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Peter has made a huge fortune by seeing things other's did not. This might be a good idea for people who are staunchly anti republican to reexamine their belie

Peter has made a huge fortune by seeing things other's did not. This might be a good idea for people who are staunchly anti republican to reexamine their beliefs and look to see what Peter sees. Here is the current GOP platform if you are interested: https://www.gop.com/platform/ https://www.gop.com/platform/ I mean if Trump is going to be president, and to be honest I can't see it happening, don't you want him surrounded by some incredibly smart people like Thiel that can talk him down from some of his more "bolder" ideas? The Republican's have some very good platform points they are pursuing. The return of Glass Stegal is the biggest one I can see. There is almost no way I can see the Democrats under Clinton proposing this.

smt88 10y ago
I think you're equating "Donald Trump" and "Republican" here, and that's not how a lot of Americans see it. Even if people agreed with the Republican platform, Trump thinks and behaves independently, inconsistently, and unpredictably. > like Thiel that can talk him down from some of his more "bolder" ideas Thiel is one of the few people to have "bolder" (which I assume is a euphemism for batshit insane) ideas than Trump. Thiel believes that freedom and democracy are incompatible[1], and he's strongly pro-freedom (sometimes), so he must be... anti-democracy? I don't know. He also said women and poor people getting to vote was bad for democracy[2]. 1. http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education... 2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/peter-thiel-women-democracy_us_5747079be4b03ede4413f6f5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/peter-thiel-women-democr...
mikeash 10y ago
How much of that platform can I actually believe? For example, one of their planks is "living within our means." The Republicans have been the party of fiscal discipline my whole life. Yet in that time, Republican administrations have grown the Federal budget deficit, and Democratic administrations have brought it down. Later on they talk about protecting the Fourth Amendment, yet the last Republican administration carried out a huge assault on those rights. Then they talk about supporting the troops, when the last time they had power they got thousands of our troops killed in a fruitless and idiotic invasion. Am I to believe that the party has completely reversed itself on all of these things in eight years? Much of it is stuff I'm just plain opposed to, of course. "The Continuing Importance of Protecting the Electoral College"? Ridiculous. They go on about the importance of freedom of speech, then they drop this gem: "By whatever legislative method is most feasible, Old Glory should be given legal protection against desecration." So what is the Republican platform, "freedom as long as we like it"? Continuing on, they want to outlaw abortion, encourage coal burning, restrict marriage rights, and preserve our bloated defense budget. Here's a real gem: "The Internet must be made safe for children.... Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced." How obscenity laws are compatible with their supposed belief in freedom and liberty is beyond me. Yes, there are some good things in there. But not nearly enough to get me to see past all this stuff above, and a lot of it is just generic platitudes. (And don't respond to any of this with "but the Democrats...." I don't like them either. Although I dislike them somewhat less.)

smt88 10y ago

I think you're equating "Donald Trump" and "Republican" here, and that's not how a lot of Americans see it. Even if people agreed with the Republican platform, Trump thinks and behaves independently, inconsistently, and unpredictably. > like Thiel that can talk him down from some of his more "bolder" ideas Thiel is one of the few people to have "bolder" (which I assume is a euphemism for batshit insane) ideas than Trump. Thiel believes that freedom and democracy are incompatible[1], and he's strongly pro-freedom (sometimes), so he must be... anti-democracy? I don't know. He also said women and poor people getting to vote was bad for democracy[2]. 1. http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education... 2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/peter-thiel-women-democracy_us_5747079be4b03ede4413f6f5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/peter-thiel-women-democr...

mikeash 10y ago

How much of that platform can I actually believe? For example, one of their planks is "living within our means." The Republicans have been the party of fiscal discipline my whole life. Yet in that time, Republican administrations have grown the Federal budget deficit, and Democratic administrations have brought it down. Later on they talk about protecting the Fourth Amendment, yet the last Republican administration carried out a huge assault on those rights. Then they talk about supporting the troops, when the last time they had power they got thousands of our troops killed in a fruitless and idiotic invasion. Am I to believe that the party has completely reversed itself on all of these things in eight years? Much of it is stuff I'm just plain opposed to, of course. "The Continuing Importance of Protecting the Electoral College"? Ridiculous. They go on about the importance of freedom of speech, then they drop this gem: "By whatever legislative method is most feasible, Old Glory should be given legal protection against desecration." So what is the Republican platform, "freedom as long as we like it"? Continuing on, they want to outlaw abortion, encourage coal burning, restrict marriage rights, and preserve our bloated defense budget. Here's a real gem: "The Internet must be made safe for children.... Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced." How obscenity laws are compatible with their supposed belief in freedom and liberty is beyond me. Yes, there are some good things in there. But not nearly enough to get me to see past all this stuff above, and a lot of it is just generic platitudes. (And don't respond to any of this with "but the Democrats...." I don't like them either. Although I dislike them somewhat less.)