Donald Trump for President Thread

[mezzrow]

The lesson we should have all learned in the West is that it is who we elect that matters, not the system that they claim up uphold.

But society must be based on governments of laws, not men. (smiles)

The laws only matter when they are enforced in an equal and just manner. It takes a very complex bit of political machinery to enforce and regulate humans in the way that today's state has decided to take on as its duty. Laws are made of words, and words are subject to interpretation. The key is the character of the humans entrusted with that interpretation.

 

[dandydan]

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the people will always vote for those who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
We're getting there.

 

[mezzrow]

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the people will always vote for those who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
We're getting there.

Fixed.

 

[Garrick]

We could try going back to actual constitutional government as envisioned by the founders, for example.

In any case, the status quo will not hold. Plus, there are so many interesting potential events in the rest of the world. It feels like the late 70's again, lad.

Plus, Wisconsin is the nicest hell in the world. With beer, cheese, and sausages. I could just kill a butter burger about now.

I'm assuming you're talking about the federal government's role being much more limited like it used to be way back when?

I've given increasing thought to that during the Obamacare implementation. Like, what if we just all stopped trying to plod along in unison and slashed the hell out of the federal budget? The states that want bigger governments can have them, and the rest can trim things down.

(There are some pretty serious macroeconomic cases against that, like after a while business cycles would pop out of sync in different parts of the country and it'd become increasingly pointless to have any sort of union at all. But it's an interesting thought.)

Also, take back what you said about Wisconsin. It snowed here today and Sanders and Trump will be hosting rallies across the street from each other on Monday.

@mezzrow Haha, yea thanks for nothin' Menino !
And on Wisconsin, went to Madison for work a few years back and was sorely temped to move there. Great city!

Fine city, indeed. I'm in Milwaukee, and I think Madison would be closer to what I want, but it's just a little too small for me. It's tough, I like what having the extra size brings to Milwaukee and its definitely got some special character, but it's a very "small c" conservative city. Madison tends be more forward thinking, and does still punch way above its weight culturally.

I'm responding to this struggle by moving cross country to Austin. Naturally.

 

[mezzrow]

I'm responding to this struggle by moving cross country to Austin. Naturally.

You're aware that Austin is surrounded by Texas, right?

...or is that Austin, Minnesota?

 

[kithnou]

You're aware that Austin is surrounded by Texas, right?

...or is that Austin, Minnesota?

Says hi

 

[Garrick]

You're aware that Austin is surrounded by Texas, right?

...or is that Austin, Minnesota?

. It's loss aversion, you see. Watching Wisconsin's progressive socialist institutions crumble is depressing. Knowing that they never existed in the first place in Texas is much more palatable!

There is also the whole bit about how Texas might be politically competitive in the next decade, based on rapid urbanization and an increase in minority populations. But, as Hispanics gain wealth and integrate they also tend to moderate, so how that's going to play out is unknown.

 

[Number_25]

I hate the man, but he exists for a reason.

 

[mezzrow]

lol. It's loss aversion, you see. Watching Wisconsin's progressive socialist institutions crumble is depressing. Knowing that they never existed in the first place in Texas is much more palatable!

There is also the whole bit about how Texas might be politically competitive in the next decade, based on rapid urbanization and an increase in minority populations. But, as Hispanics gain wealth and integrate they also tend to moderate, so how that's going to play out is unknown.

So you're bailing out of your failing blue state to socialize another bastion of the free market and reduce it to penury.

Got it.

 

[mezzrow]

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the people will always vote for those who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
We're getting there.

"...In each man's absolute freedom from every family and social authority, a freedom the price of which is complete submission to the state. In the complete equality as between themselves of all citizens, paid for by their equal abasement before the power of their absolute master - the state. In the disappearance of every constraint which does not emanate from the state, and in the denial of every pre-eminence which is not approved by the state. In a word, it ends in the atomization of society, and in the rupture of every private tie linking man and man, whose only bond is now their common bondage to the state. The extremes of individualism and socialism meet: that was their predestined course." -- Excerpts from "On Power: The Natural History of its Growth" by Bertrand de Jouvenel (written in 1945, by the way...)

 

[tsubaki]

But society must be based on governments of laws, not men. (smiles)

The laws only matter when they are enforced in an equal and just manner. It takes a very complex bit of political machinery to enforce and regulate humans in the way that today's state has decided to take on as its duty. Laws are made of words, and words are subject to interpretation. The key is the character of the humans entrusted with that interpretation.

Exactly, but that is my point. We elected a series of people who thought, in many cases correctly, that they were above the law. The world is in a state of chaos because of it.

 

[mezzrow]

Exactly, but that is my point. We elected a series of people who thought, in many cases correctly, that they were above the law. The world is in a state of chaos because of it.

Exactly. People at large can't accept that they are just making this up as they go along, while managing expectations and spin via their credulous and eager media servants. That's just crazy talk.

Meanwhile, the anti-Trumpsters keep making him look better and better. This chalk thing is getting traction, mainly because the special snowflakes are so ridiculous. To quote a likely Trump supporter, "I don't care who y'all are, this is funny..."

 

[Seanjd]

"Donald, how are you going to pay for this wall built across the boarder of Mexico?"

"Erm..."

2 months later.

"We're gonna get the Mexicans to pay for it!"

 

[tsubaki]

"Donald, how are you going to pay for this wall built across the boarder of Mexico?"

"Erm..."

2 months later.

"We're gonna get the Mexicans to pay for it!"

Whoever advising him wants shooting - he looked ridiculous, but if he had said he would just put a 2-3% tax on remittances abroad everyone would have stolen it as a policy.

 

[SNova]