Congrats on your elections USA people!
You're finally getting a change there, good on you. :)

SAN FRANCISCO VALUES :angry:



We really need a shaking fist emote.

Wisconsin passed an amendment to ban gay marriage and other, similar civil unions. Bascially it means that if you've been together with a person (be they gay or straight) for like, 20 years, but not married, and one of you gets into a coma-inducing accident or something, your partner will have no say in what happens to you. The person who knows you best can't choose if you live or die or anything of that nature.

Wisconsin, you disappoint me.

We'll see. The Democrats will have less than 2 years to prove they can accomplish good things for the country. It will in some ways be harder, because Republican ineptness won't be something the congress can point to.

Of course, if the Senate remains republican, we're just talking about a 2 year holding pattern.

I fell asleep, so I didn't really catch any of it.

I really hope the Democrats make all the necessary changes in time to convince people to not vote another Republican in.

I voted all democrats cause my parents told me to x_x I have no idea who I was voting for…

They're all jerks, it's just a matter of voting for the RIGHT KIND of jerks. It's annoying watching election results in Florida, practically every result was 49/51 in favor of Republicans. I need to go on a killing spree at an NRA meeting and thin out the herd.

Well it's no wonder since most, if not all of the Southern states vote Republican no matter what.

Yes, but Florida is almost entirely populated by people from other places, so it's not technically a “southern state”. The south is north of Florida.

That's a common misconception. Southerners aren't backward due to genetics, but rather to the fact that their heads bake in the sun and shrink every year.

(That is a joke, btw) ;)

Ronson
That's a common misconception. Southerners aren't backward due to genetics, but rather to the fact that their heads bake in the sun and shrink every year.

(That is a joke, btw) ;)

Well that is why I try to keep out of the sun. That and skin cancer and the fact that I don't like it.

i was busy inking my comic

Here's an interesting article: http://mediamatters.org/items/200611080004

I basically shows the degree of progress that was made with the elections. I'm liking a lot of what I see here, and I just hope that we can start seeing some changes made in this country to repair some of the damage the conservatives have done.

I won't comment too heavily on the Washington Post's claim that the country is leaning “slightly right of center”. I'll say, though, that the pendulum has definitely begun to swing in the direction of liberalism and reason, and with any luck, it'll continue to snowball as we go into electing a new president.

(And yes, I do realize that I just mixed my metaphors.)

you ever heard the idea that nowadays everything is so far to the right that even what we consider really liberal ideas were once considered more central than left?

Something something considered very conservative president historically but rather liberal by today's standards something I forget…bleh.

Well the Democrats got the House back for sure, but that doesn't really change anything. The only way that we could manage to get out of Iraq without a 2/3 majority is if Congress starts cutting funding, in which case we would be “undermining our troops”. However this will (hopefully) mean less crazy laws, no more Patriot Acts, and as an added bonus Rumsfeld stepped down.

Also if the Bush administration does anything else equal in violation of laws like the NSA Spying Program the Democrats will be in a position to protest that a little bit more. Let's hope they don't bend to the Administration.

ahaahahahahahhaahhahaaahahahahahaaahhhaaaaaa.

Yeah I don't know, I'm scared. I'm always scared when there's a shift. Plus, my parents are going to be morbidly depressed for the next few months, since they're flaming conservatives.

Well, I hope something good comes out of this. Perhaps Bush won't be surrounded by a bunch of “yes” men for a change…..or maybe he will, I don't know. Come on Cratties, stand up bitches!

Man I just figured out I am allowed to vote in US elections too. Oh well maybe I will vote next election if I can figure out the insanely complicated procedure I need to follow.

I think it's bad to vote only democrat or only republican for no other reason that political alleigance. You really gotta look into their individual platforms. Simply putting more Democrats in power doesn't automatically mean you'll get the results you want. I've always felt like America needs a generous mix of both parties, whether you hate one of the parties or not.

Whatever the case, I hope we get the results we want.

Hawk
I think it's bad to vote only democrat or only republican for no other reason that political alleigance. You really gotta look into their individual platforms. Simply putting more Democrats in power doesn't automatically mean you'll get the results you want. I've always felt like America needs a generous mix of both parties, whether you hate one of the parties or not.

But the parties ARE the political platforms. If you're left of center on the political spectrum Democrats are the way to go, if you're right of center Republicans. Then there's all the third parties that are all over the place, but they still all have a specific political goal in mind, so if their goals match yours you can vote for them. If you're center or some kind of mix (the left/right political spectrum concept doesn't take that into account) THEN you could pick them individually, but really they're all just big fat liars anyway so it's harder to gauge that way.

(just in case people aren't familiar with the political spectrum)

LEFT: CommunismFascism RIGHT

(D and R are positions on the spectrum of the Dems and Reps, respectively.)

Anyway I'm officially listed as an independent but I'm so far left of center I can't even see the center anymore.

thegreatjoebivins
(just in case people aren't familiar with the political spectrum)
LEFT: CommunismFascism RIGHT
(D and R are positions on the spectrum of the Dems and Reps, respectively.)

Hahahaha! :) I love that! It's not really the case though, not even back in the 20's and 30's when fascism and communisim were real forces that people actually belived in and fought for.

… fascism and communism are actually outside of the specturm, like religious extremism and monarchism. The way the US compares to outside systems seems to go more like this though:

World average:
LEFT RIGHT
US:
LEFTRIGHT

…That's a generally held opinion (and that doesn't mean it's true!). Even the current UK administration doesn't fit with the US aligmnet, though Blair is trying his best to make it so.

Where does your political affiliation lie???

I'm a libertarian (Been one for a long time now).

No, the Communism and Fascism are the two extreme ends of the spectrum. They can't be outside of it because they are it. According to that spectrum all other ideologies lie somewhere in between, for instance Democratic Socialism far to the left but not all the way to Communism.

That's a common misconception thegreatjoebivins.
As I said, those things were big in the 20's and 30's as genuine movements that people actually believed in, but not now. They're outside because they exclude all other forms of government. Your US Republicans are not fascists and your US democrats are even further from ever being communists, this side of reality.

Communism and Fascism are now just catch-phrases, icons, avatars if you will. Communism isn't even extreme left and Fascism isn't even extreme right. They were movements that totally denied democracy, they were different kinds of government. They're part of a separate equation… i.e. when things break down.
I say they're not extreme, because in practice Communist regimes aren't extreme left wing, they're just crappy forms of government. The same with Fascism. Operationally they share many of the same traits with each other, as does Monarchy, or Theocracy.

Not even all the normal parties and people fit in the ordinary Left/Right equation. Libertarian's are a good example… They're generally considered a bit “Right”, but they share a lot with the “Left”, and many politicians within so-called “Left” or “Right” parties can hold many of the same opinions, goals and beliefs that are traditionally associated with the other side!
-while in NO way being considered “Centrists”, which is again a misnomer: A Centrist is really just someone prone to compromise…

…like all things, the reality is more complicated than common beliefs…

But the political spectrum is BASED ON Communism as extreme left and Fascism as extreme right. You take away the extremes and there is no spectrum.

No it's not :)
The idea of Left and Right existed before communisim and WELL before Facism.

Ok then, lets cut the crazy-talk because I get really know-it-all and stuck-up over this sort of thing. Let's just call it the “Political rainbow”, and then we can all be friends. :)

There are many colours in the political rainbow!

Cograts to the US on their election! It's always good to have a change of controlling powers. Now the Democrats have both houses instead of the other fellas, maybe there'll be some positive changes?

wtf are you guys talking about o_o?


Is this another one of those american things?

Well it was about the US election initially… but it's also about democracy in general.
Comicmasta, after quite a few years, you guys now have more than one political party that are capable of prevailing in elections…. Didn't Vicente Fox almost lose last time?

As far as this “political spectrum” argument, I think the political compass model is more accurate in “placing” different movements.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2

It's not perfect either, but it's better than the one-dimensional model.