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Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,301
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Political Yin and Yang
#10478876 - 06/09/09 07:03 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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I know other countries run differently, but the US has polarity down to a science. I don't mean to imply it's contrived, it may mostly be a product of causation. I find it odd that the larger the election, the more balanced the equation is, though even locally, election results are often quite close. We've been bouncing between Democrats and Republicans since the late 1800's. Winning by a few percentage points may be considered a "landslide". This phenomena can be seen in the Franken Coleman contest, at less than 1/100th of a percent difference.
What reasons could there be for this apparent balance?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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Silversoul
Rhizome
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Rahz]
#10478985 - 06/09/09 07:25 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rahz said: What reasons could there be for this apparent balance?
A two-party system is virtually inevitable when you have a winner-take-all election system. Our system of government is basically designed to gravitate towards the political center.
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Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,301
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Silversoul]
#10479119 - 06/09/09 07:57 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
A two-party system is virtually inevitable when you have a winner-take-all election system. Our system of government is basically designed to gravitate towards the political center.
Hmm, OK. Are other systems more likely to result in a lack of balance?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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Silversoul
Rhizome
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Rahz]
#10480379 - 06/09/09 11:59 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rahz said:
Quote:
A two-party system is virtually inevitable when you have a winner-take-all election system. Our system of government is basically designed to gravitate towards the political center.
Hmm, OK. Are other systems more likely to result in a lack of balance?
Well, in a parliamentary system, people vote for the party rather than the politician, and the party gets a portion of the seats in parliament equivalent to the portion of the votes they got. In such systems, there can be a greater diversity of parties, ranging from the extreme left to the extreme right. Our system tends to exclude the extremes. But in a sense, there is balance in a parliamentary system too, since parties will form coalitions with one another in order to get control of the government, so there are some compromises that occur.
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rebus_minus
Registered: 05/15/09
Posts: 667
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Re: Political Yin and Yang *DELETED* [Re: Silversoul]
#10480413 - 06/10/09 12:09 AM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Post deleted by rebus_minus
Reason for deletion: .
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Silversoul
Rhizome
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Quote:
rebus_minus said: The thing is, both of the parties in U.S. system would be considered extreme right compared to centrum in most European countries.
It is such a sham.
The Democrats would be center-right in Europe. Saying they'd be extreme right is a bit of a stretch.
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Kickle
Wanderer
Registered: 12/16/06
Posts: 17,953
Last seen: 3 days, 5 hours
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Silversoul]
#10480714 - 06/10/09 01:30 AM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Can someone (briefly) explain to me why politics were assigned a direction such as Left or Right? And was it just an arbitrary decision at some point? Could they easily have been reversed?
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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Cognitive_Shift
CS actual
Registered: 12/11/07
Posts: 29,591
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Rahz]
#10482227 - 06/10/09 12:01 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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The western scientific mind is designed that way. Its designed to make categorical distinctions and then treat them that way. It creates black and white thinking. It creates people to think that there is a right way and a wrong way. It causes people to think ignorantly and not take into thought possibilities.
-------------------- L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
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suns_for_shadows
Wanderer
Registered: 05/06/09
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Last seen: 10 years, 9 months
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no offense, but if you think the US political system is balanced... I don't know what to say.
Most americans think our country is a democracy... that is wrong. It is a republic. They want you to pick a good or an evil. Like Cognitive_Shift just said. People think bush when they think republican, obama when they think democrat. Bush(republican) was inherently evil so Obama(Democrat) must be good. It's backwards. Look into the family tree of bush or obama. You will see there is no balance. Just a long family business of deceit.
Obama serves no change. No Balance. You can't believe in polls or statistics. I find it funny that during pre-election all the talk about obama and ACORN. Experts coming forth about how EASY it is to rig an electronic election. Yet obama(good) won and everyone thinks everything is legit. People are waking up. Obama is spending our country into oblivion. Obama has gone against EVERYTHING he said he would do pre-election. Yet people are stuck in this Good Vs Evil. Republicans and democrats are two faces to the same coin. America was ment to be a REPUBLIC... we govern ourselves. Until people in america wake up and realize to take responsibility for their own actions can we move on to a better place.
Our Bill of Rights is being used as toilet paper by our politicians.
How is this system balance? All it is "apparent balance". It is just a trick placed on your psyche.
I didn't mean to be rude or an asshole by any of this, sorry if I came off that way. But watching anything political makes me want to cry. I suggest you do more research. Biased, well paid news outlets are not the source. Polls, statistics... not the source. I never took that survey... did you?
I voted for Ron Paul. I'm neither a republican or a democrat.
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zouden
Neuroscientist
Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 7,091
Loc: Australia
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Kickle]
#10483224 - 06/10/09 03:35 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kickle said: Can someone (briefly) explain to me why politics were assigned a direction such as Left or Right? And was it just an arbitrary decision at some point? Could they easily have been reversed?
French parliament, I believe. Left and right of the Speaker.
Yes here we go:
Quote:
The phrase left-wing was coined during the French Revolution, when left-wing referred to the seating arrangements in parliament; those who sat on the left opposed the traditional hierarchies and supported radical reform.
-------------------- I know... that just the smallest part of the world belongs to me You know... I'm not a blind man but truth is the hardest thing to see
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rebus_minus
Registered: 05/15/09
Posts: 667
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Re: Political Yin and Yang *DELETED* [Re: zouden]
#10483258 - 06/10/09 03:40 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Post deleted by rebus_minus
Reason for deletion: .
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Kickle
Wanderer
Registered: 12/16/06
Posts: 17,953
Last seen: 3 days, 5 hours
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Quote:
zouden said:
Quote:
Kickle said: Can someone (briefly) explain to me why politics were assigned a direction such as Left or Right? And was it just an arbitrary decision at some point? Could they easily have been reversed?
French parliament, I believe. Left and right of the Speaker.
Yes here we go:
Quote:
The phrase left-wing was coined during the French Revolution, when left-wing referred to the seating arrangements in parliament; those who sat on the left opposed the traditional hierarchies and supported radical reform.
Haha, ah, sweet, thanks.
Quote:
rebus_minus said: It is arbitrary. See it as a political compass instead. Left to right (horizontal axis) crossed with liberal to conservative (vertical).
I've seen the x/y axis'o'politics before. I just wondered where it came from. I can see the utility in breaking it down in such a way.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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HALFemptyJOSH
Magician
Registered: 09/01/03
Posts: 428
Loc: USA
Last seen: 5 years, 4 months
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Re: Political Yin and Yang [Re: Kickle]
#10484254 - 06/10/09 06:56 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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i pretty sure that the congress makes most of the decisions.. and the face to blame is just an illusion just like the good and evil you suggested earlier..
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Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,301
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Well it was designed as a democratic republic, and now it seems to be a monetary republic with a democratic puppet to keep the voters in darkness.
Realistically, the focus of balance has shifted from national to international. But does this require a hemorrhage?
The questions are, can we (meaning humans) handle a NWO, and is sending the American economy down the river to do it, the best method of getting there? And is it only when there is no more sovereignty, that such a thing can be allowed to happen?
I know this is getting off topic, but the OP was a little dull.:)
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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