2016 election. Hillary and Jeb are over-rated

[bilby]

Some would argue that current Middle East Mess is a result of what US government did.

With more than a little justification. The Middle East is suffering from the continuing war between the Sunni and the Shia factions of Islam and between various Sunni factions. Incredibly we in some cases are supporting in one country a faction that we are fighting against in another country. And we seem to be arming both sides in virtually all of the conflicts.

All of this was pretty well in an uneasy balance before we blundered into Afghan and Iraq. We upset the balance in favor of the Iranians and the Shias by unwittingly handing them Iraq.

The entire population of the Middle East is less than 3% of the world; I already estimated the population affected in that region as about 1%, which seems reasonable given that many parts of the region are not directly involved in the various conflicts you mention.

Not to mention that it was the US that conceived and spread the neoclassical economics time bomb of deregulation of the financial sector that went off causing the Great Financial Crisis and Recession of 2008 and the equally ill conceived idea of austerity as the preferred way of recovering from said recession.

It was Americans, sure. But was it dependent on who occupied the Oval Office, or would Wall Street have done all that anyway?

And don't forget our refusal to face up to the biggest single threat facing man, climate change.

I'd say that this is solid evidence that the US has more than a marginal impact on the rest of world.

China and India have more impact on climate change than the US. The US is an important player, but it is not the most important, much less the only important player.

The POTUS likely has more power than any other human; but even his (or her) influence simply doesn't extend to most humans on Earth. Nobody matters to everybody. Even the POTUS doesn't matter to the vast majority of people.

 

[RVonse]

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are the very best out there right now. Simply because neither of them can be bought and sold by special interests. Sanders because that's who he is and Trump has his own money.

That's the only thing that matters right now.

And party labels are irrelevant and unimportant until the government becomes more functional again.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

5% of the human race lives in the USA. The rest of us are only marginally affected by US policy; even when Uncle Sam drops bombs on people, it doesn't seem to change very much geopolitically, and the number of people taking cover from the cluster munitions is not even 1% of the population of the planet.

Unless the new POTUS decides to start a worldwide nuclear conflict, what the US government does in the next 20 years won't have any effect at all on at least 90%, an probably nearer 95% of the human race. Most Americans forget that 'The USA' and 'The World' are not synonyms; The human race has at best a passing interest in who you have as your leader - after all, whoever it is will be replaced within 8 years.

It's incredible to me how few Americans understand this simple fact.

If we took our ball (our military) and went home, you'd see just much the rest of the world is affected by the U.S. Right now it's just a given that shipping routes and military incursions tend to be light ones. But what if the U.S. told Europe, Japan, and Korea to worry about its own shit from now on? It won't happen, but history tells us what would if it did.

As for the candidates, Hillary is beatable by anyone who has some charisma and is either dead center or slightly left of it. I forget her name ... she already promised she wasn't going to run. But I wish she would. She'd beat the crap out of any of the Republicans... dammit.

Jeb? If Chris Christie wasn't a gigantic scandal waiting to erupt--and it seems impossible for it not to happen, then he could take it from Trippulya.

A few years ago Rubio seemed viable but he's gotta find himself. Right now he's like an awkward be-zitted teenager trying to be like the older cool kids. Maybe some day. But not this time around.

Paul? Exactly half the population hates what he says, regardless of which side of the aisle they stand on.

Anyway, I'll make a nutty prediction and say that the Dems will rally behind one person and the Reps the other. It's going to be a campaign of who fucks up the least.

 

[untermensche]

Not only is Hillary over-rated she is misunderstood by most.

She is portrayed as a leftist but she is actually slightly right of center. She supported the invasion of Iraq for example.

It's just that the Republicans have drifted so far to the looney far right Hillary appears as if she is on the left.

Sanders is an actual candidate from the left and because of this he could win the nomination, but there are too many factors to make any rational predictions at this point, and we should stop caring about predictions and only focus on the issues anyway.

When is the last time the Dems elected a president from the left? FDR perhaps. When did they even nominate a left-wing candidate. I'll give you George McGovern in '72 and maybe Dukakis in '88 although that's bit of a strtetch.

McGovern was a leftist.

1972. That was a different country.

It's hard to predict where a nation will turn but marijuana is becoming legal, gay marriage is a recognized right, the country is moving to the left in some ways.

 

[boneyard bill]

When is the last time the Dems elected a president from the left? FDR perhaps. When did they even nominate a left-wing candidate. I'll give you George McGovern in '72 and maybe Dukakis in '88 although that's bit of a strtetch.

McGovern was a leftist.

1972. That was a different country.

It's hard to predict where a nation will turn but marijuana is becoming legal, gay marriage is a recognized right, the country is moving to the left in some ways.

Legalized marijuana and gay marriage were not issues that either party campaigned on. The one was imposed mostly by state courts and eventually by the Supreme Court. The other was the result of non-partisan grass-roots efforts. The major parties avoided these issues as much as they could.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

McGovern was a leftist.

1972. That was a different country.

It's hard to predict where a nation will turn but marijuana is becoming legal, gay marriage is a recognized right, the country is moving to the left in some ways.

Legalized marijuana and gay marriage were not issues that either party campaigned on. The one was imposed mostly by state courts and eventually by the Supreme Court. The other was the result of non-partisan grass-roots efforts. The major parties avoided these issues as much as they could.

You are joking right? The Republican Party worked hard to get anti-gay marriage bans onto November Ballots... repeatedly!

 

[laughing dog]

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are the very best out there right now. Simply because neither of them can be bought and sold by special interests. Sanders because that's who he is and Trump has his own money.

And no one would spend a penny trying to buy Trump: he is a walking and talking political disaster. I wonder if the only reason he is running is to make the other Republican loony toons appear more sane in comparison.

 

[boneyard bill]

Legalized marijuana and gay marriage were not issues that either party campaigned on. The one was imposed mostly by state courts and eventually by the Supreme Court. The other was the result of non-partisan grass-roots efforts. The major parties avoided these issues as much as they could.

You are joking right? The Republican Party worked hard to get anti-gay marriage bans onto November Ballots... repeatedly!

Well, they weren't campaigning for it were they? When I said "campaigned on" I meant they didn't campaign for it. That's the usual meaning.

- - - Updated - - -

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are the very best out there right now. Simply because neither of them can be bought and sold by special interests. Sanders because that's who he is and Trump has his own money.

And no one would spend a penny trying to buy Trump: he is a walking and talking political disaster. I wonder if the only reason he is running is to make the other Republican loony toons appear more sane in comparison.

Actually, Trump and Sanders are both pretty insane.