US midterm election results

[Annoynymous]

What do you think about US mid term election results? I thought Democrats were going to have a landslide victory but it didn't happen, and it kinda disappoints me. Btw i am not talking about from the political point of view but from self actualization point of view. I think democrats are more green and progressives. Why american people are not willing to go for progressives and to hold on republicans (Blue conservatives)?     

Edited November 7, 2018 by Annoynymous

[Leo Gura]

Democrats had a fairly strong win.

The Senate was never really in play this term.

Red states are still red, and they will not change much in 2 years time. Conservatives like Trump so they will not change. The only thing that really changes is independents and moderates, and they seem to be turned off by Trump, which is about as much as you can expect.

You can't really expect deep red states to flip all of the sudden. Texas and Florida are red and will stay red for a years to come.

From what I can see Trump will find it almost impossible to win reelection in 2020 because he has clearly lost independents and moderates. He only won thanks to them in 2016 because they did not yet realize his true character and Hillary didn't inspire anyone and had lots of baggage.

If the Dems put up a good candidate in 2020, Trump should easily lose, assuming he even survives 2 years of criminal investigations.

The only way Trump wins again is if the Dems put up a terrible, uninspiring candidate. (Which they could manage to do.)

If the Dems put up someone like Sanders, Warren, or Beto, Trump should lose.

If they put up Biden...

[Forestluv]

Everyone be mindful that political activism and propaganda is against forum guidelines. If the thread devolves in that direction it will likely get locked. 

Elections can be reflective of consciousness levels of society. I find them interesting in terms of wordviews wtihin a SD framework. In particular, several more states have legalized medical and recreational use of marijuana. This would have been unheard of 30 years ago when marijuana was highly stigmatized. In the next 20 years, we will likely see "medical psychedelics" on ballot initiatives.

Regarding the House of Representatives (which reflect local elections) - this was the most diverse group ever elected in the U.S. For the first time, there will be over 100 women in the house (many of those women of color and LGBTQ). The first Muslim women and the first two Native American women were elected. The first openly-gay governor was elected in Colorado. This House elections are a victory for the Green level of SD - they value inclusiveness, especially for individuals that have been marginalized or ostracized.

In terms of SD, there are still large areas centered in Red, Blue and lower Orange. Trump fires up Red / Blue with his aggressiveness, nationalism and "us vs. them" rhetoric. Lower Orange may be somewhat turned off, but a relatively strong economy satiated Orange. Upper Orange is turned off by Trump and Green and above is repulsed by Trump. This is not to say Green and above will resonate with the "opposite" party (democrats). There are plenty of Orange-centered democrats that are motivated by personal gain and capitalism - which will turn off Green and above. 

[Strikr]

Who cares for us election.

GLOIRE AU GRAND RETOUR DE LA PUISSANCE !!

FRENCH WILL CONQUER THE WORLD AGAIN !

it has been written in the holy book.

 

[Emerald]

I was hoping for the same. I know that a lot more progressive minded individuals voted this time around because they realize there's a lot at stake, and that not voting is not an option as having a senate or house minority is going to effect a lot of people negatively because there will be no checks to the president's power. So, I was expecting there to be bigger wins.

But in my state (Florida), which is a swing state, the Republicans won both the governorship and the senate seat by a 50.6 and 49.4 split and a 48.9 and 49.9 split. So, we were very close. I was not expecting that to be the case because I saw a ton more young people at the poles. Florida is a retirement state, so in this I had hope that many of those youngsters came out with a more progressive agenda. I am, however, glad that the Democrats got the House back. 

But I suppose that the preference for Republicans comes from a lot of people being traditionally minded, and voting for candidates who use traditional values as a mask for more nefarious agendas that actually disenfranchise many of their constituents who are poor and uneducated. Also, there are a lot of Republicans that run on the Southern Strategy which is meant to appeal to white racists. So, any anti-immigration or anti-minority rhetoric is always a huge voter draw in Red States because there are a lot of racists. For example, DeSantis won against Gillum (a black man) and in one of his debates with Gillum, he made an appeal to the people of Florida to not "Monkey" this one up... which is a clear racist dog-whistle. So, I'm sure the racist crowd was like "This is our guy!"

But I think it will work in our favor in 2020 that there was no sweeping Blue Wave in 2018. The opposition may come too prepared in 2020 if they fear electing a Democrat to the office of president to replace Trump in 2020. But if they don't expect Trump to lose, then fewer people will be less motivation for the more lukewarm Republicans to go out and vote for Trump to avoid a Democrat in office. They will think Trump is a guarantee and will get lazy.

[Quicksilver]

Seems like you can't get rid of politics even on forums like this. I expected opening threads like this to be an auto-close here... 

[now is forever]

10 minutes ago, Quicksilver said:

Seems like you can't get rid of politics even on forums like this. I expected opening threads like this to be an auto-close here... 

one post on this? did you wait for it? for how long?

[Forestluv]

@Emerald I have a similar view. I also think that fear of socialism and demonizing opponents as scary socialists played a role. I hope more people will become aware that modern "Green level" socialism differs from old "Blue level" socialism / communism. Surveys indicate the millennial generation in the U.S. is more open to progressive socialism, similar to that in parts of Europe like Scandinavia.

I like how Leo talked about the two levels of socialism in his SD series.

[Annoynymous]

I was also thinking before opening this thread that will it be appropriate to have open discussion in this topic in the forum. Because when it comes to politics people are quite quick to take sides and demonize the opposite one. But then i thought that politics is also part of our consciousness and we can not avoid this. I believe this discussion can be used to gain valuable insights about self actualization because hey, we are also part of society! And we can not escape it unless we live in jungle. I am not an American but still i took interest on their political issues because yes, any political change in America will have significant influence on the intetnational arena as well. 

I have been following through this interconnectedness for many years and discovering how complex global politics can be. So i think this discussion is in sync with this forum's purpose. Just we have to be conscious enough not to turn it for a issue to debate, criticize and ideolize. We have to have open mindednes.        

[Strikr]

4 minutes ago, Annoynymous said:

I was also thinking before opening this thread that will it be appropriate to have open discussion in this topic in the forum. Because when it comes to politics people are quite quick to take sides and demonize the opposite one. But then i thought that politics is also part of our consciousness and we can not avoid this. I believe this discussion can be used to gain valuable insights about self actualization because hey, we are also part of society! And we can not escape it unless we live in jungle. I am not an American but still i took interest on their political issues because yes, any political change in America will have significant influence on the intetnational arena as well. 

I have been following through this interconnectedness for many years and discovering how complex global politics can be. So i think this discussion is in sync with this forum's purpose. Just we have to be conscious enough not to turn it for a issue to debate, criticize and ideolize. We have to have open mindednes.        

mostly we are aware that all humans are defending their own story and choose what profit their own agenda.

here the agenda for me is quite simple, makes all people "insane", and makes them eat all the politicians. litteraly.

[Forestluv]

@Annoynymous Yes, one can let go of ideology and take a meta view. It can be tricky though. I often get pulled into a Green level of consciousness in this area.

[now is forever]

usually i think most slightly political interested people in europe are concerned about who is sitting in the white house but often not so much with the details. we get the midterm election in the news and for many people that’s it. can we influence something - no of course not, so why bother too much. but it doesn’t mean we are not interested with the bigger picture. 

europe is more open to socialist views because even west europe had socialist parties all along even during the cold war. in some countries there are even moderate kommunist parties - they have a long tradition. as well as there are so many different forms of democracies in all european countries. switzerland is extremely interesting for example regarding poll systems.

but yes we have our own problems as well, and we have been codependent for a long time. how interested are american people in european elections? i think that’s why europeans act out arrogantly sometimes.

anf i like this thread very much.

Edited November 7, 2018 by now is forever

[RichardY]

Tyranny for the foreseeable future. The rest is window dressing.

[Leo Gura]

Even under Trump, the US is still becoming more liberal and progress is happening. Evolution & progress cannot ever be stopped. The attempt to stop it is itself part of the progress.

So in the end there is no losing, only winning if you are a progressive. It just doesn't happen as fast and directly as your ego might like.

Michigan legalized weed today. So there you go

[Forestluv]

6 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Evolution & progress cannot ever be stopped. The attempt to stop it is itself part of the progress.

So in the end there is no losing, only winning if you are a progressive. It just doesn't happen as fast and directly as your ego might like.

This seems like a Tier 2 perspective. If I drop down to Tier 1 Green it can feel like losing because the progress doesn't look like how I think progress "should" look like.

[now is forever]

29 minutes ago, RichardY said:

Tyranny for the foreseeable future. The rest is window dressing.

yes maybe if it was pointed to the european union. and if they don’t manage to make the system more democratic there.

[SFRL]

From my observation Democrats win the presidential election if they put up very good candidates. They can't just be ok or good. They got to be very good. Like Bill Clinton and Obama.

The Democrats have a far more diverse group that votes for them. Those people are not so much loyal to the Democratic party. They vote for strong leaders. 

The Republicans on the other hand can get away with average presidential candidates. Arguably bad ones. Because most of the people that vote Republican are deeply loyal to the Republican party. 

A lot of the people living in the coastal states live in their liberal bubble. They have no idea about the people that live in the middle states and what life is like in the middle states. 

These midterm elections usually tend to swing towards the party that lost the election as a form of revenge. So nothing unusual there. 

The Democrats will win the presidential election IF they put up a strong presidential candidate. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by SFRL

[RichardY]

@Leo Gura I didn't trust how the judge Kavanaugh allegation was handled, in fact it was an outright hit piece, but that's politics. No doubt in my mind he was not guilty, let alone presumption of innocence. Especially accusing him just, before being confirmed, and the accuser lying about fear of flying, when she had multiple holidays to Hawaii. Not having her story straight or at least contacting others.

If you mean the Democrats ultimately winning for the next several decades, whether Trump gets re-elected or not, I have almost no doubt, given demographics. Democrats are more evolved, but so are many other species including rats & alligators. Evolution being dependent on an in group, or similarity/collective ego.

Progress towards what. Any meat of the issue is there. 

1 minute ago, now is forever said:

yes maybe if it was pointed to the european union. and if they don’t manage to make the system more democratic there.

The system is not democratic because a commission gets the final say. Perhaps like a senate, or house of lords, although that's more of a Republic. But even with the USA, numbers matter in a democracy. Whatever group is the largest wins. Pragmatism, at its finest. Which is why Hilary lost(Despite other things……………..), remnants of a Republic.

[SFRL]

Another thing is Democrats winning is literally half of the problem. 

Democrats and Republicans both have their merits and weaknesses. 

There will need to be more higher consious Republicans as well. At the very least Democrats and Republicans will need to work together. Instead of further dividing the country. 

I think the two (or three) party system is outdated anyways. There should be more party's to better represent all the diverse groups within the US. Maybe not as extreme as the multiparty system in The Netherlands, Europe. It has it's own problems as well. But something in that direction could be an example for the USA. 

 

 

[Forestluv]

@RichardY The Kavanaugh hearing seemed like an emotional lightening rod. I find it fascinating how Blue / Orange and Green were both strongly triggered for different reasons.