Hardkill

Scott Morrison, who is the conservative Prime Minister of Australia just lost the election to a centre-left candidate named Anthony Albanese. This is another victory for 1st world countries. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/21/australia/australia-election-results-morrison-albanese-intl-hnk/index.html

Indeed. Just like with Al Gore in 2000, had there been no electoral college, then Hillary would've won by a lot. Also, I am not trying to suck up to you, but I really think that both of your videos on Inside the Mind of Trump and Democracy vs. Authoritarianism, were much more accurate, intelligent, and perceptive on why Trump won the 2016 election than something like Corey Wayne's vid was. Yeah, he definitely is at stage Blue/Orange. Btw, I loved seeing this vid he made after Trump lost the last election: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-pTQl-Haw He really believes in the conspiracy theory that the Democrats stole the election. One the one hand, I didn't think that he was as stupid as the MAGA zombies were, but on the other hand, I knew before he put out this vid that he was gonna bought into it the whole idea that there is "evidence widespread of voter fraud" in the election simply because he genuinely believes that Trump is some kind of self-made business genius and is the most alpha male president we have ever had.

From both a rational and pragmatic viewpoint, you're right that I should really just be focusing on what I can do myself. I gotta admit that that is actually what my parents have been telling me for several months now and I never thought that I would end up becoming so addicted to following politics. I know you keep saying that we are going to have for at least a few decades before the progressives prevail but do you think it's possible that their movement could be a lost cause given the fact that for decades none of their ideas have worked at all to materially improve the lives of everyday Americans? Also, how likely do you think we'll ever have another period of historic reform like we had during the Jacksonian era, Reconstruction era, early 20th century progressive era, New Deal era, or Great Society era?

I saw that vid back then and that really made me extremely disappointed with him. He may be a successful self-made entrepreneur but he obviously is a very myopic libertarian who lacks deep compassion and is as backwards as rednecks are.

I am surprised that Biden said this. This announcement does sound somewhat alarming, but he didn't specifically say how the US would militarily intervene.

So, then her being creeped out by what I said has nothing to do with her thinking that what I said was too taboo or that she's afraid of coming off as a slut?

My ex girlfriend was fine with it. Some girls like it and some don't. Just like some guys don't like it and some do.

Some of the new ones may come into power.

This is very sad. Many more American Christians have lately felt so threatened by the idea about their ideology dying in our country, that they feel like they have no choice but to resort to the lowest of right-wing scums in the USA to "save them."

Yeah, I wish that the Democrats in America genuinely tried to support the working class again like they used to in the old days.

Indeed. We need more leaders in the world who will contribute to the much needed progress of our world.

Well, I could live with progress being slow as long as some progress gets made and eventually leads to massive change overtime. Btw, why do you think that corporations financially benefit by separating themselves from bigotry? Also, why do you think that Republicans ended up failing in their culture war against homosexuality?

During the Progressive era, Muckrakers, people who were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers, were able to effectively expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions to all Americans. This majorly helped the progressive movement back then to put enough pressure on the government to fundamentally reform the entire system in order to strongly curb monopolies, the growing power of big businesses, stop employers, and political machines, stop employers from abusing and exploiting their employees in various ways, meaningfully address the uncertainties in the economy, give women voting rights, regulate the health and safety of working conditions and goods, etc. I know that liberals have already been trying their hardest bring public awareness on all of the systemic corruption we've had since over the past 50 years such as the corporate lobbying, military-industrial complex, growing economic inequality, voter suppression, gerrymandering, our democracy declining, racial and gender discrimination, etc. But it seems to me that no matter how much the progressives and even some establishment democrats publicly shout out to the American people about all of the serious problems that have been created by all of the corporate lobbying we have had in this country, it still seems like most Americans are either still not truly understanding it well enough or they simply don't really care. So, what more can be done to show all American people how atrocious something like corporate lobbying or the military-industrial complex has become?

It looks like though that those movements sadly didn’t end up working for them.

Then how come the muckrakers' widespread exposure of the systemic corruption in America were successful back then? Why was witnessing enough of the evils of slavery during the abolition movement able to successfully compel enough of the public and the political elite in America to quite literally fight like hell to outlaw slavery forever? Why was the national coverage of all of the nonviolent protests, marches, and sit-ins for the civil rights movement all worked to successfully pressure LBJ and enough Democrats in Congress to pass the historic 1964 civil rights act, 1965 voting rights act, and Civil Rights Act of 1968 for all black and brown people?

I agree with all of that. So, do you think that the reason why the progressives haven't been able to succeed yet is because their movement is still way too small and weak?

I am not just worried. The more I realize how many problems our society has the more depressed I become. Plus, the more I follow politics the more upset and indignant I become with conservatives as a whole for constantly trying to stop any kind of progress from happening and for causing way more lives to be lost in America in the long-run than liberals. Also, I am feeling very discouraged by the fact that the progressives have never been able to get anything done for our country and that we are still living through a painful regressive period.

It is sad that the US has so many roads that absolutely need to fixed and improved. Hopefully, the new BIF law that just got passed will be able to help solve much of this issue.

Yeah, but from what I understand movements like the abolition movement were able to incrementally make some kind of concrete progress for society in some way every 5-10 years until they successfully completed their ultimate objectives. The progressive faction in America was established in the early 90s back when Bernie first became a far left member of the House of Representative chamber, and so far I haven’t seen or learned of any real incremental progress that any of the progressives have ever made since then. Am I wrong?

I guess, he has become a double edged sword.

Idk. No offense, but that kinda sounds like a cliche.

Jordan Peterson and others like him must be so proud of themselves for being to successfully help stop much needed progress in 1st world countries, while millions of people, especially countless Americans continue to suffer or die unnecessarily because of what they have been listening to from figures like JP.

I know that it’s already been mentioned here on this forum that rural areas generally are more conservative than urban or even suburban areas. The reasons for this have already been mentioned in both this forum and in some articles out there online. One of the reasons this is the case is because rural dominant states have less cultural and racial/ethnic diversity than Urban/Suburban dominant states do. Another reason for this is because folks in rural states have a lower level of education per capita than urban/suburban states do. However, there are three New England states in America, that are mainly rural and lack cultural and racial/ethnic diversity. New Hampshire is a fairly rural dominant state and is one of the least diverse states culturally and racially/ethnically in the US. Vermont and Maine have been arguably considered to be the two most rural and the two least culturally and racially/ethnically diverse states in the entire country. Yet, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine have been liberal if not very liberal states for about 3 decades. Plus, the states have been continuing to trend more towards liberalism as time goes on. They say that there are two reasons for this. One reason is that each of these three states have become mainly liberal is because the overall level of education in those states is actually grater than in most other rural states in America. In fact, Maine is considered to have a higher level of education than a majority of US states, Vermont is ranked as the fifth most educated state in the country, and New Hampshire is ranked as the 8th most educated state in the US. Another reason is that these states are much less religious and traditional than all of the other rural states in the US are. But why have those states had a higher overall level of education and less tradition oriented environments than all of the other rural states? How can other rural states like Montana, Iowa, Montana, Idaho, etc. transition from being conservative to being liberal like the rural and white New England states have been?

Do you think that labor unions will one day regain the kind of influence and power they once had several decades ago?

I really can't stand this guy. You know, I knew that he was always a libertarian leaning kind of a person, but I never realized until last year how much he was against any kind of liberal or Democratic agenda. Also, he must be fucking kidding me when he says that the Democratic Party has "....become the party of division & hate.." and that's why he "can no longer support them and will vote Republican." Is he saying that Democrats like Biden is more divisive and hateful than Trump? Is he saying that most Democratic politicians, who have already been accused by progressives, minorities, and many democratic voters in the country for being too moderate/establishment and placating Republicans too much and have been legally bribed by corporations have become too divisive and haven't ever tried to work in a bipartisan manner?! What about all of the increasing amount of unilateral right-wing extremism in the rhetoric and actions of the Republican Party since the 70s?! The crimes that Nixon committed and his very racist Southern strategy campaign strategy and racist law and order policies all of which began the political polarization between both parties after the Civil rights movement. Then came Reagan's racist extreme right-wing economic policies and more racist law enforcement policies. Followed by the Bush's war on Terror. Last but not least, Trump, the epitome of American ethnocentrism, hatred, and authoritarianism. There of course have been countless right-wing GOP Congressmen and state officials since the 70s who have greatly responsible for fanning the fires of hatred, racism, and societal division. Newt Gingrich is a prime example of a Republican congressman who in the 90s very much contributed to the polarization of American politics, undermined democratic norms, and helped complete the permanent Republican takeover of the South. Republicans are the ones that actually hate this country. Not only have the long abandoned the blacks and other ethnic minorities for well over a century, most of them no longer genuinely believe in having a democracy in America. I know that Musk is not at all a stupid person, so this must mean that he has either become a very corrupt businessman or there is something wrong with him psychologically.