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U.S. Presidential Election


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17 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Because your choice is play nicely with the centrists and get some stuff done, or sit at the sidelines throwing shit at Trump and watch the right win election after election 

Sums it up succinctly.

The choice is live in the real world and get something done, or live in a fantasy land and get nothing done.

I’m not saying abandon leftist views - I have them as well. It’s vital we have that voice. But if you take a hardline “everyone is my enemy” stance, you’re not going achieve ANYTHING. Better achieve something than nothing. It’s bleak, it’s not ideal, but it’s reality. 

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3 minutes ago, jparx said:

Sums it up succinctly.

The choice is live in the real world and get something done, or live in a fantasy land and get nothing done.

I’m not saying abandon leftist views - I have them as well. It’s vital we have that voice. But if you take a hardline “everyone is my enemy” stance, you’re not going achieve ANYTHING. Better achieve something than nothing. It’s bleak, it’s not ideal, but it’s reality. 

It’s also worth saying (as Biden said) that many who voted trump last time have returned their vote to the democrats. People sit in the middle and on the fence a lot. Things aren’t as left and right as most commentators like them to be.

Success is in the middle.

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24 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

No offence but how old are you? Probably around the same age as me.

The world isn’t going to drop everything and become Antifa. 
 

When you’re young and passionate about political injustice you want to protest and burn shit down. I get it. But it doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t get to the root of the issue.

There’s definitely an argument that climate change is just as much as an existential threat to us as COVID. It is just manifesting slower. We should probably be responding to it in the same ways, with the same level of scientific focus and funding and lifestyle changes.

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1 minute ago, Matt42 said:

It’s also worth saying (as Biden said) that many who voted trump last time have returned their vote to the democrats. People sit in the middle and on the fence a lot. Things aren’t as left and right as most commentators like them to be.

Success is in the middle.

A question for those who've been around the block a few times: would you consider what is called the centre in 2020 to be what was considered the centre in 1980?

If not, what has been achieved by people on the left playing nicely (as historically they do i.e. policies on inclusivity, helping out those on the bottom rungs of the ladder, welfare safety nets etc.)?

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15 minutes ago, jparx said:

Sums it up succinctly.

The choice is live in the real world and get something done, or live in a fantasy land and get nothing done.

I’m not saying abandon leftist views - I have them as well. It’s vital we have that voice. But if you take a hardline “everyone is my enemy” stance, you’re not going achieve ANYTHING. Better achieve something than nothing. It’s bleak, it’s not ideal, but it’s reality. 

That’s always been the case, including in the U.K. Blair’s regarded as a class enemy in some quarters yet how many people were using food banks under him? How many are now? That’s the difference power makes. No you don’t get to do everything you would like but the Tories haven’t either when they’ve had power. That’s how it works.

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29 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Yes you’d still play nicely to achieve an acceptable solution 

if you're not playing nicely there isn't an acceptable solution. Run thru the logic and work it out. 

That doesn't mean to say that the acceptable solution is the right solution, of course - but if we're going for the non-acceptable solutions I reckon the right will have the 'right solution' people firmly by a the balls and there never will be that right solution.

 

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12 minutes ago, Kurosagi said:

A question for those who've been around the block a few times: would you consider what is called the centre in 2020 to be what was considered the centre in 1980?

If not, what has been achieved by people on the left playing nicely (as historically they do i.e. policies on inclusivity, helping out those on the bottom rungs of the ladder, welfare safety nets etc.)?

I haven't been around the block that many times (I was born in the 80s so can't say what counted as centrist then), but some things have been achieved by the left playing nicely.

Like minimum wage, brought in under Blair. Or stuff the Lib Dems managed to get through in coalition, like free lunch for all infant aged kids - I doubt the Tories would've done that without Clegg playing nicely/being a massive traitor.

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31 minutes ago, jparx said:

Sums it up succinctly.

The choice is live in the real world and get something done, or live in a fantasy land and get nothing done.

I’m not saying abandon leftist views - I have them as well. It’s vital we have that voice. But if you take a hardline “everyone is my enemy” stance, you’re not going achieve ANYTHING. Better achieve something than nothing. It’s bleak, it’s not ideal, but it’s reality. 

I’m a bit biased because I’m a genuine centrist. You get plenty of lefties that are willing to move into the centre to win elections (Look at the Labour soft-left) but I genuinely believe in a mixture of left wing and right wing views. 

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26 minutes ago, Kurosagi said:

A question for those who've been around the block a few times: would you consider what is called the centre in 2020 to be what was considered the centre in 1980?

If not, what has been achieved by people on the left playing nicely (as historically they do i.e. policies on inclusivity, helping out those on the bottom rungs of the ladder, welfare safety nets etc.)?

In terms of economics...pretty much so....went through it all with the Thatcher government, and Labour shifting to left with Foot...and then slowly via Kinnock, Smith and then Blair moving further to the centre until they became electable. A lot of the same arguments I read on this forum about left vs centrists I heard all through the 80s, a decade where a divided labour enabled back to back tory governments.

The main difference is all the cultural/social divides that all this populism has thrown up. That now seems to be at least as big a deal as economics now.

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