What got you into talking /interested in politics?

Doog_de_Jour

RaceBannon said:

I warned my fellow Senators that giving temporary dictatorial powers to a popular war hero would doom the Republic but they were all too willing to give up their duties for the comfort of whores and wine

The precursor to cable news was there:



*This month's public bread is provided by the Capitoline Brotherhood of Millers. The Brotherhood uses only the finest flour: true Roman bread for true Romans.

Doog_de_Jour

I’m going to probably catch a lot of shit for this, but for me it was when I was in middle school, and the Clinton-Bush-Perot presidential race was in full swing. For whatever reason the thought of a third party candidate fascinated me. I was glued to the TV for all the updates on the Headline News channel (Google that shit youngsters), watched all of the debates, Clinton’s appearances on Arsenio Hall, *and* Perot’s 30 minute paid infomercials on the national debt. The whole mess made for some of the most entertaining SNL political sketches ever.

Pitchfork51

Doog_de_Jour said:

I’m going to probably catch a lot of shit for this, but for me it was when I was in middle school, and the Clinton-Bush-Perot presidential race was in full swing. For whatever reason the thought of a third party candidate fascinated me. I was glued to the TV for all the updates on the Headline News channel (Google that shit youngsters), watched all of the debates, Clinton’s appearances on Arsenio Hall, *and* Perot’s 30 minute paid infomercials on the national debt. The whole mess made for some of the most entertaining SNL political sketches ever.

Nerd

Doog_de_Jour

Pitchfork51 said:

Doog_de_Jour said:

I’m going to probably catch a lot of shit for this, but for me it was when I was in middle school, and the Clinton-Bush-Perot presidential race was in full swing. For whatever reason the thought of a third party candidate fascinated me. I was glued to the TV for all the updates on the Headline News channel (Google that shit youngsters), watched all of the debates, Clinton’s appearances on Arsenio Hall, *and* Perot’s 30 minute paid infomercials on the national debt. The whole mess made for some of the most entertaining SNL political sketches ever.

Nerd

Yup. Big one.

LebamDawg

That's nerdess to you @Pitchfork51

whlinder

TurdBomber said:

whlinder said:

BearsWiin said:

whlinder said:

I grew up just outside DC and my dad was a lobbyist. I told my HS government class in 1998 that W would be the next President.

I don't *think* I really argue it though, I find everything about politics so dumb anymore as it's nothing but cliched bullshit. Detailed policy debates trying to solve complex multi-variate problems are interesting, but those don't exist anymore. Dedicated servants trying to do what's best for their constituents and country don't exist anymore. It's become another game to try to play and win which will burn us eventually.

That's actually happening at every level of government; you're just choosing to concentrate on the froth

I try to focus more on the local level since those are real decisions that impact me, save from things like slight tax rate changes. And it happens there too which is honestly worse because there are even fewer checks and balances to identify and stop corruption.

A dude I golf with, hardcore Republican, was railing about something with local politics and said how he hoped the Republican would win a School Board seat. (You can't openly run with a party for School Board here but you can be endorsed of course) I said I don't hope he wins because a political party shouldn't have any place on a fucking school board. His mind was just blown- the concept of running the schools to make best use of county resources without influence of a party platform had never entered his mind.

There's nothing more politically driven than school board races. They dictate what the 60k kids in Seattle Public Schools are taught right now. Want them learning about biological reproduction, or gender bending? Don't think that's important?

And my point is they should be non-partisan. Of course figuring out curriculum is important. And I don’t want a political party anywhere near that.

SFGbob

whlinder said:

TurdBomber said:

whlinder said:

BearsWiin said:

whlinder said:

I grew up just outside DC and my dad was a lobbyist. I told my HS government class in 1998 that W would be the next President.

I don't *think* I really argue it though, I find everything about politics so dumb anymore as it's nothing but cliched bullshit. Detailed policy debates trying to solve complex multi-variate problems are interesting, but those don't exist anymore. Dedicated servants trying to do what's best for their constituents and country don't exist anymore. It's become another game to try to play and win which will burn us eventually.

That's actually happening at every level of government; you're just choosing to concentrate on the froth

I try to focus more on the local level since those are real decisions that impact me, save from things like slight tax rate changes. And it happens there too which is honestly worse because there are even fewer checks and balances to identify and stop corruption.

A dude I golf with, hardcore Republican, was railing about something with local politics and said how he hoped the Republican would win a School Board seat. (You can't openly run with a party for School Board here but you can be endorsed of course) I said I don't hope he wins because a political party shouldn't have any place on a fucking school board. His mind was just blown- the concept of running the schools to make best use of county resources without influence of a party platform had never entered his mind.

There's nothing more politically driven than school board races. They dictate what the 60k kids in Seattle Public Schools are taught right now. Want them learning about biological reproduction, or gender bending? Don't think that's important?

And my point is they should be non-partisan. Of course figuring out curriculum is important. And I don’t want a political party anywhere near that.

But if the majority of school board members are bought and paid for by the teacher unions, and in urban areas they most definitely are, then you already have a political party involved in making that decision whether the candidate puts a D after their name or not.

The teachers unions aren’t non-partisan organizations, they are left wing and almost exclusively Rat party supporters.

You want to take politics out of how the schools are run while ignoring 800 pound partisan gorilla in the room.

whlinder

SFGbob said:

whlinder said:

TurdBomber said:

whlinder said:

BearsWiin said:

whlinder said:

I grew up just outside DC and my dad was a lobbyist. I told my HS government class in 1998 that W would be the next President.

I don't *think* I really argue it though, I find everything about politics so dumb anymore as it's nothing but cliched bullshit. Detailed policy debates trying to solve complex multi-variate problems are interesting, but those don't exist anymore. Dedicated servants trying to do what's best for their constituents and country don't exist anymore. It's become another game to try to play and win which will burn us eventually.

That's actually happening at every level of government; you're just choosing to concentrate on the froth

I try to focus more on the local level since those are real decisions that impact me, save from things like slight tax rate changes. And it happens there too which is honestly worse because there are even fewer checks and balances to identify and stop corruption.

A dude I golf with, hardcore Republican, was railing about something with local politics and said how he hoped the Republican would win a School Board seat. (You can't openly run with a party for School Board here but you can be endorsed of course) I said I don't hope he wins because a political party shouldn't have any place on a fucking school board. His mind was just blown- the concept of running the schools to make best use of county resources without influence of a party platform had never entered his mind.

There's nothing more politically driven than school board races. They dictate what the 60k kids in Seattle Public Schools are taught right now. Want them learning about biological reproduction, or gender bending? Don't think that's important?

And my point is they should be non-partisan. Of course figuring out curriculum is important. And I don’t want a political party anywhere near that.

But if the majority of school board members are bought and paid for by the teacher unions, and in urban areas they most definitely are, then you already have a political party involved in making that decision whether the candidate puts a D after their name or not.

The teachers unions aren’t non-partisan organizations, they are left wing and almost exclusively Rat party supporters.

You want to take politics out of how the schools are run while ignoring 800 pound partisan gorilla in the room.

whlinder said:

I find everything about politics so dumb anymore as it's nothing but cliched bullshit. Detailed policy debates trying to solve complex multi-variate problems are interesting, but those don't exist anymore. Dedicated servants trying to do what's best for their constituents and country don't exist anymore. It's become another game to try to play and win which will burn us eventually.

SFGbob

I'm not disagreeing with you assessment of politics today. My disagreement is with your belief that a guy running as a Republican for a school board seat is going to inject party politics into how the schools are being running. Party politics is already there, and it's been there for years and just because someone may run as a non-partisan, if they are doing it with the backing of the NEA, they are injecting party politics into the job

whlinder

So that was an anecdote of the Republican point of view, but I hold the same of Democrats and injecting party politics into that level of government. I don’t believe it should happen.

I realize that the reality is that teachers are unionized and unions skew heavily toward Democrats, but I believe the bodies overseeing schools should not have political motivations. And whatever controls or oversights need to be put in place to allow that to happen should happen.