I feel like many of Trump's supporters have been spoiling for a fight for years, so violence is inevitable whatever the outcome. I'd rather they riot because he lost or wasn't nominated than have him win and watch them take out their aggressions on the losers.

It'll be a shock to the middle-of-the-roaders, because rioters are supposed to be poor blacks, not outraged white people.l

I'm afraid that after Dubya's re-election my open-mindedness about politics and wilingness to accept the validity of other people's positions curdled into contempt for all the stupid fuckers out there. And Dubya's disastrous presidency (probably the worst in my lifetime) confirmed that suspicion.

I just feel like half my country is composed of idiots and assholes. Which I didn't presume before but now that sounds about right.

Yeah, as awful as things got after 2004 you can't say the electorate didn't deserve them, since Bush legitimately won that one.

Ha, it's not even me holding things up! It is apparently only me noticing that we aren't done with testing, but the next step is actually yet another department's. They just need an engraved invitation to do their thing.

I just feel like half my country is composed of idiots and assholes. Which I didn't presume before but now that sounds about right.

Yeah, I remember thinking that when George H W Bush was elected after 8 years of Reagan. But mainstream media bears some of the blame.

I read some economics theory that says it's not in most people's interests (economically speaking) to be well-informed about politics. I don't remember the details.

And, apparently, he's also willing to go through the process

This seems like a process that's gonna suck, so kudos to the guy for taking the hit.

The campaign for the general election is going to be horrifyingly ugly

Yeah. I'm gonna be all sheltered in my liberal enclave, but I'm not looking forward to losing my illusions about my fellow Americans. Again.

Weakness is a big theme. They see the world collapsing around them, I think, and they see Trump as the big man who can fix it.

This sort of fits in with the fondness for Putin that I've heard from some of them.

I just feel like half my country is composed of idiots and assholes. Which I didn't presume before but now that sounds about right.

I don't know. I think there is a lot of fear out there because of globalization, technology, and fear-mongering in the media. Fear makes people make less than optimal decisions.

I just feel like half my country is composed of idiots and assholes. Which I didn't presume before but now that sounds about right.

This is exactly how I feel.

I recently listened to a podcast (sort of in the background so I didn't catch everything) where Erza Klein was interviewing a guy from something associated with the Heritage Foundation. What I found kind of interesting was how... naive he seemed. He mentioned a way to make college more affordable was to lower standards of accreditation to increase supply, therefore driving down costs. Umm... we already have problems with for-profit colleges not delivering what they promise. He stated that being socially conservative was vital to the conservative cause because we need a high level or morality in order for private charities to take over for government assistance. Umm... has there been anyplace, ever where a large country has adequately assisted the needy though private contributions alone?

Getting away from the interview, look at Kansas where it was assumed that economic growth from lowering taxes would offset the loss of revenue. Turns out that the economy of even a smaller state is too complex for tax cuts to turbocharge it at will.

I mean, people sometimes characterize Bernie as being really out there and idealistic, but he's proposing things are just kinda taken for granted in most of the developed world. I can't think of any country that really operates the way conservatives want to take things. The closest thing I can think of is maybe the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century where it was pretty good it you were wealthy and sucked pretty hard if you were poor or an immigrant or had the misfortune of being both. You didn't see amazing economic growth lifting everyone up or private organizations helping lift people out of poverty en-mass. You got pretty much what you'd expect given human nature. Kinda the same reason communism has never really worked out on a large scale.

For me the choice of living in Norway or living in a Upton Sinclair novel seems pretty clear.