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Take a stand against who? The politicians are empowered by regular Americans who support them. Your neighbors and friends.

Fomite 7y ago
It's possible it's time to confront your neighbors and friends.
ajross 7y ago
"Taking a stand", in the sense used here, refers to taking action to effect change. Call up your neighbors and tell them who to vote for. Tell all your friends who you are voting for, and why. Excusing this as some kind of structural problem with "political paralysis" sounds, to me, like you're a nominal republican who hates republican policies but is reaching for an excuse to avoid hanging out with dirty hippies and AOC. But the hippies are right, here, if you care about these issues.
- glitchc 7y ago
  That’s crazy talk. Of course I want things to be better, but I’m not going to shove my politics into my neighbor’s face. Like most people, I believe strongly but privately. Not an activist.
  - ajross 7y ago
    I'm not saying you need to corner them at the next PTO meeting and hand them a revolutionary screed. But when subjects like these come up, the proper response is "The republicrat party supports these policies and has for decades, where the demicans have blocked every measure that's ever made it to the floor" AND NOT "LOL our political system is paralyzed so there's nothing we can do, amirite?" Partisan issues[1] are not structural problems with the system, they're policy problems with one party. And in my experience people who try to make that argument (and variants, like "both sides do it") are just making excuses to treat the cognitive dissonance of cheering for the bad guys. [1] Obvious disclaimer is obvious: not all issues are partisan. There are legitimate complaints to be made about any system of government. Some problems certainly can be structural. This one is not.
    - astrange 7y ago
      The American system is basically set up to be paralyzed. FPTP voting leads to two parties, voting for both an executive president and two legislative leaders leads to no single popular outcome, and the Senate exists to stop anyone from doing anything. Having Mitch be majority leader makes it worse, but you can't solve it by getting rid of him. He's not blocking things because he feels like it; it's his job.
      - anticensor 7y ago
        Conservation of status quo is a presidential republic's normal modus operandi. Do you want change back and forth like in Turkey?
        astrange 7y ago
        I would like the level of change of any Commonwealth country with a working healthcare system.
antaviana 7y ago
And half of these regular Americans have an IQ below average.
- prepend 7y ago
  That’s not quite true since there are many Americans with exactly average so there aren’t half below average. Maybe you could argue that half is below median IQ if you use a bunch of significant digits after the decimal, but I don’t think there are any exams that attempt to measure with such precision.

Fomite 7y ago

It's possible it's time to confront your neighbors and friends.

ajross 7y ago

"Taking a stand", in the sense used here, refers to taking action to effect change. Call up your neighbors and tell them who to vote for. Tell all your friends who you are voting for, and why. Excusing this as some kind of structural problem with "political paralysis" sounds, to me, like you're a nominal republican who hates republican policies but is reaching for an excuse to avoid hanging out with dirty hippies and AOC. But the hippies are right, here, if you care about these issues.

glitchc 7y ago
That’s crazy talk. Of course I want things to be better, but I’m not going to shove my politics into my neighbor’s face. Like most people, I believe strongly but privately. Not an activist.
- ajross 7y ago
  I'm not saying you need to corner them at the next PTO meeting and hand them a revolutionary screed. But when subjects like these come up, the proper response is "The republicrat party supports these policies and has for decades, where the demicans have blocked every measure that's ever made it to the floor" AND NOT "LOL our political system is paralyzed so there's nothing we can do, amirite?" Partisan issues[1] are not structural problems with the system, they're policy problems with one party. And in my experience people who try to make that argument (and variants, like "both sides do it") are just making excuses to treat the cognitive dissonance of cheering for the bad guys. [1] Obvious disclaimer is obvious: not all issues are partisan. There are legitimate complaints to be made about any system of government. Some problems certainly can be structural. This one is not.
  - astrange 7y ago
    The American system is basically set up to be paralyzed. FPTP voting leads to two parties, voting for both an executive president and two legislative leaders leads to no single popular outcome, and the Senate exists to stop anyone from doing anything. Having Mitch be majority leader makes it worse, but you can't solve it by getting rid of him. He's not blocking things because he feels like it; it's his job.
    - anticensor 7y ago
      Conservation of status quo is a presidential republic's normal modus operandi. Do you want change back and forth like in Turkey?
      - astrange 7y ago
        I would like the level of change of any Commonwealth country with a working healthcare system.

antaviana 7y ago

And half of these regular Americans have an IQ below average.

prepend 7y ago
That’s not quite true since there are many Americans with exactly average so there aren’t half below average. Maybe you could argue that half is below median IQ if you use a bunch of significant digits after the decimal, but I don’t think there are any exams that attempt to measure with such precision.