US Election 2016

[Trygon]

Just a friendly reminder that this election has been hard and fucking weird for the country, but at the end of the day, the sun will still rise, a new day comes, and life will go on.

If the candidate you supported won, don't gloat like an asshole. The other half of people feel hurt and wronged. Many of them now feel afraid or question their existence in the US, what might become of themselves, their family, and their friends. That type of uncertainty is hard to put to rest, and gloating only adds more hurt.

If the candidate you supported didn't win, don't lash out at those who voted for the opposition. Not everyone is going to approve of a candidate 100%, and will only choose the one whose policies most align with what they believe. Or maybe they just cared about a conservative or liberal swinging Supreme Court.

Whatever it was, remember that not everyone who voted for Clinton is a manipulative liar and a cheat, and that not everyone who voted for Trump is racist and misogynist. Don't reduce people into a single political ideology, and remember that there are such diverse reasons for voting one way or another. Have compassion and respect for what people feel we need as a country, even if you don't understand why or even if you disagree. We need that now as a country, more than ever.

If you are unhappy with the outcome, then please don't just sit there, cry and whine over the internet; try and make a difference. Call your representatives, send letters, sign petitions, and have CALM and educated discussions. Make your voice heard, say what you need to say, and know that it DOES count. But also strive to ensure peace, and strive for the betterment of the self and others.

As bad as it seems (or good, depending on how you see things), remember that Americans have privileges that many others around the world do not, so speak up and help to make a change! This is YOUR country; these are YOUR fellow people. The unity of compassion and understanding will always overcome the divisiveness of hate. Remember that, and America will be okay.

Just my $0.02.

Yeah, not buying any of this. Whatever reasons someone had for voting Trump, in so doing they were implicitly okaying bigotry, hatred, and the subjugation of millions of americans (which is already underway) in pursuit of those reasons. That's a shit person. That's half of this country.

 

[Asphodel Terrarium]

@ColorWheelY: I would like to make an addendum. Also what you said is correct. That we cannot pretend to be smart and say that a certain candidate would turn out to be the lesser evil. We cannot predict the future.

People may say Presidential Candidate 1 is the lesser evil because Presidential Candidate 2 is a liar and thief, but others on the other side may say that Presidential Candidate 2 is the lesser evil because Presidential Candidate 1 is a sexist and so on. And both will be right.

 

[November]

Yeah, not buying any of this. Whatever reasons someone had for voting Trump, in so doing they were implicitly okaying bigotry, hatred, and the subjugation of millions of americans (which is already underway) in pursuit of those reasons. That's a shit person. That's half of this country.

^ this is why we lost btw

 

[Razgriz]

Uh, Trump had already been announced the winner even before you made your post.

Also, while I completely agree that there's a large discrepancy in the male to female ratio in the US government, Clinton just being a women should never be a reason to put her, or any other female presidential candidate, in office. The idea that someone should have a presidency just because "she's the woman," is as equally exclusive and absurd as because "he's the man." Her gender should be completely irrelevant. Her history and character, all candidate's histories and characters, are what need to be taken into account.

Personally, I didn't vote. I can't predict the future, and I'm not going to pretend I'm smart enough to say which of the two would make a worse president down the line. I just believed, still believe, both of them are absolutely going to be bad.

One, I apologise for that. A slight mistake in grammar can change its meaning. What I actually meant was that I was rooting for Clinton to win but had a feeling that Trump will win. And he did. The feeling was there before I received the news yesterday (in my local time). I should have wrote "had" instead of "have". Oops!

And two, oh no! I wasn't rooting for Clinton to win based solely on the fact that she is female. To do so, would be a flaw in logic. No, that is one small factor. I know she isn't perfect- there are many cases that I don't need to put here (such as the email thingy amongst others). But she is the lesser evil, in my eyes.

It makes me wonder though that there were other candidates; why are only the two of them are being publicised? What happen to the following?

Gary Johnson on the Libertarian Party
Jill Stein on the Green Party
Gloria Estela L Riva on the Peace and Freedom Party

All we have publicised are:
Hillary Clinton on the Democratic Party
Donald Trump on the Republican/American Independent Party

Because unfortunately both the Dems and the Repubs have the largest spending power out of anyone, along with extremely wealthy donors to help get them air time. So they buy up the majority if not all the slots across all forms of mass media and leave nothing for the other lesser known parties.

That and there seems to be an incurable stigma against voting outside of Democrat or Republican. As in, people seem to think that only those two parties matter (and recent history has shown both of them are consistently shit, IMO). And I only say because instead of actually trying to do something productive, all the elected officials seem interested is proving how superior their party is to the other. Seeming to forget the real reason they were elected in the first place, you know?

 

[November]

If you want a more um... nuanced... answer, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7JBXja7SAY

You don't get any representation for coming in second in an election, so there's no point in voting for a third party unless you're way out there ideologically.

You know how in other countries, you vote for parties ABCDE and then they have a coalitions afterwards? We basically do all that in advance.

Think of Hillary Clinton as Labour, Bernie Sanders as LibDem, Jeb Bush/Ted Cruz as Conservative, Trump as UKIP. Or whatever they have going on in your county.

The right and left candidates run against each other, and the coalition is kind of "assumed" after that. Then you run.

 

[ColorWheel]

@ColorWheelY: I would like to make an addendum. Also what you said is correct. That we cannot pretend to be smart and say that a certain candidate would turn out to be the lesser evil. We cannot predict the future.

People may say Presidential Candidate 1 is the lesser evil because Presidential Candidate 2 is a liar and thief, but others on the other side may say that Presidential Candidate 2 is the lesser evil because Presidential Candidate 1 is a sexist and so on. And both will be right.

Yeah, and in this case, both people have some bad things behind them. Trump has been openly discriminatory to many minorities and women, and has really stirred up negative elements in our culture, and hasn't provided much of anything in the way for policy. However, that last bit can be a good thing, kinda. Yes, Republicans did take the House and Senate, but a lot of republicans also hate Trump and think plenty of his ideas are dumb and never wanted him to win the Republican nomination. Most ridiculous schemes of Trump's are just going to get shot down in Congress. Being President does not magically give Trump supreme authority. Though I'll admit he's in a damn good position to mess with foreign affairs. Meanwhile, Republicans as a whole are going to do their damnedest to re-appeal as much Democrat legislation as they can and introduce Republican legislation while they have the House, Senate, and Presidency. People should actually be fearing the Republican party right now far more than Trump himself.

Now if you look at Hillary, she puts on a nice face, but she's been caught in scandal after scandal, has also done things against minorities and women even if she won't come out and say it, and gotten away with it. We already know she can't be trusted. But not just that, we know she has plenty of friends in high places and in existing political powers. Given Hillary's extensive political career and inner circle, she could very likely be far more capable of nasty back door deals than Trump could even hope to pull off. The fact she was even on the ballot after the major e-mail scandal is ridiculous.

Both candidates were atrocious picks. You can try and pick the lesser of two evils here, but in the end it's just guesswork.

 

[ThatOneGuyB]

Voted Trump. And quite proud of it.

But let me add, I was a Ron Paul gun eight years ago.

Trump was created by a ruling class that demonized too many. And wants to import the third world into our nation. I honestly don't care how my vote sits with anyone. It doesn't matter. he won. And the R's have the house, Senate, and most of the governor's mansions. So obviously Trump isn't the problem. To say otherwise is a stark misinterpretation of the facts.

 

[Asphodel Terrarium]

@LordBesar: Well, good for you. I can say how you stand up for your decision regardless what others may think is admirable. Well, you are right. None matters now. Trump won and the best people can do is support that and unite and make the world great in their small ways.

Sure, I am still bitter about it, but hey, that is just it. I have to deal with it.

 

[MellowYellow]

Thinking back, I'm actually a little surprised Romney didn't try to go for the presidency again. Yeah he lost last time, but not by a crushing margin, and he was pretty anti-Trump.

And then you consider the other people the Republicans fielded instead:

1) Jeb Bush. I dunno what hard drugs were being passed around the Bush household, but they must have been high if they thought another member of that dynasty was getting through the door. And then his campaign just got really sad toward the end.

2) Ted Cruz who was just... insane.

 

[Chai]

Yeah, not buying any of this. Whatever reasons someone had for voting Trump, in so doing they were implicitly okaying bigotry, hatred, and the subjugation of millions of americans (which is already underway) in pursuit of those reasons. That's a shit person. That's half of this country.

You mean roughly ~25% of the country. Something like ~47% of people didn't vote. Many, many registered Democrats didn't go out and vote for their own candidate, and therefore don't give a shit about the subjugation of millions of Americans, knowing full well that Trump actually had a chance at winning the election. Why is it, really, that we lost?

[img=500x350]http://i.imgur.com/pRY1dRI.png[/img]

I realize that, for those who voted for Trump, they gave their vote to a campaign that was built in part off of xenophobia and hatred.

However, it wasn't ~59,000,000 people voting for racism, sexism, and xenophobia. This election was ~59,000,000 people who landed on a spectrum of just not liking Hillary/her supporters/her policies, to voting against establishment economics and politics, to preferring xenophobia to corruption, all the way down to blatant xenophobia.

As I said before, no one is going to approve of a nominee 100%. There are things Trump wants that people can get behind, which are more important to these people seeing as how they voted for him, but that doesn't mean all of them approve of everything else. They prioritized different qualities in government leadership, and that's all there is to it.

While I don't like what the Trump campaign stood for, I refuse to blanket over 59 million individuals under a single statement and call them all shit people who are racist, xenophobic and sexist, especially because many of them are not.

 

[sirix]

To follow in the same vein as Trygon but for the other way for example.

Anyone who voted for Hillary are lying, murderous, and corrupt bastards/bitches. They obliviously don't care for American lives because Hillary allowed for soldiers to die in Benghazi. They also have a blatant disregard for laws and eithics because of the email scandal and the fact that she was able to get a child rapist cleared and laugh about because "We knew he did it."

Obliviously, none of this is true. I personally voted Gary (not that it mattered, I live in the Redest state there is) but I also don't judge Hillary voters on what I believe of their candidate.

 

[Sugo]

Yeah, not buying any of this. Whatever reasons someone had for voting Trump, in so doing they were implicitly okaying bigotry, hatred, and the subjugation of millions of americans (which is already underway) in pursuit of those reasons. That's a shit person. That's half of this country.

This comment is fucking retarded. You're making me rage so hard that I want to cuss you into the ground.

All this people walking in the streets holding effigies of Donald trump and BEATING PEOPLE AND STEALING THEIR PROPERTY because they voted Donald Trump are soooo not Bigots, they're completely free of Hatred.

None of this would have happened if Hillary was elected. Trump was by far the right choice for America. The Left needs to be stopped, and with these protests and everything they're doing. Trump gets a second term.

The Left is Regressive.

The Left is Hatred.

The Left is the one starting a race war.

The Left is the one dividing people.

erggggggggggh...................... Fuck off. Moron.

Yeah, not buying any of this. Whatever reasons someone had for voting Trump, in so doing they were implicitly okaying bigotry, hatred, and the subjugation of millions of americans (which is already underway) in pursuit of those reasons. That's a shit person. That's half of this country.

^ this is why we lost btw

Exactly this. You want to know why Trump won? Because of all the stupid fucking bullshit that people are saying.

YOU JUST DONT FUCKING GET IT

I refuse to blanket over 59 million individuals under a single statement and call them all shit people who are racist, xenophobic and sexist, especially because many of them are not.

It would be surprising if 1 million of those individuals were anything like that retarded statement.

 

[Broomhandle45]

Alrighty then, shutting this down right now. This is already starting to spiral into a lot of finger pointing, if you guys want to discuss this reasonably without putting a megaphone in someone's ear, that'd be perfect. But until that mythical time arrives, this thread is closed.