US Election 2016 Poll and Disscusion

[EagleLady]

Oh great, now we are on the social and moral issues. I'm not a very religious person (Buddhist, here), but I can appreciate what Christians have done in the history of the world. The people that founded the United States were either Deists or some sort of Christian. You can correct me if some were in fact proven agnostics or irreligious people. I'm not trying to put Christianity on a pedestal, but I'm just saying that it's a decent religion with some imperfections. It's been pretty good for democracy. I know that the U.S. is not a Christian nation, but the people that founded as I stated before had believed in some degree of it. The U.S. gov't cannot and should not impose or promote a religion. I think Israel is a democratic country, but unfortunately, Islamic countries don't practice democracy that well. They missed out on the western ideas of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment. I don't know a lot about Islam, but there needs to be some sort of Reformation and/or Enlightenment.

As a minority, when I see the Confederate flag, the first thing that comes into my mind isn't that it's a sign for southern pride. If you fly it in California, it will probably be seen as disrespectful, unless you're actually from the South. Even then, how are passersby going to know that you're just full of southern pride? They'll probably think you're a racist redneck or a white supremacist, due to the diversity in my state, esp. in the Bay Area. Once again, I'm not accusing anybody of being a racist, a redneck, a white supremacist, and/or a combination of the aforementioned. It's just that feeling that comes into my head if I see the flag. Here's an article of what the Confederate flag means outside of the US: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-i...-the-us-2015-6 Some countries have thought of it as a flag of rebellion, but the Neo-Nazi Germans have used it instead of the swastika. The swastika is prohibited in Germany, so they use the Dixie for their purposes.

Again its a sign of southern pride, not racism. Please get your facts straight

[Ive always been a dreamer]

What’s wrong with the Confederate flag? Okay – the short answer is it’s the flag of the Confederacy that was formed for the purpose of protecting the institution of slavery.

Quite honestly, I’m not sure what southern pride even is and I’m from Virginia. Personally, I would never be proud to display or support anything that is symbolic of slavery. I also have ancestors that fought in the Civil War and I’m sure they deeply believed in the cause they were fighting for. I don’t think they were bad people, but I do think they were wrong. Surely, over 150 years after the end of the Civil War, most people agree that enslavement of human beings was a dark stain on American history rather than something we should be proud of.

[WS82Classics]

I will say regarding the Confederate flag that i used to ill-informedly hang flag dice from my rear-view mirror. Southern pride and all. I went to a car dealership to have my front bumper replaced a couple of years back(after dropping a wheel off the road and spinning into a guard-rail), and, while they were repairing my car, one of the workers tore the dice down, decimating the connecting string. I consider myself fortunate that's all I got as a response to that, and I regret having ever purchased the dice in the first place.

My ancestors fled across state lines to fight for the Union in the war. It is interesting to see how the Civil War is being re-litigated by certain elements of society. One side says the Confederacy fought over slavery and the other says they fought for 'States Rights'. Both of them are right—The fight was waged over the right of the states to have slaves. One can argue over the soundness of some of the policies undertaken on the way to the Union victory and the dissolution of slavery(jailing newspaper publishers who supported the Confederacy, for example), but no sane person can argue that the ultimate ending of slavery was a bad thing, which is what Trump's core base of supporters(the ones who LOVE him as opposed to ones who support him by default) seems to be promulgating.

Regarding Trump's voter fraud comments, he's probably teeing off of the fact that voter turnout in some Cleveland and Philadelphia-area precincts had something like 108% turnout in 2012, which can be easily chalked up to the fact that such percentages are used to describe turnout increases from previous elections(if turnout jumps high enough, you could ultimately see 1,000% or higher increases). It's a misconstrual on the part of people paranoidly propagating this, though Trump himself probably couldn't tell the difference between voter statistics and the IHOP menu.

All I will say about the religious angle that was hinted at earlier is that Christians like myself have just as much right to discuss their views in public as do agnostics/atheists. Contrary to Mr. Trump's bleating, all religions(or lack thereof) are equal under the law and no one should be subjected to preferential treatment or discrimination.

The gun issue is a subject that needs to be wholly debated. “Don't politicize” is not an acceptable response at this point, which I say as a Conservative supporter of basic gun rights. Military weaponry and armory need to at the very least be re-classified for strictly military and law enforcement usage. I wrote more about this on my own personal site a couple of months back in the wake of the two shootings in Orlando, laced with a lot of my own very, very personal thoughts: http://ridersonthestorm101.blogspot....oliticize.html

There's no possible way I could condense all I feel about this election. The best and the brightest have been passed over in favour of the Dirty Don(Clinton was the only good option Democrats had, which is itself depressing). I can only hope that this is a bottoming-out point and that we can bounce back as a country. Unlike most, I do hold out hope on that end.

The comments on here have been very informative, and I thank you all for your insights.

[WalshFan88]

All I will say about the religious angle that was hinted at earlier is that Christians like myself have just as much right to discuss their views in public as do agnostics/atheists.

But of course....

[WalshFan88]

More weeks have passed by and I still hold the same feelings towards the candidates. Now we have the whole health debate about both parties.

The Trump campaign started out saying they wished HRC well and all of that jazz, and then Trump said she couldn't have the stamina to stand in the heat anymore and couldn't do it. He simply cannot keep true to what he says.

I think HRC did have pneumonia and it is easy to overheat, doubly so when sick. The talk of her having some kind of neurological condition that would impair her as POTUS is a bit OTT. I think she will recover fully and she's already back out on the trail.

I really wish Trump would listen to his handlers more and learn to restrain his thoughts as I think that would help his case. I think the statement wishing HRC well was likely from his team, and he just chose to make himself very inconsiderate and totally put out more bad vibes with his comments.

[Annoying Twit]

Can someone in the US reassure me that the US presidential race isn't as much of a farce as it appears to be? It's like the "Leave" referendum in the UK all over again.

I've read an article which is concerned about conservatives making political gains in Iran. It said, wait for it, that some of the statements by Iranian conservative figures are so extreme that they sound similar to pronouncements by Donald Trump. This was said seriously, and with concern.

[NightMistBlue]

It's very much like the "Leave" referendum, but with far less dignity. You do know that Trump had Nigel Farage speaking at a rally not long ago?

[Annoying Twit]

It's very much like the "Leave" referendum, but with far less dignity. You do know that Trump had Nigel Farage speaking at a rally not long ago?

Yes, I do know. I think you'd prefer me not to say what I thought when I saw that.

EDIT: Wait a second, even less dignity? How is that possible?

[NightMistBlue]

I can't imagine any British politician going about in a baseball cap and insinuating that a feisty female journalist must be having her period.

[Annoying Twit]

I can't imagine any British politician going about in a baseball cap and insinuating that a feisty female journalist must be having her period.

Nigel Farage!!!!