Politics
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- utopian0
Just 158 Families Dominate U.S. Presidential Campaign Contributions
fter looking at the donations made to the current crop of presidential candidates, the New York Times reports that $176 million, roughly half of all the money contributed during the first phase of the campaigns, came from only 158 families and the companies those families control. The demographic details about these donors, all of whom gave $250,000 or more, will not likely come as a surprise: The majority are conservative, with 87 percent supporting Republican candidates, and the majority are also white, male, concerned about their privacy, and most of their money has not been made via inheritance or more established American corporations, but has been self-made from risky endeavors in the finance and energy industries. In addition, most of the donors lived near just nine U.S. cities, often as neighbors. One family who earned billions in the recent natural-gas fracking boom, the Wilks of Texas, have donated a nationally leading $15 million, all to Texas senator Ted Cruz. Indeed, the report says that many of the donors, regardless of political affiliation, have supported revolution or reform-minded candidates like Cruz. Also, an additional 200 families donated $100,000 or more, meaning that well more than half of all presidential campaign contributions during the targeted time period came from less than 400 American households.
- How the hell is this shit legal? This is a democracy???iCanHazQBN
- Power corrupts. You give politicians power of economic planning for the greater good and you create a market for every greedy person to lobby for specialdeathboy
- legislation, and than even honest companies/people have to donate just as defense. Really just need to reduce the power of the fed/gov on economic planningdeathboy
- Seperate that power by reducing importance of fed and making states compete with policy instead.deathboy
- nb1
Could we get back to using this thread for ALL political discussions?
- whats the point. political discussion by most of qbn is like talking about wwf wrestling like its a real. show something debth nb. post me something so true nyurimon
- profound, that it will change my life. show me the light. * show me something with depth.- previous typo.yurimon
- Derpmonospaced
- what did you think of Osborne's spending review?Fax_Benson
- bklyndroobeki0
- https://www.washingt…bklyndroobeki
- http://www.qbn.com/r…imbecile
- the tweet and source are missing though.bklyndroobeki
- i think he's unfit to run for pres, but even i know that Carson doesn't personally oversee every tweet that goes outlocustsloth
- http://www.qbn.com/r…PonyBoy
- deathboy1
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/ed…
Here's some of my local politics. Fuck trump. Just on a small local level shit is so wrong. Plus new mayor cronyism playbook shit in this town and the governors bullshit tax hikes to fund future things when hes out of office just to make a name for future political aspirations.... sometimes I wish politics remained simply theater like trump, and never practiced. A well oiled government is best when you don't even know its there.
- IRNlun60
If true, things are not looking good in Turkey
Who are 'Allah's lions'?
- Ramanisky20
- First guy just made history by being the first person to call a sitting US president "a total pussy" on national TV.nb
- its just .. I cant even ... these fucking people are so incredibly disrespectful.
at the very least FOXNEWS suspended both of these gaping assholesRamanisky2 - "We the people"?
No, you the fuckwits. How can these cocks think bombing ISIS will work?BusterBoy
- BusterBoy-3
Best people realise pretty quickly America is totally fucked and beyond repair. Split yourselves in two right now before it's too late!
- Thank goodness for America we invented soul music, the internet and the Burning Man festival. Yeah we are messed up, but we also like to party.robotron3k
- ^ party with 1 beer getting warm over 4 hours? Give Europe a whirl :)fadein11
- nb-1
Lately, it seems there are too many people who confuse democracy with freedom.
Democracy is the arguably the best electoral system that humans have come up with. Perhaps there is something better, but a better solution has not yet been proposed anywhere, by anyone. We can all agree that for now, democracy is the best we've got.
But freedom is not democracy. In some ways they are in conflict with each other. Freedom of speech, for example, means being allowed to say what you want, and not be persecuted for it. But, democracy means that we're going to make decisions based on what the majority says.
This seems so simple and obvious. But, with the advent of tweeting/commenting/etc it appears that people think that their personal opinion is worth more than just one vote.
Do you think climate change is not real, or a hoax? Well, too bad. The rest of us agree with the scientific community. So don't be upset when your democratic society moves ahead with climate action. We're doing it. We agree, and you are in the minority.
Do you think the USA should have looser gun laws? Well, too bad. The majority of Americans support stronger controls.
You want to dismantle the fed? Well, too bad. Until you get the majority of Americans to agree, it's not going to happen. Nor should it. That's democracy. It has little to do with freedom.
You can make as much noise as you like (that's freedom!) but ultimately you have to live with the majority's opinion. That's democracy.
This entitlement exists on the left, too. In Canada, some in the far left want to ban oil sands development. Well, too bad, the majority of Canadians don't agree. Not yet, anyway.
You don't get to have everything your way. Freedom of speech does not mean you get to whine until things go your way. You could argue that democracy's biggest flaw is that it leaves the minority behind, but save your opinion until you have a better electoral system (and don't forget that you'll need to convince the majority to adopt it.)
- could you imagine if we designed using democracy? the results would be ugly.robotron3k
- Yes, but design is not an important part of life. I mean, it's not governing people. It's not affecting lives in the same way that laws and taxation are.nb
- Clarification: Design is not more important than any other professional field. So, it's ok that design is not democratic.nb
- Although the US is a Republic, not a Democracy.IRNlun6
- With relatively low voter turnout and a highly polarized two party political system each group lives in a bubble of it's own beliefs.IRNlun6
- Imagine your surgeon trying to save you in a democratic way, let's say all the hospital staff should vote what to do, the janitor and the cleaning lady tooyovkov
- Each side certain that their belief is representative of the country as a whole.IRNlun6
- Ok, everyone. Please do not be an idiot and compare a government with any particular profession. Governments are not surgeons nor designers nor janitors.nb
- We have a representative democracy so that policy decision are made by informed people. It's not perfect, but it's not at all like a janitor voting on a surgerynb
- You give people to much credit saying that policy decisions are made by informed people.IRNlun6
- some good points but a v.simplistic summary missing some obvious flaws.fadein11
- They're somewhat informed. The vast majority of policy decisions do not make the news. The ones that do are mostly ignored by the public.nb
- Only a few issues are discussed by the general population.nb
- @fadein11: I agree, it's very simplistic. But it was already 10 paragraphs, & I'm often criticized for writing too much! :)nb
- My point is that people confuse democracy with freedom, and they need to learn that democracy means sometimes you lose.nb
- :) I think democracy exists at many different levels and freedom is intrinsically linked to that. American democracy is too closely linked to lobbying, partyfadein11
- donors etc. It isn't true democracy at all. The UK isn't far behind. But as fair as I can see from recent decades US democracy stinks of corruption.fadein11
- Different discussion I know... and I don't have time to discuss now, trying to pay the mortgage and interest on it imposed by a banking system that also prettyfadein11
- much exists independent of democracy.fadein11
- and freedom.fadein11
- you have to stay with facts. this is too much of personal opinion. if you intend to make it a personal editorial then its ok.yurimon
- Over and out.fadein11
- Not opinion. I'm pointing out what a typical democracy offers, as compared to what freedom means. They're different, and only related to each other.nb
- "Freedom of speech does not mean you get to whine until things go your way" actually it does mean you get to whine all you want, that's kind of exactly what itburd-turglar
- meansburd-turglar
- yurimon-5
- deathboy-4
Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49
- There is nothing specifically preventing a democratic republic from having a higher percentage of majority required to pass legislation.nb
- But, hey, if you have a better system in mind that can replace democracy, let us know!nb
- i dont think u really understand republic vs democratic processes and the hierarchy of importancedeathboy
- You have to examine interests of groups n power shifts. Because its not just important historically how a system is structured but how it changesyurimon
- through groups, power interests. because systems are also influx and prone to manipulation and eventual corruption of values, if people dont successfully keepyurimon
- their civil servants in check. you see this in the states in how power is shifting. is pretty much a good example.yurimon
- The bottom line is...corporations and wealthy elite have always ruled and will always rule the world, period!utopian
- ^ this.fadein11
- No gov rules. Corporations can only buy their power through corrupt politcians. Politcians want you to blame corporations and not them.deathboy
- Take the ability away from gov officials to give deals in niche business sectors and corporations lose incentives to bribe.deathboy
- And people have to not be swayed by the incentives politcian provide using minority voting groups monies. So i guess really it voters faultdeathboy
- its true, also when gov has expanded power, it carries force behind laws. that is an exploitable aspect that businesses uses to bribe with to get favorable regyurimon
- usually don't care about ups/downs but -3 for simply stating an irrefutable fact. disturbingdeathboy
- ^ only thing i could say is extreme liberal math broh.yurimon
- Ramanisky20
One man is replacing guns with sex toys in photos of GOP politicians
- If only the guy knew how to use PS.nb
- i know ... right?Ramanisky2
- IRNlun62
Donald Trump. You don't have to agree with him or even like him to try and understand his strategy. He's basically holding a mirror at his critics. Last week after a radicalized Muslim couple shoots up a business, there was a relentless attack against the right as if they were responsible. Going as far as ridiculing prayers because of Republican inaction on gun control. He's tapping into a segment that has had enough of political correct speech and the more outrageous he gets the more they'll love him for it. He comes across more honest in his political incorrectness than the denial that Islam has had nothing to do with many attacks happening globally. It's ugly, but too many ignore that politics is more emotionally driven than rational.
- drgs0
- nb1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/p…
Obama To Unveil New Gun Restrictions
"The president is at minimum subverting the legislative branch, and potentially overturning its will. . . . This is a dangerous level of executive overreach, and the country will not stand for it.”
- Paul Ryan, Republican, Speak of the House, commenting before knowing the details of Obama's plan.Until you get rid of this type of politics, it is difficult to see America being made great again, by anyone.
- If anyone has subverted the people's will it is the obstructionist republicans.monkeyshine
- nb0
OMG this State of The Union with visual aids in ALL CAPS is so tacky.
- nb0
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