[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

M'kay, so while the numerous worldwide shitshows happen, why don't we play Political Compass? Take the test! Get your personalized certificate! But before you do any of that, I strongly recommend you read about the site/watch their video and take a look at their articles, so you'll know who's gonna be analyzing your choices, you follow. It's all here:

https://www.politicalcompass.org/

Fun times!

just scored "left libertarian" as i have been doing for ages.only this time it did not put me so far to the left as ages ago. which would be correct as my ideas on markets and economics have evolved with time.

the test has some glaring flaws. the most obvious one is that it lacks an option "neither agree nor disagree," so it forces you take up a position where you might have none.

there are other issues with it but eh, this is only a game of couse, so it is fun.

here's another one: https://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/

(i scored "moderate" as i expected. lol, how bland)

again overly simplistic questions with oversimplifying answers as options but good for laughs.

it would be cool to compare & discuss answers & reasons though.

[Skuj]

I wish I could understand the GOP.

Isn't McCarthy one of the least inspiring, morally unanchored, DUMBEST Speakers in USA history? Like, there was nobody better?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Skuj

I wish I could understand the GOP.

Isn't McCarthy one of the least inspiring, morally unanchored, DUMBEST Speakers in USA history? Like, there was nobody better?

here's something more interesting to consider than that fool's i.q. or spinelessness:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...e-republicans/

Opinion The Senate’s victory on same-sex marriage should terrify the GOP
By Jennifer Rubin

long story and strategic analysis boils down to: "And therein lies the problem for the GOP. Republicans face a number of quandaries these days that force them to choose between loyalty to the MAGA cult and general-election viability."


i'll let soupnazi copypaste the whole text if you can't read it, but it looks like a big republican split is about to happen.... fingers crossed, they're trapped.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i'll let soupnazi copypaste the whole text if you can't read it

By popular demand...

Opinion | The Senate’s victory on same-sex marriage should terrify the GOP

By Jennifer Rubin
Columnist

The Senate advanced a bill on Wednesday to codify protections for same-sex marriage, attracting enough Republican votes to overcome the filibuster. Take a moment to consider the breathtaking shift in American attitudes that this represents.

In 2008, President Barack Obama was not willing to embrace same-sex marriage. Now, even the Mormon Church has endorsed the bill. A critical mass of Republicans understand that same-sex marriage is here to stay. Whatever their personal views, they grasp that opposition to it signifies a level of bigotry even many GOP voters are unwilling to tolerate.

The simple political reality is this: Outside deep-red enclaves, Republicans cannot maintain their anti-same-sex marriage stance without marginalizing themselves. It’s part of a slow recognition that their adoption of Christian nationalist positions alienates a substantial portion of voters.

There might be some risk for Republicans embracing same-sex marriage. Right-wing gadflies such as Ben Shapiro have already called to excommunicate Republicans who support same-sex marriage. It’s possible that Wednesday’s vote sets up incumbent Republicans to face primary challengers from Christian nationalists.

And therein lies the problem for the GOP. Republicans face a number of quandaries these days that force them to choose between loyalty to the MAGA cult and general-election viability. Do they reject former president Donald Trump in the primaries and risk him dragging down the party if he runs as an independent in 2024? Do they recruit more non-election deniers for House, Senate and state offices, understanding that those who question the legitimacy of elections are proven losers?

But no question looms larger than how they intend to win office while maintaining the support of Christian nationalists whose views are antithetical to a supermajority of Americans — and this goes beyond same-sex marriage. We saw what support for rigid abortion bans did to Republicans in the midterms. Michigan went entirely blue largely because independent women went overwhelmingly for Democrats to protect abortion rights. But if pro-forced-birth Republicans try to course-correct, dropping proposals for a national ban, they risk offending a large constituency.

As Robert P. Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute, explains in a Substack post, the midterms served as a reminder that “an overwhelming majority of Americans do not favor extreme policies like bans on abortion. Even in a red state like Kentucky, voters rejected an anti-abortion amendment.” He points out that polling has regularly revealed that “nearly seven in ten Americans and six in ten midterm voters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. That is the mainstream view on abortion.”

But it’s far from the mainstream view among elected Republicans. Indeed, Jones writes, “the percentage saying abortion should be illegal in ALL cases has dropped from 23% in 2020 to 11% in late 2022.”

Put differently, Republican officials find themselves held hostage by their most extreme primary voters. Virtually all GOP presidential primary candidates will feel compelled to adopt a strict antiabortion stance to have any hope of winning primaries. Meanwhile, if Republicans win the House majority, it might be impossible for them to resist the urge to put a nationwide abortion ban on the House floor. The next time Republicans are up for election (potentially with more abortion-related measures on the ballot), they might feel the wrath of voters again.

To some extent, rigid opposition to gun reform lands Republicans in a similar place. As voters (even Republicans) warm to reasonable limits on weapons of war, Republicans are caught between the demands of Second Amendment extremists and the desire to avoid being labeled as out of touch with the fears many parents have for their children’s safety.

Republicans are finding out there is a penalty to be paid for cultural extremism, but they have yet to show they are capable of preserving general-election viability. Over the next two years, as MAGA forces double down in the GOP House caucus and Trump fights with primary opponents for the support of the GOP base, Democrats will be delighted to watch Republicans marginalize themselves. During that time, Democrats will look for opportunities to put measures related to abortion and other cultural issues on the ballot in 2024. If that approach worked to drive Democrats to the polls in 2022, there is no reason to think it won’t work again in 2024.

This is what happens when a national political party becomes almost entirely dependent on a group whose views are far out of the American mainstream. One of the great revelations of the 2022 midterms was that Democrats can run on cultural issues and win outside of deep-blue districts and states. They’d be foolish not to try to re-create that success.

[The Soup Nazi]

Hmm, so NATO says the missile(s) that landed in Poland was/were actually a Ukrainian misfire. Dunno how the hell that happens, but fuck it, Vlad's wonderful, let's go Brandon, whatever...

[The Soup Nazi]

 

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

it would be cool to compare & discuss answers & reasons though.

Yes, I forgot to mention that, for starters, we should post our results here. Here's how I just did:

 

 

[The Soup Nazi]

I can't help having a problem with the term libertarian. If left/right are reserved for the economic scale, shouldn't the social scale be liberal/authoritarian?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

I can't help having a problem with the term libertarian. If "left" and "right" are reserved for the economic scale, shouldn't the social scale be liberal and authoritarian?

you're right, and i'd say libertarian is an extreme form of liberalism (in the philosophical tradition).

but given that america has destroyed language and equates "liberal" with "socialist", it's hard not to confuse terms. in american political terminology the liberal and the libertarian are polar opposites almost.

this test of course elevates "libertarian" to a higher status than it deserves. but yeah it's just a minor offshoot of a bigger tradition. but anyway, shit happens to words too.

on other synonyms:
left libertarian would be anarchist
right libertarian used to be called anarcho-capitalist (among other things)

anyway i didnt screencap my results but it looks like yours only economically closer to the middle (but still to the left).

[!@#$%!]

and now for something completely different...

 

 

amirite?

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

and now for something completely different...

Ah yes, the classic. I actually associate that expression with Meg Tilly in Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (the third adaptation of the same book).

 

Whatever happened to Meg Tilly anyways? Her older sister Jennifer secured immortality with her girl-on-girl action in Bound...

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

you're right, and i'd say libertarian is an extreme form of liberalism (in the philosophical tradition).

Taught to me in high school as "libertad vs libertinaje", or freedom without consequences. But, Christ on a stick, at that point this shitty country was barely coming out of the Opus Dei medievalism: Jesus was invoked in courts of law, cable TV self-censored, and forget about divorce, which was only legalized THIS century - that's even worse than Ireland!

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

long story and strategic analysis boils down to: "And therein lies the problem for the GOP. Republicans face a number of quandaries these days that force them to choose between loyalty to the MAGA cult and general-election viability."

The irony is that 45 doesn't give a flying fuck about abortion or same-sex marriage; he just gave the dementially ultraconservative members of Congress and the Federalist Society and all that horseshit something to rely on, and in the process fired up the retarded MAGA mass. And vice versa.

Now, racism, xenophobia (excepting Norway!), misogyny, and authoritarianism - that's most certainly not an act, as we all know.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Ah yes, the classic. I actually associate that expression with Meg Tilly in Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (the third adaptation of the same book).

the one i posted is some english "princess", whatever that means

[!@#$%!]

back to meritocracies, nancy pelosi will not be minority leader in the next congress. it's the end of an era.

i hope someone as competent as she's been can replace her. the way she's wrangled the undisciplined democrats is impressive.

steny hoyer is her second in command, but is older than her, and the party needs new blood.

--

eta: ok, steny hoyer just said he's out. open race!

--

eta, later: who is hakeem jeffries?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...-pelosi-house/

In an interview with the Atlantic last year, Jeffries described where he fit into in today’s political landscape, saying, “I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now.” He added, “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.”

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

“There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.”

Yah well that shouldn't be a problem, considering THERE'S NO HARD LEFT in Congress.

You innocent Unitedstateseans.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Yah well that shouldn't be a problem, considering THERE'S NO HARD LEFT in Congress.

You innocent Unitedstateseans.

me, personally, i don't have a problem with that.

state ownership of the economy? ooof, no thanks.

i like markets.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

state ownership of the economy? ooof, no thanks.

I don't want that either. Speaking of loaded terms, I know "democratic socialism" is one of them, but regardless of how they label themselves that is not what Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are actually proposing.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

I don't want that either. Speaking of loaded terms, I know "democratic socialism" is one of them, but regardless of how they label themselves that is not what Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are actually proposing.

bernie actually wants state ownership of the healthcare sector, and his reply to how he's going to accomplish that with everything it entails is "we're going to have a movement..." by which i assume it's going to be marches and street protests and songs with fists raised.

i'm sorry, no, no thanks, internationale. with obamacare we're closer to the swiss model than to anything else out there. improvement is within reach.

except that unlike switzerland, in size and structure we're closer to the entire european union. the european union doesn't have brussels-owned healthcare for all member countries.

benie offers pie in the sky.

i'll take a public option though. a public option (not a mandate) is doable.

but that can also be done at the state and local level, btw.

[The Soup Nazi]

It is indeed absolutely insane -inhumane, in fact- that you don't have a competitive public option. Shit, even here, in the Chicago Boys laboratory, there is one...