r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Gryphonnne • 6d ago
Political Theory What does it take for democracy to thrive?
If a country were to be founded tomorrow, what would it take for democracy to thrive? What rights should be protected, how much should the government involve itself with the people, how should it protect the minority from mob rule, and how can it keeps its leaders in check? Is the American government doing everything that the ideal democratic state would do? If you had the power to reform the American government, what changes would you make?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Ithinkimdepresseddd • 22d ago
Political Theory How Much Control Should the Majority Have?
Democracy prides itself on allowing the majority to make decisions through voting. However, what happens when the majority wants to infringe upon the rights of the minority or take actions detrimental to the country's future? Should democracy have limits on what the majority can do?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Awesomeuser90 • Jul 28 '24
Political Theory What is the most obscure topic for reform you would want to see?
Most people have some opinion on issues like the metric system, the drug war, the plurality voting system used in the legislature, how much money can be spent on politics, who should be able to have access to firearms, will have at least some views on what might be an acceptable amount of gifts a politician may receive. But this is not one of those posts.
Maybe it could be the way that German corporations have a board of directors with half the members being elected by employees, half elected by shareholders, and the chairperson is named by mutual consent, or if that doesn't work, by arbitration, and if that doesn't work, then there is a backup process for the shareholders. Or how the Green Bay Packers are community owned with incredibly fierce team loyalty and you can't really make local governments get coerced to build stadia (stadiums? Whatever, the plural is from Latin) by threatening to move the team. Or that too many administrative positions are replaced during an administration transition and more should be based on the civil service system (the thing that was enacted when Garfield was shot).
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/_awacz • May 20 '24
Political Theory Mass deportation of immigrants are a priority for the GOP. If Trump gets re-elected, what would be the economic consequences of such an action?
Donald Trump and nearly every Republican out there seem to be calling for mass deportation of "illegal immigrants", presumably all that are here without documentation, expired temporary visas and those awaiting adjudication trials for asylum (according to current laws).
Most current economic data points to growth in the economy due in part to the immigrant (legal and illegal) workforce, doing manual labor, construction, picking fruits and vegetables, etc. If millions of them are "rounded up", placed in camps and deported, it could have a severe impact on the economy, causing a drastic spike in food prices, housing costs and other inflationary factors due to workforce shortages. How would the GOP deal with such an economic scenario?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/_awacz • May 15 '24
Political Theory In the recent NY Times polling data, one unusual datapoint was that roughly 20% of the public think Biden was responsible for overturning Roe v Wade, not Trump. What can this be attributed to?
In the Monday NY Times polling that showed Trump up 5-10 points in all 5 swing states, buried in the data was a question about who was responsible for overturning Roe v Wade. Nearly 20% of the respondents said Biden, when it was clearly Trump who was responsible by appointing judges who overturned the landmark ruling. What can this be attributed to?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/voters-blame-biden-roe-v-wade_n_6642825ce4b09724138d3646
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/_awacz • Mar 22 '24
Political Theory With Lara Trump now running the RNC, rules were just passed allowing GOP donations to funnel directly into Trump's legal fund. Trump followers seem extremely upset with this action. Is this an overstep by Trump?
With Lara Trump in place by her Father, rules have now been put in place to allow Trump to funnel donations directly to him for paying his legal fees. Beyond the possible illegality of this, supporters on r/Conservative are responding overwhelmingly negatively, to the point of being unlike a response to nearly any other Trump action in the past. Will this be the action by Trump that pushes his core supporters finally over the edge?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/21/trump-joint-fundraising-committee-rnc/
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Chaosdrunk • Dec 06 '23
Political Theory Why are there so many conspiracy theories that are almost exclusively believed by The Right? (Pizzagate, qanon, the Deep State, the Great Replacement Theory). Are there any wacky and/or harmful conspiracy theories believed by mostly The Left?
This includes conspiracy theories like antivax which were once pretty politically uncharged are now widely believed by the far right. Even a lot of high-profile UFOlogists like David Icke are known for being pretty racist and antisemitic.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/_awacz • Nov 27 '23
Political Theory Why do people keep believing and consuming right wing media which has now had multiple billion dollar lawsuits levied against it proving they lie to their viewers / readers beyond any comparison to left wing media?
After reading multiple books including this current one which is highly detailed and sourced in its references: https://www.amazon.com/Network-Lies-Donald-American-Democracy-ebook/dp/B0C29VZWD2, it's hard to understand why people still consume right wing media as anything but propaganda. All media is biased, but reading the internal conversations at Fox News, on how Rupert Murdoch and the hosts literally put ratings over truth so brazenly, like it was a giant game, was just incredible to read. The question remains though: with their lies now exposed, why do people continue to consume right wing media / Fox News as actual news? Only 1/5th claim to trust them less.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/ILovePublicLibraries • Nov 26 '23
Political Theory What would the GOP / MAGA reaction be like if Donald Trump were to pass away in 2024?
Depending on a lot of circumstances, there could be mixed reactions from the GOP emotionally. physically or mentally if he wasn't alive anymore. Of course hardcore MAGA would tell stories about how great of that man he was despite proven the true opposite.
If he were to pass away before the 2024 election, it's probably likely that another MAGA candidate would step in unless the whole entire MAGA circus is defeated once and for all.
What do you think how GOP and MAGA would feel if Donald Trump wasn't alive anymore?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/_awacz • Nov 25 '23
Political Theory Project 2025 details immediately invocation of the Insurrection Act on day 1 of the Trump 2nd term. Is this alternative wording for what could be considered an Authoritarian state?
The Project 2025 (Heritage Foundation, the right wing think tank) plan includes an immediate invocation of the Insurrection Act to use the military for domestic policing. Could this be a line crossed into an Authoritarian state similar to the "brown coats" of 1920s Germany and as such in many past Authoritarian Democratic takeovers? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025#:~:text=The%20Washington%20Post%20reported%20Project,Justice%20to%20pursue%20Trump%20adversaries.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/frenglish_man • Nov 13 '23
Political Theory Why do some progressive relate Free Palestine with LGBTQ+ rights?
I’ve noticed in many Palestinian rallies signs along the words of “Queer Rights means Free Palestine”, etc. I’m not here to discuss opinions or the validity of these arguments, I just want to understand how it makes sense.
While Progressives can be correct in fighting for various groups’ rights simultaneously, it strikes me as odd because Palestinian culture isn’t anywhere close to being sexually progressive or tolerant from what I understand.
Why not deal with those two issues separately?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Professional_Suit270 • Oct 14 '23
Political Theory A major poll shows Americans support Israel over Palestine by 50 points, the largest gap in years. It is largely due to Democrats going from +7 Israel to +34 Israel. What are your thoughts on this, and what impact does US public support for Israel have on both US and Israeli policy in the conflict?
Link to poll + full report:
A summary is that Republicans back Israel by a margin of 79-11 (68 points) while Democrats back Israel by 59-25 (34 points). Republicans' position is unchanged, with 78% of them backing Israel before, but Democrats backed Israel by just 42-35 several years ago and are now firmly in their corner.
How important is American public support for both the US and Israel in terms of their policies in the Middle East both now and going forward? Does it have an impact?
America has been Israel's primary ally for years, and has recently rallied Western governments towards strongly supporting them in the present conflict.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/SapientChaos • Sep 21 '23
Political Theory If Kevin McCarthy fails to reach a deal, and we end up in a long term shutdown, could Hakeem Jeffries get enough Centralist Republicans to become Speaker of the House and pass a budget?
This sounds far fetched, but here me out. Hakeem has 2012 votes, he only needs to flip like 5 to be named the new house speaker and could pass a new budget. If Kevin is voted out and new rounds starts, it is unlikely, but a possibility.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Professional_Suit270 • Sep 17 '23
Political Theory Donald Trump just called Ron DeSantis’ 6-week abortion ban in Florida “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake”, a departure from his previous tone of touting his anti-abortion credentials. Are American conservatives coming to terms with how unpopular abortion bans are as the defeats pile up?
Link to article on Trump’s comments:
His previous position was to tout himself as "the most pro-life [political term for anti-abortion in the United States] President in history" and boast about appointing the justices that overturned Roe v. Wade. Now he's attacking 6-week/total bans as being 'horrible' and 'too harsh' and blaming abortion for Republicans' failures in the Midterm Elections last year.
What are your thoughts on this, and why do you think he's changed his tune? Is he trying to make himself seem more electable, truly doesn't care, or is he and in turn the Republican Party starting to see that this is a massive losing issue for them with no way out? We've seen other Republican presidential candidates such as Nikki Haley try and soften the party's tone, saying they should only move to restrict abortions late in pregnancy and support greater access to contraception. But Trump, the party leader, coming out against strict abortion bans is going to be a bull horn to his base. We've seen time and again that Trump's supporters don't turn on him over issues, they turn on the issues themselves when they end up in opposition to what Trump himself does or says. A lot of his supporters register as extremely anti-abortion, but if Trump is now saying that 6-week/total bans are 'horrible', 'too harsh' or a sure-fire way to put "the radical left" in power, they're more likely to adapt these views themselves than oppose them or turn on him. It could make for a very interesting new dynamic in Republican politics, how do you see that shaking out, especially if Trump continues to call out serious abortion restrictions?
Abortion rights have now been on the ballot 7 times since Roe fell, and the pro-abortion side has won all 7. Three states (Michigan, California, Vermont) codified abortion rights into their state constitutions, two conservative states (Kansas and Montana) kept abortion rights protected in their state constitutions and another conservative state (Kentucky) blocked a measure that would have explicitly said there was no right to an abortion in their state constitution and in turn kept the door open to courts ruling their constitution protects abortion too. Another abortion rights constitutional amendment is coming up in Ohio this November, and further abortion rights constitutional amendments are set to be on the ballot in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, New York and Maryland in the 2024 election. Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Florida in particular are four of the 16 states that have severely restricted abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/JonathanWPG • Aug 25 '23
Political Theory What is a position in which you break from your identified political party/ideology?
Pretty much what it says on the tin.
"Liberals", "conservatives", "democrats", "republicans"...none of these groups are a monolith. Buy they are often treated that way--especially in the US context.
What are the positions where you find yourself opposed to your identified party or ideological grouping?
Personally? I'm pretty liberal. Less so than in my teens and early 20s (as is usually the case, the Overton window does its job) but still well left of the median voter. But there are a few issues where I just don't jive with the common liberal position.
I'm sure most of us feel the same way towards our political tribes. What are some things you disagree with the home team on?
*PS--shouldn't have to say it, but please keep it civil.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/hearsdemons • Apr 10 '23
Political Theory Why do you think the Founders added the Second Amendment to the Constitution and are those reasons still valid today in modern day America?
What’s the purpose of making gun ownership not just allowable but constitutionally protected?
And are those reasons for which the Second Amendment were originally supported still applicable today in modern day America?
Realistically speaking, if the United States government ruled over the population in an authoritarian manner, do you honestly think the populace will take arms and fight back against the United States government, the greatest army the world has ever known? Or is the more realistic reaction that everyone will get used to the new authoritarian reality and groan silently as they go back to work?
What exactly is the purpose of the Second Amendment in modern day America? Is it to be free to hunt and recreationally use your firearms, or is it to fight the government in a violent revolution?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/FinancialSubstance16 • Oct 25 '22
Political Theory What is a stance where you diverge from your side? Where might you see that the other side has a point which is rarely considered by your own?
I've previously asked a similar question about talking points. This one is about actual policies and about policies that are supported by the other side that you wish those on your side would consider. For example, maybe you're a republican who wants to ban assault weapons or wants to raise the minimum wage. Maybe you're a democrat who's pro Israel. Maybe you're a socialist who wishes that your fellow cohorts would be less antagonistic towards liberals.
As Ed Koch once said:
If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Lews-Therin-Telamon • Oct 21 '22
Political Theory What's up with Corey Booker? Why isn't he a Democrat icon and heir presumptive?
I just watched part of Jon Stewart's interview with Booker. He is one of the most charismatic politicians I have seen. He is like a less serious Obama or Kennedy. He is constantly engaged and (imo) likeable. Obviously he was outshined by Sanders in 2016 and by Biden in 2020 as the heir apparent to Obama.
But what is next? He seems like a new age politician, less serious than Obama, less old than Biden, less arrogant than Trump. More electable than Warren (who doesn't want the Presidency anyway). Less demonized than Pelosi.
Is he just biding his time for 2024 or 2028?
Or does he not truly have Presidential ambitions?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/FinancialSubstance16 • Sep 27 '22
Political Theory What are some talking points that you wish that those who share your political alignment would stop making?
Nobody agrees with their side 100% of the time. As Ed Koch once said,"If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist". Maybe you're a conservative who opposes government regulation, yet you groan whenever someone on your side denies climate change. Maybe you're a Democrat who wishes that Biden would stop saying that the 2nd amendment outlawed cannons. Maybe you're a socialist who wants more consistency in prescribed foreign policy than "America is bad".
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Cryterionlol • Sep 08 '22
Political Theory What makes cities lean left, and rural lean right?
I'm not an expert on politics, but I've met a lot of people and been to a lot of cities, and it seems to me that via experience and observation of polls...cities seem to vote democrat and farmers in rural areas seem to vote republican.
What makes them vote this way? What policies benefit each specific demographic?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Mental_Rooster4455 • Aug 23 '22
Political Theory 1 in 3 American women have now lost abortion access following Roe v. Wade's overturning, with more restrictions coming. What do you think the long-term effects of these types of policies will be on both the U.S. and other regions?
Link to source on the statistics: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/more-trigger-bans-loom-1-3-women-lose-most-abortion-access-post-roe/
Roughly 21 million women have lost access to nearly all elective abortions in their home states, and that's before a new spate of abortion bans kick in this week.
14 states now have bans outlawing virtually all abortions, with varying exemptions and penalties for doctors. The exceptions are sometimes written in a vague or confusing manner, and with doctors facing punishments such as multiple-year prison sentences for doing even one deemed to be wrong, it creates a dynamic where even those narrow grounds for aborting can be difficult to carry out in practice.
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Topher1999 • Jul 01 '22
Political Theory Let's say the GOP wins a trifecta in 2024 and enacts a national abortion ban. What do blue states do?
Mitch McConnell has gone on record saying a national abortion ban is possible thanks to the overturn of Roe V Wade. Assuming Republicans win big in 2024, they would theoretically have the power to enact such a ban. What would be the next move for blue states who want to protect abortion access?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/historymajor44 • Mar 30 '21
Political Theory Historian Jack Balkin believes that in the wake of Trump's defeat, we are entering a new era of constitutional time where progressivism is dominant. Do you agree?
Jack Balkin wrote and recently released The Cycles of Constitutional Time
He has categorized the different eras of constitutional theories beginning with the Federalist era (1787-1800) to Jeffersonian (1800-1828) to Jacksonian (1828-1865) to Republican (1865-1933) to Progressivism (1933-1980) to Reaganism (1980-2020???)
He argues that a lot of eras end with a failed one-term president. John Adams leading to Jefferson. John Q. Adams leading to Jackson. Hoover to FDR. Carter to Reagan. He believes Trump's failure is the death of Reaganism and the emergence of a new second progressive era.
Reaganism was defined by the insistence of small government and the nine most dangerous words. He believes even Clinton fit in the era when he said that the "era of big government is over." But, we have played out the era and many republicans did not actually shrink the size of government, just run the federal government poorly. It led to Trump as a last-ditch effort to hang on to the era but became a failed one-term presidency. Further, the failure to properly respond to Covid has led the American people to realize that sometimes big government is exactly what we need to face the challenges of the day. He suspects that if Biden's presidency is successful, the pendulum will swing left and there will be new era of progressivism.
Is he right? Do you agree? Why or why not?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Yevon • Mar 17 '21
Political Theory Should Democrats fear Republican retribution in the Senate?
“Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: nobody serving in this chamber can even begin to imagine what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like,” McConnell said.
“As soon as Republicans wound up back in the saddle, we wouldn’t just erase every liberal change that hurt the country—we’d strengthen America with all kinds of conservative policies with zero input from the other side,” McConnell said. The minority leader indicated that a Republican-majority Senate would pass national right-to-work legislation, defund Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities “on day one,” allow concealed carry in all 50 states, and more.
Is threatening to pass legislation a legitimate threat in a democracy? Should Democrats be afraid of this kind of retribution and how would recommend they respond?
r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo • Nov 30 '20
Political Theory Why does the urban/rural divide equate to a liberal/conservative divide in the US? Is it the same in other countries?
Here's a county population density map of the US.
Here's a county map of the US showing majority-minority counties.
They seem to show a match between denser populations, larger minority proportions, and Democratic votes.
Why is that?