The experimental political thread - be cool

[midwayfair]

Trump has EVERY qualification needed to become President of the USA.

Just in case anyone thinks he's kidding:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

[raulduke]

I don't think someone with no political experience or qualifications is necessarily a bad thing.

Look at some of the well educated and politically experienced people we have had in positions of power over here in the UK. They have no comprehension of the real world (George Osbourne anyone?).

A life of Eton -> Oxford -> Politics (or the US equivalent) does not necessarily set you up as a grounded individual with a good overview of a country, it's businesses, and it's demographics.

I agree with an earlier comment; hopefully recent developments in politics are going to motivate and mobilize the younger generation in a positive way.

The more people get angry with the way our governments are ran and determined, then hopefully the more people will get engaged in a positive way to make change.

Also, taking a positive outlook, now we have got rid of some of the dross after the referendum (bye bye Cameron), we have a new PM who seems to have a quite progressive agenda. Early days yet, but I don't think Theresa May is all that bad. I also doubt she would have got into power through the normal election process (she isn't exactly charismatic).

We could hope that there will be a similar scenario in the US (although some of Trumps republican pals scare me even more than he does...).

A panelist on the BBC was commenting that they don't think Trump will even last a full term before he gets fed up with it all. I don't think he will be fully prepared for the shit storm that he is about to face... I wouldn't want to take the job.

[peAk]

Hillary had all the experience/qualifications in the world and still didn't understand how to deal with emails properly.


...just sayin.

[GermanCdn]

Trump has EVERY qualification needed to become President of the USA.

Just in case anyone thinks he's kidding:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

OK, understood.  There are stricter requirements to being a bus driver than President of the United States.   

And I mean no disrespect to bus drivers with that statement.

[dan.schumaker]

Personally, I do not care which political party holds the office. As long as they do a good job and do what is right for our country! Period.

This is my view of politics...

[madbean]

Trump has EVERY qualification needed to become President of the USA.

Just in case anyone thinks he's kidding:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

True, but meeting the eligibility requirements is a matter of fact whereas "qualified" is a lot more subjective. I mean, I meet the eligibility requirements to run for President and while madbean2020 has a nice ring to it I hold myself as entirely unqualified to do the job!

[dan.schumaker]

[daleykd]

...simply due to the fact that probably 97% of the people on this forum (and musicians in general) are liberal and lean to the left.

I guess I'm part of the 3%.  However, that doesn't mean I "identify" (goodness, I don't care for that word these days) as Republican.  I did until the last few elections.  I "hated" both sides equally in this election.

Now, for full disclosure, I know that the majority of my stances and reasons for being right lie in my religious beliefs.  The "cool" thing about this election is that it forces me to go back to the Bible and ask what it truly says, not what right-American says that it says.

I have no $0.02 for this election.  I could go on a rant about safe-spaces and shutting down colleges to 'mourn,' but I'm too exhausted to do that.

We're all still friends, though, right? 

[madbean]

Naturally. Who wouldn't vote for those two handsome bastards?

[culturejam]

Naturally. Who wouldn't vote for those two handsome bastards?

I bet those guys get mad chicks.

[selfdestroyer]

Brian & Forrest could make this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_with_facial_hair

MORE BEARDS IN OFFICE!

Cody

[GermanCdn]

Naturally. Who wouldn't vote for those two handsome bastards?

I bet those guy get mad chicks.

Just make sure you don't talk about it near anyone with a recording device.  Or maybe do.  Worked out for the other guy.

This discussion is a great example of why I love this forum.  Discussion from various sides (and points around the globe) without getting into stupid/pointless/reactionary arguments.  Well done by all.

[peAk]

Naturally. Who wouldn't vote for those two handsome bastards?

I bet those guy get mad chicks.

Just make sure you don't talk about it near anyone with a recording device.  Or maybe do.  Worked out for the other guy.

This discussion is a great example of why I love this forum.  Discussion from various sides (and points around the globe) without getting into stupid/pointless/reactionary arguments.  Well done by all.

Thread isn't over yet. 

[slacker775]

I can only address one of many factors regarding the results.

I am beholden to the same clearance and rights, although not read on to all programs, as Bradley, Snowden, and Clinton. (And thousands of other people in the Intelligence Community.)
Regardless of position in the military, State Department, Department of Energy, any department of the government you have to swear by, sign, and confirm your capability in the handling, storage, and transmission of classified information once you are provided with the clearance, access, and need to know of that information.

Bradley is in prison for intentionally releasing classified information. I'm cool with that.
Snowden is in exile for intentionally releasing classified information.  I'm cool with that.
I can name dozens of others in the same position as those two and I am cool with that. Not because i don't think it's fucked up, because in some cases it is, but because those individuals knew before they ever set eyes on the information that the intentional or unintentional release of classified information would get them shit canned.

I would go to jail for the intentional or unintentional release of the same information that Clinton did. 
I would go to jail if I kept classified information in my car, or my house, or my barn, or my laptop.
The senior intelligence officer for the Department of Defense would be fired, removed from service, and lucky if they did the same thing and not end up in jail.
GEN Petraeus was one of the best combatant commanders we've had in decades and he was raked over the coals and drummed out of the Army for releasing material to a person who did have clearance but not a confirmed need to know.

Clinton breaks the rules, meh, whatever.
She knew exactly what laws she was breaking.  If she didn't, then she isn't competent enough to hold the honor of President.
She did it anyway.  Regardless of personality and general shit-headedness of any competitor she went up against, I could not stand to cast my ballot for a person who falls under the same rules as everyone else but blatently disregards them because she thinks her position is more important.
Once the classified email scandal hit, Clinton lost the vote of millions of people with security clearances.

If she can't behave and act under the rules as Secretary of State, the real number 2 under the President, then she won't behave as President.
Things Clinton has done as Secretary of State have directly impacted me.  Whether it was behavior with rules listed above or other actions as Secretary of State.  My decision to go against her was not one of conceptual or principled thought.  It was result of very direct impact to my individual life because of her decisions.

Trump, while apparently not a nice guy, has done nothing to directly harm me or any actual individual I know.

I did a few spells working for DoD including TS clearance back in the 90's and there was zero question that the whole Hillary email situation is/was/forever-should-have-been a non-starter.   There's no way that it was just a 'oops!  I didn't understand' sort of thing.  That definitely made me question her decision making and her overall intentions.  I've also had the misfortune of working for someone very much like Trump, with all of the misogyny and racial tendencies.   That's not the kind of person that you want to lead.

We thought past elections were the lesser of two evils, we had no idea what 2016 would bring.

Here's hoping not too much damage comes our way....

[madbean]

Thread isn't over yet. 

I'll probably close the thread tomorrow. Not because anything is going bad (quite the opposite). But, it's an experiment and a good experiment has a conclusion.

That said, I've come up with a solid idea for a new political party. The DIY Party. The party slogan will be, "We'll Fix Our Own Shit!"
I'm going to work up a party platform and make a call for members. I'm maybe half-joking.