BS: NEXT!! the US elections.

Subject: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: akenaton
Date: 09 May 15 - 03:30 PM

OK, that's the UK election done and dusted.....what about the prospective candidates for the US election, Dems and Pubs, likely winners and why.
A bit of depth would be appreciated, don't want to know your personal likes and dislikes.
From over here Mrs Clinton looks favourite but a lot of Dems are uneasy...who's likely to challenge for the Republicans/

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: gnu
Date: 09 May 15 - 04:36 PM

Screw that! The Canuckistan election is next. You don't get out much... eh?

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Les from Hull
Date: 09 May 15 - 04:57 PM

Don't have elections. They don't go well.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: gnu
Date: 09 May 15 - 05:23 PM

I'll get a clicky later, maybe. Waiting on someone to arrive. This is Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnseatHarper/

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 09 May 15 - 05:32 PM

Ake, Back months ago, I posted that it would be Bush and Clinton....in other words, we don't really have elections.

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: akenaton
Date: 09 May 15 - 06:05 PM

Canuckistan elections?....I heard they don't even have erections up there!..   ;0)

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 May 15 - 07:23 PM

Could very well be Hillary versus Jeb. But most voters are aware that both of them are packing a lot of baggage….

Also, it could very well be that there is be a ringer or two out there. Bernie Sanders we've heard a bit about, and he has a lot going for him. But there may be others. We'll see….

Thomas Jefferson said that the success of Democracy depends on an informed electorate. Ominous words in this day and age, when the vast majority of people have only the foggiest idea of what Democracy is all about.

All Americans—or all those who think they live in a Democratic society—would do very well to read First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea, by Paul Woodruff.   I read this some years ago, and the scales fell from my eyes. Quite a surprising and enlightening book. There are several aspects of Athenian Democracy that worked quite well—that we don't have—much to our peril!

Woodruff outlines where the Athenians blew it—women were not allowed to participate (many Athenians at the time noted that Athens was wantonly wasting half of its intellectual power by not including women), and some Athenians kept slaves, also objected to at the time.

But they had worked out a system by which their version of Congress was unbribable (!), nor was it possible to bribe juries. AND—elected officials served limited terms and were then judged by a jury of citizens at the end of their term and either rewarded or banished, depending on how well or ill they had done.

Particularly interesting is Woodruff's "Afterword: Are Americans Ready for Democracy?"

…Well…all things considered, that's an interesting question.

I read this book a few years ago, and I pull it out and reread it from time to time.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 May 15 - 07:57 PM

As for "informed electorate", people today have vastly more information available than any time in history. What's lacking is perhaps serious and purposeful curiosity.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: gnu
Date: 09 May 15 - 08:34 PM

Justin Trudeau and the libs voted for C-51 a couple of days ago. It was gonna pass anyway with the cons voting to approve it so I don't understand why Justin pissed on his father's (and my father's) grave. Pierre Trudeau brought home the Charter of Rights and Freedoms about 30 years ago. My father volunteered to fight in WW2 for such freedoms. This little pissant decided to sell them and all the Canucks who fought for those freedoms down the river. It is beyond shameful. Some say these laws are treason... against the Magna Carta itself and beyond. We can only hope the Senate delays the enactment of C-51 until after the election and the NDP win the election and kick this piece of trash to the bin where it belongs.

Having said that, I am a Canuck and we are few and far between in Mudcat. Soooo... go talk about the UK and the US. Don't be concerned about what happens in Canada or Australia or New Zealand or... how many British Commonwealth nations or "affiliates" are there? Like, how many billions of people? Oh, never mind. We'll just supply lots of oil and uranium and weapons and... you know... the stuff that makes Her Majesty happy.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 May 15 - 11:29 PM

oh let joy be unconfined

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 May 15 - 02:38 AM

Let's let the US elections simmer for a bit and concentrate on Canada, whose elections are a good year ahead of ours.

In my opinion, no one knows anything concrete about the 2016 US elections- a thousand things can happen before anything with finality ca be seen.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: GUEST
Date: 10 May 15 - 03:11 AM

I predict Marco Rubio. He's a cynical opportunist and plutocrats' lackey, but he comes across as youthful, rational, and intelligent, which is what put Obama in office. Our political machinists seem to be learning from Putin and his 80+ percent approval rating after 15 years in office.

Hillary Clinton is not much better, but the reason I think she'll lose is that she looks and sounds like an old-school corrupt crony politician. She has the same rat-faced look and demeanor as Boss Jim Geddes in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. The fact that the Democratic machine seems intent on nominating her suggests that they think there's no way they can win this one. Whenever that's the case, the party that knows it's going to lose drags out some old completely un-electable political workhorse like Bob Dole or John McCain to give him a thrill as a reward for his service.

Personally, I'll vote for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, but I know the people who own our government will never allow someone like that to win, or even be nominated by a major party.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 10 May 15 - 03:31 AM

Not to put too fine a point on it, GUEST, but Boss Jim Geddes actually won the election in Citizen Kane.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Musket
Date: 10 May 15 - 03:58 AM

Gnu. You forgot to mention maple syrup and those new quick release ski bindings. Her Majesty and I are grateful to the colonies, and in particular your back yard for those too.

Oh and that micro brewery on Granville Island in Vancouver. That's not bad either. You just don't seem to export it though.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 May 15 - 12:55 PM

the prospect of an election in the United States just thrills the living shit out of me

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Stanron
Date: 11 May 15 - 05:32 AM

@ Don Firth

Thanks for the suggestion for the book. I've just bought a copy from Ebay. It will be part of my summer reading list.

Subject: RE: BS: NEXT!! the US elections.
From: Wesley S
Date: 11 May 15 - 07:42 AM

Here's someone who is considering a run for president as a democrat:

From the Huffington Post



Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Thursday announced he is considering running for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

The 62-year-old, who served as a Republican senator before winning the governor's office as an independent, said he is alarmed about global turmoil in Africa and the Middle East.

"Americans want safety, stability and sustainability. We will need fresh ideas and the most skillful diplomacy in dealing with this ever-changing world," he said in an introductory video posted to his website, Chafee2016.com. "Throughout my career, as mayor, governor, and U.S. senator, I exercised good judgment on a wide range of high-pressure decisions, decisions that require level-headedness and careful foresight."

In the Senate, Chafee was the only Republican to vote against the authorization for the use of military force in Iraq, a distinction he does not share with presumptive Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who voted for the war. Other presumptive challengers in the Democratic primary include former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (Va.).

"During the next weeks and months, I look forward to sharing my thoughts about the future of our great country," Chafee said.