The Catholic Message Board

peregrinator wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 10:25 am I think a large population makes it more, not less, likely that an unworthy candidate will bubble up to the top.

Doom wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 1:12 pm The Bigger Question is why is the West so quick to embrace authoritarianism in this decade when it should be regarded as a thoroughly discredited ideology.

Freedom of speech, which used to be the litmus test of a liberal democracy, is now regarded as a white supremacist doctrine whose time has come and gone. Every government in the Western world is waging war on free speech, particularly online, supporting government censorship is being done under the euphemism of "content moderation", Elon Musk, once a darling of the left, is now regarded as a reactionary extremist because he backed up his support for free speech by buying Twitter to restore free speech and end censorship on the platform, and there are fraudulent accusations that "white supremacy" and "antisemitism" supposedly being rampant on the platform. (They aren't, and the rules against such content, especially when accompanied by threats of violence, have never been lifted, they are just being enforced equally, not to just those on the right, as it always was, but even to those on the left, which it never was.)

Now, If someone calls for "free speech" he is told that "free speech" is a code word for racism.

This is insanity.

Stella wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 7:03 pm

peregrinator wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 10:25 am I think a large population makes it more, not less, likely that an unworthy candidate will bubble up to the top.

It's only just the last 2 men that have been so weirdly unsuitable though in general terms. There's been 200 million+ population since the 1960's and all those presidents had relatively good levels of competence regardless of political views.

Stella wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 7:03 pm
It's only just the last 2 men that have been so weirdly unsuitable though in general terms. There's been 200 million+ population since the 1960's and all those presidents had relatively good levels of competence regardless of political views.

anawim wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2024 2:56 am

Stella wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 7:03 pm
It's only just the last 2 men that have been so weirdly unsuitable though in general terms. There's been 200 million+ population since the 1960's and all those presidents had relatively good levels of competence regardless of political views.

Those of us who are conservative think that Clinton and Obama were extremely unsuitable, but they both got elected twice. The average American voter is unsuitable to know what's going on. They've got their head in the sand.
Which is not to say that the Republican candidates are anything to write home about. They're usually just o.k. But o.k. is better than lousy.
Now it's a choice between lousy, and 'he's not good, but he's better than lousy'.

Stella wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2024 7:59 pm
But putting aside all political loyalty looking only at the men as an uninterested observer of world leaders, past and present, there's a marked difference between Biden/Trump and 'the rest' don't you agree? Such contenders would normally be recognised as unsuitable well before getting to the top in a liberal democracy.

Stella wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 7:25 pm Democrats question Biden's candidacy after 'disaster' debate performance

Finally. How could he ever lead a country for another 4 and a half years?

anawim wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2024 5:37 am I don't think Biden has been governing the country at all. He's a sock puppet. The question as to who is running the country may never be answered, and maybe it isn't just one person. Obama is one possibility. Soros is another. Or maybe it doesn't really matter. They're all cut from the same cloth.

Stella wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2024 5:59 pm

Our democratic system needs representatives of the different visions for good society whether it be liberal or conservative. We'd be poorer without that, but I get the impression that something's gone really wrong within the parties that's resulted in two completely unsuitable leaders rising to the top. Are the results of leadership challengers made known to the public when they happen? In Aus. in such cases, after the vote we get a rundown of how the party room voted.

Stella wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2024 11:06 pm No, I was wondering about how the leader is elected within the party. Here, if a leader is polling poorly or has disgraced him/herself in some way, another party member can put their hand up to challenge the leader and that is then put to the party vote. From what I gather that can't happen in the US system. Only the leader himself can step down. If he did decide to step down, who steps up? Kamala Harris? We don't hear much of other Democrats who would qualify for the leadership job.

Stella wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2024 11:06 pm No, I was wondering about how the leader is elected within the party. Here, if a leader is polling poorly or has disgraced him/herself in some way, another party member can put their hand up to challenge the leader and that is then put to the party vote. From what I gather that can't happen in the US system. Only the leader himself can step down. If he did decide to step down, who steps up? Kamala Harris? We don't hear much of other Democrats who would qualify for the leadership job.