

 

[BlueTX]

In 1990 being right counted for something. By the time of the neo-cons...sure, I'll give you that one.

Honestly? Seems to me the entirety of the 90s and 00s was an attempt to recycle the Reagan years/crowd. Within that circle, there was loads of denial about right and wrong. Jingoism ("We're Number One!!!") and loyalty were the touchstones.

 

[verreauxi]

Home

beerhallproject.com

 

[TN Toffee]

 

[Wat Tyler]

 

[riddick]

I still have no idea how NOTHING happened. Not one congressman or senator was grabbed even tho a lot of them were in their offices.

 

[BlueTX]

I 'kin loathe Ted Cruz, so this is extra delicious.

 

[BlueTX]

Apparently, the junior US Senator from my state did not give both of his testicles to Donald Trump. He saved one for frozen dinner heir, Tucker Carlson.

 

[Martin Alvito]

I still have no idea how NOTHING happened. Not one congressman or senator was grabbed even tho a lot of them were in their offices.

The rioters wouldn't be able to pick most of the members out of a lineup.

Honestly? Seems to me the entirety of the 90s and 00s was an attempt to recycle the Reagan years/crowd. Within that circle, there was loads of denial about right and wrong. Jingoism ("We're Number One!!!") and loyalty were the touchstones.

This is not at all how I remember the early nineties. There was something of an void in identity on both sides after the Soviet Union collapsed, which is part of why the 1992 presidential election was so weird.

We then had a few years of real struggle over actual policy stuff (BRAC, balanced budget, the crime bill) with sideshows during Clinton's first Congress about the appropriate use of government force (Waco, Ruby Ridge) and failed health care reform. Being informed matters when you're trying to debate meaningful policy outcomes.

Then Clinton got caught banging an intern in the Oval Office, at which point I would say our modern, divisive political discourse devoid of substance began. There were certainly partisan voices on both sides prior to that point, but that whole year was the first time I can remember domestic politics being dominated by an "us vs. them" debate where compromise was literally impossible since convict/acquit is a binary choice.

Now, pretty much everything is falsely framed that way on both sides of the divide.