AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Well, to be fair, though... I hadn't paid much attention to the campaigns, because I already know I don't want the next president to be from either party. So far this century, we've had two terms of the Republican party being in power, and two of the Democrats.

What has Bush done? Well, he got us in a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, I'm not sure about Afghanistan, in regards of whether we should have gone to war there or not. I want to make it clear that I don't buy into the 9/11 conspiracy theories, at least when they claim that the government was behind it. At worst, I think the administration could have been warned, and blew it off, thinking that it would be thwarted, then lied about it to save face.

But going to war in Iraq over WMDs that weren't even there was a colossal mistake. It destabilized the region further.

But then with Obama, we ended up pulling out of Iraq (are we still in Afghanistan?), leaving room for Islamic State to gain so much ground. Anytime someone publicly disagrees with the president, he (or at least his supporters) say it's because they're racist. And while it isn't his fault that shit fell apart because some cops shot some black people, that did happen during his time in office.

There's also the ton of executive orders he's signed (I say this without absolute certainty, as I don't actually know how to confirm or debunk this).

I wish there was more negative stuff I could recall about the Republican party at the moment.

The point I'm trying to really make is that I'm tired of hearing people only complaining about Trump, when Hillary is as bad a candidate as he is, but for different reasons. Sanders ain't a good idea either (seriously, have the government pay for everything? Using taxes? Everyone will wind up poor), but he may not have a shot.

But the thing is, people just need to start voting for a third party candidate. The career politicians have been steadily making things worse, and act as if Americans want to dominate the rest of the world, so they keep getting us involved in problem after problem.

Also, that bit about only so many immigrants being allowed citizenship is kind of messed up. But is there a reason for it to be that difficult?

Oh, of course Hillary is just as bad. Haven't you seen the face book posts basically saying "if it comes down to Trump. v. Clinton, I'm skipping the country" or "Trump v. Clinton? I think you mean Top socket v. bottom socket" with a picture of a little kid sticking a knife into an electrical outlet. The majority of Republican and Democrat candidates are nearly indistinguishable these days, save for the issues of abortion, marriage, and how to alter welfare assistance. A lot of people just like to complain more loudly about Trump for the same reason they like reality TV and gossip magazines. It's easy outrage, which can be a nice vent for general frustration of life. This isn't to say anything about the specific ethnic or religious identities that he has directly offended. They sort of have reason to hold a social grudge against him.

I actually think that Sanders isn't completely crazy (although that's a much more complex economics argument about the specific points I like and what I dislike/am uncertain about), but it would probably take more than eight years to smoothly transition into the changes he wants. And with the sheer amount of Congressional resistance he'd meet (kind of like the other two, really), I doubt he'd get enough things that he wants done in the time he wants to do it, even in the unlikely event that he were to be elected for two terms. So any changes he were to attempt would basically be undone the moment he leaves office, because they would be incomplete systems.


~*BUREAUCRACY*~
(I can't find what I would consider certainly reliable information at the moment, but I would infer that it is largely due to bureaucratic inefficiency, rather than a deliberate "fuck you". At least, not entirely. The application process is made deliberately difficult for adults who are not yet fluent in English.)

Yeah, but in this part of the country, people who speak English as a first language aren't all that fluent in English. I'd been in this state for 23 years, and I still occasionally have problems understanding people. But that's because they slur their speech a lot. While sober.

Seriously, the only good thing about this state is the wilderness. Not a big fan of cities and suburbs.

I'll post some of my views as an outside observer, I'm not as informed as I should be, partly because I think the world is fucked regardless and I can't do anything about it anyway and partly because it's bodaciously impossible to find an unbiased source of information any more.

Which brings me to my first point of worry: the increasing polarisation in the US. These elections have been an absolute mess. All sides completely convinced that their candidate is the only sensible option and that the others are bodaciously Hitler. Apparently comparing someone to the most reviled person of modern times is now a sensible way to support a campaign. And this isn't the media or the candidates themselves, it's the people themselves that have been riled up into a blind frenzy. Riots in the streets, fights between supporters, social media posts about keying cars,... This is something I'd expect from a troubled African country just introduced to democracy, not the US of A. It seems there is no more room for a moderate view and respectful disagreement.

As for the candidates themselves, I thought Sanders was the the most sensible option and the only way the US is ever going to change for the better in a significant way. From a European perspective his economic ideas aren't all that crazy, though I'm unqualified to comment on how they would work out in the US economic climate.

I'm very distrusting of Clinton, she seems like the prime example of corrupt, immoral politician. Under her administration the US would probably change the least, meaning it will keep heading in the same direction. Big corporations will continue to rake in even absurder amounts of cheddar while the lower classes won't see much outside of minor aid programs. We would have another war under her administration or the next.

Trump is the hardest for me to make up my mind about. I don't know what he's playing at, and his administration could end up going either way. I don't think it will be as bad as a lot of people fear, even in the worst case, like any candidate he'd still have to face an opposition. I don't think he is actually racist, misogynist or stupid. I think he's likely a very calculated man who knows exactly what he's doing. He is islamophobic though, which would likely put a strain on relationships with moderate Muslim communities.

There's a meme I saw showing comedian Ron White and a quote from him. It says something like "I'm watching the news and I see Muslims chanting 'death to America', and the leader of the free world tells me I'm Islamophobic."

It's not that unreasonable for a person to feel that way, given how much we see that these days, but it's a bit annoying when people complain about how moderate Muslims won't speak out against the extremists, or do anything about it. What could they actually do? These extremists have a shitload of weapons, and are, for the most part, over in the Middle East. Meanwhile, even Indians (as in, they or an ancestor came from India) have to worry about being put under the microscope by law enforcement agencies. Well, probably. I don't actually know, as I can't recall hearing about it.

Gonna ignore the rest of the conversation purposefully because I don't have the required sources I'd want at the moment, but I'm having such a viscerally negative reaction to this quote that I feel like I need to speak up.
Yes, in fact, this line of thinking is islamphobic if you take it to the Muslim people who just want to live their lives in peace, especially if you take it to American citizens. I see Christians around the world calling for my death, threatening me, and insulting me day in and day out, but I don't blame Christianity for it and start scrutinizing, harrassing, and fearing all Christians because of it.

That's what I wanted to say. "God hates fags". Man, we should outlaw Christianity because clearly they all are like that.

Funny thing is, my grandfather is a preacher, and he says that homosexuality isn't nearly as big a deal as those Westboro folks claim it is.

I don't completely agree with this sentiment. Radicalisation of Islam is a very serious and urgent problem. This is now also being acknowledged by prominent figures in the muslim community in Europe. That's important because it's only with the cooperation and efforts of the moderate muslim community that we can fight radicalisation.

There are also extremist Christians, but they are currently a very small minority and their actions aren't leading to dramatic loss of life. The situation isn't really comparable.

I figured he was just being sarcastic.

But yeah, you can't accurately compare the two. The "extremist" Christians seem to just be all talk.

Except when they decide to shoot up Planned Parenthood.

Dude, even then, there's no comparison. When was the last time there was a Christian attack that resulted in thousands of deaths? When was the last time anyone heard of Christians beheading people by the dozen for not sharing in their cause?

Edit: Can't believe I forgot about the rapes/sexual slavery and organ harvesting.

For fucks sake, there is NO difference between radical islam and radical christianity. NONE. You want to know why radical islam is so much more dangerous right now? Its because they originate from a region of the world that are under control by theocracies that hold that philosophy. Christian fundamentalists are, for the most part, in western secular nations where they dont have enough political clout to get away with what they truly want. Radicalism thrives because you got all these angry disenfranchised muslim teenagers with no futures and no hopes, then these ISIS recruiters show up and tell them that all their problems are the decadents wests fault.

It has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with the same goddamn tactics used to incite violence throughout history. Islam is just a great scapegoat. The Rwandan genocide, the Holocaust, the anti-semitic pogroms in the 15th century, it all stems from the same source - when you have nothing, its easy to convince you that there's a person who's personally responsible for your misery that you can kill.You want to stop radical islam, you're going to have to give them a reason to not want to be radicalized.

? I feel like you misunderstood me. Your post seems to be in agreement with mine but your tone is rather inflammatory.

Your move radical islam

Also this is current events, not taboo topics. Take the aggressive arguing to private thanks.