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  • Showing only topics with the tag "politics.usa". Back to normal view
    1. What were the main issues in US politics from it's founding to when slavery became an important issue/the Civil War and what were the 2 parties of then about?

      Admittedly that's 90 years of history but I've always wondered about what was the politics of the US back then, because I've never really known about them. The parts I'm most interested in are:...

      Admittedly that's 90 years of history but I've always wondered about what was the politics of the US back then, because I've never really known about them.

      The parts I'm most interested in are:

      Why did it take until 1832 for the state legislatures to reach a consensus on how to elect people to the electoral college? I know states' rights are a big theme in US politics, but it seems really strange that it would take them 55 years to figure out how to pick the president, even if early on, that role was a lot less powerful.

      Why were there so many parties before the US settled on the Democratic and Republican parties (although they have changed plentifully thanks to the US's 2-party political system where everyone needs to bundle up into 2 large coalitions or risk turning the US into a 1-party state.)

      Why did they switch so often? From my count there are:

      4 main parties being:

      The Democratic-Republicans vs the federalists

      The Whigs and National Republicans vs the (Jacksonian) Democrats

      3 3rd parties being:

      The anti-masonic party

      The know nothing party/cult according to wiki apparently

      The free soil/anti-slavery party

      (Also in 1820 there was effectively no election, in 1824, 4 people of the same party all ran for president at once, in 1836 the same thing happened and 4 Whigs ran at once, but with Democratic opposition and 3 actually won votes while one just coasted off south Carolina. Why?)

      Why were there so many large parties and what were all these parties about?

      5 votes
    2. Do you think there will be a 'silver lining' or any long-term results from these protests?

      I think the biggest effect of this will be that a lot of white suburban Klobuchar-ites will be more apprehensive of keeping the police as it is and a lot of progressives (like me, I always thought...

      I think the biggest effect of this will be that a lot of white suburban Klobuchar-ites will be more apprehensive of keeping the police as it is and a lot of progressives (like me, I always thought it was a class matter disguised as a race one) will take identity politics and racism more seriously and see themselves as privileged white people because it's become pretty hard not to. There will also be a lot of people in poor countries who will relate to the experience of being brutalized by the police and see the US as increasingly like them. I'm Brazilian and I honestly can't really see how is the US any better than my country anymore and in my state I scarcely see the police with more than batons and only in Rio de Janeiro (where drug gangs hide in the mountains and the state government is run by the party led by a former military officer) is the police really comparable.

      Organizers might see that strength in numbers does little against FOX News and other media outlets so serious organization (proper mottos for example) might be taken more seriously.

      Black people might be energized enough by this to turnout at an equal rate to white people despite the institutional barriers, which hasn't happened since Obama.

      17 votes
    3. General US protests discussion

      There's a lot of unrest in the US lately, with protests going on in several cities. How do you feel about the state of things in the US, regarding racism, police brutality, etc...? What's your...

      There's a lot of unrest in the US lately, with protests going on in several cities.

      How do you feel about the state of things in the US, regarding racism, police brutality, etc...? What's your viewpoint on the protests? How do you see the situation evolving? Some fear deadly confrontation between military police and civilians.

      Have you had the misfortune of having a negative encounter with police officers? Care to tell your story? Have you participated yourself in one of these protests? What was your experience like? If you haven't, do you keep yourself informed? Where do you primarily find news? What's the general mood in your neighborhood, in your community, in your city?

      We've seen protests pop up a lot more in recent years in various parts of the world - eg. Hong Kong, Lebanon, France, etc... Do you feel that this is symptomatic of a larger, global unease? Or can the US protests be considered wholly specific?

      36 votes