Election: What Is Your Take...

[carpedm9587]

That should be your first response always.

I've always been taught "it is what it is", and life isn't always going to be a bowl of cherries - I grew up pretty poor, and was the first in my family (of 9) to get a college degree, and to own a home, etc... The system sucks, but it should never define us.

I prefer to spend my time where it makes the most impact, the soonest.

I don't deny the system sucks - but, again, I prefer to spend my time and money where it actually makes an appreciable difference.

This is where I really really don't get you. I ASSUMED you were being light-hearted, and I responded in kind, thinking we were good-naturedly kidding. When you see me making purposefully dumb statements like "nailing an M1A1 main battle tank to a rose bush", or declaring that you are "the turdiest" - you should be able to deduce that I'm being pretty facetious. I thought you were posting in good humor, and I replied in kind. Sometimes, though, you seem to go off your "I'm such a nice guy" image and -- I hate to say this -- revert to what MAY be your "true self".

You labor under the misconception that I have a "true self" and a "false self," as if I put on a "persona" here and sometimes it "slips." I don't do persona. I am who and what I am - with all the positive and all the negative. On the negative side, I can be too serious. I can be too sensitive (especially if I am tired or stressed). I can be inconsistent in living my own ideals. I definitely can be too wordy. And (like everyone) I can succumb to my own biases. I am these things in all contexts - online and off. On the positive side, I have a big heart, a generous nature, I try to look for the good wherever I can find it, and I am incredibly handsome and a borderline genius.

Ok ...maybe those last two were a bit much...

I don't know how may times I have to say I really like you and enjoy you being here, I have no animosity to you, I like to poke you IN FUN ---- but, SHEESH, you can be so.....

Yeah - I know exactly what you mean. I keep trying to point out how you can be too - but I think it's possible that you have more skull than brain.

[Sparko]

I like you too Carp, as a person, but I find your debating style to be extremely frustrating.

[Cow Poke]

You labor under the misconception that I have a "true self" and a "false self," as if I put on a "persona" here and sometimes it "slips."

I "labor" under no such misconception. You, from time to time, can be a real blockhead (as can I) but I'm not the one posting threads about being civil. If you would be "civil" enough to give me the benefit of the doubt when I have told you repeatedly I have nothing against you, rather than jump these weird conclusions....

I'm just asking you to practice what you preach, bro!

[carpedm9587]

I like you too Carp, as a person, but I find your debating style to be extremely frustrating.

I have to admit the feeling is mutual. Both of them.

[carpedm9587]

I "labor" under no such misconception. You, from time to time, can be a real blockhead (as can I) but I'm not the one posting threads about being civil. If you would be "civil" enough to give me the benefit of the doubt when I have told you repeatedly I have nothing against you, rather than jump these weird conclusions....

I'm just asking you to practice what you preach, bro!

Guilty as charged, my friend - hence the apology.

[Terraceth]

So a dead republican pimp won the state election in Nevada. They must really hate the democrats.

Dennis Hof, dead brothel owner from Nevada, just won in a landslidehttps://www.aol.com/article/news/201...share_facebook

You know, the comic Pearls Before Swine had a story where one of the characters was trying to run for mayor, but was losing in the polls to a dead guy. It was supposed to be intentionally absurd, but apparently it can happen...

[Terraceth]

It actually wasn't a long-shot at all. Based on historical precedent, Democrats should have had no problem taking control of the Senate, especially if Trump was really as unpopular as the media claims. But like with everything else concerning Trump's political career, things didn't play out as expected.

I'm confused. What historical precedent offsets the fact that the Senate map was extraordinarily unfriendly to Democrats this year?

I suspect this is one of the major reasons that Peurto Rico and DC will never be admitted as states - it would shift this balance because both are pretty solidly blue.

Washington, D.C., definitely. But Puerto Rico? From what I can tell, it's fairly centrist on the whole, with perhaps a slight conservative lean (the party that currently controls the governorship and both houses of congress is regarded as center-right). It'd probably be a toss up state.

[carpedm9587]

I'm confused. What historical precedent offsets the fact that the Senate map was extraordinarily unfriendly to Democrats this year?

Washington, D.C., definitely. But Puerto Rico? From what I can tell, it's fairly centrist on the whole, with perhaps a slight conservative lean (the party that currently controls the governorship and both houses of congress is regarded as center-right). It'd probably be a toss up state.

It is possible I am misinformed. When I get a chance, I'll try to educate myself on it more.

[JimL]

I have no idea. But I am voting. Straight republican.

Loser!

[JimL]

I say the Republicans pick up two or three seats in the Senate, and they lose the House by about five seats...

So you wished.

[Leonhard]

My take... is simple that people have voted.

Those who voted got a say in who'd sit in the big seats, and say the big words. The votes have been counted. And according to the rules of democracy, things have gone mostly as it should.

Now that its over, it would be up for people in the US to support this. And go back to the things that really matte: Their lives; Their careers, however humble; Their family and serving their God, whatever they conceive Him to be.

They can protest it, debate it, or celebrate it - depending on where they land in regards to who won - and work towards the next election cycle.

But life goes on as it should.

[Sparko]

Loser!

Actually we won. I live in one of the states where we replaced a democrat Senator with a Republican. And our house reps stayed the same mix of democrat/republican.

[carpedm9587]

Actually we won. I live in one of the states where we replaced a democrat Senator with a Republican. And our house reps stayed the same mix of democrat/republican.

You have to love politics. It's the only game I know of where both teams get to win at the same time...

[Sparko]

You have to love politics. It's the only game I know of where both teams get to win at the same time...

I think the election went well. Both sides won something.

[carpedm9587]

I think the election went well. Both sides won something.

I would have preferred both houses to have swung to the Democrats for the next two years, mostly to protect the court from swinging further to the right. Then, in an ideal world, Trump would be shown the door in 2020 (in favor of a Democrat candidate) and Republicans would retake the house. That would allow Ginsburg to resign and be replaced by a candidate of similar leanings, and hopefully give the next president a chance to replace one of the far-right justices with a moderate, restoring the former 4-1-4 balance the court enjoyed. Personally, I'd like to see a 3-3-3 split on SCOTUS, but I suspect that can never happen. People on the right see moderates as "too left" and people on the right see moderates as "too right." So when I talk to conservatives, they see the court as having been "run by liberals" for years. When I talk to liberals, they see the court as having been "run by conservatives" for years. The reality is that the court was split 4-4 between those wings with Kennedy as a moderate swing vote between them. But most on the right saw Kennedy as a liberal, and most on the left saw Kennedy as a conservative. Relativity in action.

The court is now 4-5 leaning right with no moderates remaining. If Ginsburg retires or dies in the next two years, it will swing 3-6 to the right for at least the next generation. That is not a mix I would find beneficial for our country.