HonoredMule @ HonoredMule @lemmy.ca

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2

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203

Joined

4 mo. ago

This housing plan was the first I ever heard of Wab Kinew, and it made a pretty strong first impression. I think there's a lot riding on it working out well enough and over a long term, and am feeling pretty hopeful so far. Even if it falls short of ambitions, I won't be soon forgetting the politician that was willing to really try.

I kind of agree, but there's a substantial chance the NDP will insist on misinterpreting the results as meaning they should pull even farther to the relative center, even though it's their base they are losing.

On the other hand, the NDP implosion in NB opened the window for a stronger Green party with no more splitting of left-leaning votes. That party now more effectively represents both environmental concerns and labor. So far, that's seeming like a pretty harmonious pairing of interests, with a largely shared base.

I'm good with the NDP either shaping up or getting out of the way.

The CPC and UCP are pretty awful for sure. But as this thread demonstrates, conservatives do not have a monopoly on bad takes, divisive rhetoric, unnecessary hostility, and self-defeating attitudes.

And the parallels between Democrats and LPC are significant. Both have an establishment that isn't genuinely interested in tackling certain problems or backing away from a still generally pro-business bias. Aside from some key fundamentals we can credit for upholding this difference, many of the practical differences between Canada and the U.S. are more in degree than nature -- i.e. money in politics, corporate welfare, influence of traditional energy, (mostly provincial) industrial barons, etc.

I mean, I can't really speak for 41 million people, but yeah that's my perspective/anecdotal observation.

It wasn't so weird back when people lived in relative isolation without any kind of standards, and had to come up with some sort of reference that was widely familiar and commonly available.

You know, back in the Neolithic Age.

It even makes sense why that familiar set of references would get standardized and then survive up until the beginning of the Industrial Age. Beyond that point it's all driven by American exceptionalism, a.k.a. willful ignorance. What I don't understand is what happened to the cubit. Feet make sense for distance, but as a craftsman I don't want to be foot-fondling my work pieces.

On Canadian soil, it would still be Canadians losing jobs (faster) and collecting EI (when otherwise they might have gone straight to another job given more time), Canadians paying higher insurance premiums after that industry absorbs the cost, and Canadian productivity spent rebuilding wasted infrastructure.

Maybe the message and damage to Tesla's profits are worth that cost, but I sincerely do not know. Consequently I'm disinclined to form an opinion regarding what others should do, but I wouldn't do it myself.

I think people who are unhappy with election results for other reasons sometimes make it an issue, disingenuously. But it doesn't seem to me like anyone genuinely has a problem with it. PMs have considerably less power than presidents, and how much power they have is at least partly down to how the party chooses to govern itself. A PM who's party has little power would be quite ineffectual. Maybe that isn't great, but I'm not aware of a system that isn't worse in that regard. Maybe the French system is slightly better, but their president's power still depends a lot on majority party backing, at least for domestic issues. (And that's a high-level not-super-informed opinion.)

In practice in Canada, the party leader shapes the party, and the electorate votes for the party shape they see, knowing who made it that way. In effect, we practically are voting for our PM. We're just tempering that choice against local concerns. But even then the local MP who most aligns with our values is probably going to share a party with the party leader we'd most like as PM. We're only divided against ourselves when that local MP happens to personally be a lousy politician while someone else is doing a much better job of representing their constituents.

Oh, you almost had me fooled, Beaverton, but "bitumened and feathered" was a bridge too far. We all know Smith isn't that literate, even in relation to her sponsoring industry.

Honestly, I think there is a path down which I could accept a Canada-U.S. merger. But it starts with adopting our Westminster-style political system and adding the electoral reform we need. While we could accept some specific institutions of theirs replacing ours, there isn't a single part of the U.S. political system itself that's remotely acceptable.

A Canada lead by Democrats is still a big step backward for us, even if we kept our services like healthcare at current levels.

Holy fuck is he ever bad at this. You'd better join us because we don't need you; Conservatives were winning but I don't know or care; Liberals are easier for me but I don't know or care; You should vote Conservative because that'll stop me -- but I don't know or care.

I'm paying very close attention and cannot resist saying things to change the course of events. But I don't know or care.

This is preteen social strategy. Stomp around for a bit. Yell "Whatever, it doesn't even matter" loudly enough to make sure everybody heard it, then slam your bedroom door. Don't worry Dumpster, we're all very convinced by your passionate apathy.

I have mixed feelings about this ad. It meets the moment, but in terms of rhetoric it's a bit soft and in terms of setup it still models purity testing.

/u/eurisko@lemmy.ca Hey just a heads up almost all of your comments are tagged as French even though they're almost entirely English. I discovered this while figuring out why I was missing a comment here.

There was a time people could buy Teslas just wanting to do the right thing and not knowing any better. Some are also public assets that we'd all be paying to replace.

Advocating violent protest is a line I will cross for the right cause, but it also has to be aimed at the right targets. We can't be even taking a chance of eating our own, when there are sacrifices enough to be made already.

The Christian right-wing group that spent a ton of money blasting New Brunswickers with anti-trans hate speech to influence our last election was based in Alberta. It was so disgusting people wanted Canada Post to refuse their business.

It could and maybe should be construed as manipulating a foreign nation into treating us more favorably, rather than assuming she's telling U.S. reps the truth. But I don't mean to say I think it's any less damning. It still flirts with soliciting foreign interference in our elections. And it still acknowledges the alignment in values Conservatives are trying to deny even though we can all see it plain as day.

That maybe is an unreasonable amount of anger. Based on the headline I honestly expected something a little more traitorous, but this is pretty much standard fare for any of the Oil & Gas Parties. American-aligned or not, it's kind of amazing to me how normalized it is to still have politicians that effectively represent only that industry.

Even from a conservative, deeply neoliberal perspective that stopped making any sense a quarter century ago.

Then again, selling out a nation for an industry shouldn't really inspire any less anger than doing it for another nation.

Alabamerta.

For what it's worth, I don't do that -- at least not deliberately. I think we all tend to be a little less vigilant about scrutinizing information that confirms our biases; It's a natural human failing worth first inward attention and second consideration when accused of it. I actively guard against it, but cannot guarantee I never slip.

It's also super tiresome when people discover it's a magic trick to disingenuously waste thoughtful people's time. That's a tactic employed very unequally across the political spectrum.

More to your specific concern, I very much dislike political ads not endorsed by the party they support, especially if they're deliberately obscuring their motives. Messages from unions tend to be motivated by values that align with mine, which makes it all the more frustrating when they employ the very tactics people like me spot as discrediting. It's like having the truth on your side but instead lying or misrepresenting facts just to take a more extreme position -- and all it does is abandon the high ground and strengthen the resolve of dissenting views.

You can't reach reasonable people with unreasonable tactics, and you can't reach unreasonable people period. The latter are going to blindly accept or invent whatever empowers their motivated reasoning. Until you have the power to change their motives, it's a lost cause.

Don't forget "I only know of two genders." He's well into the full checklist of oppression targets that start with visible minorities and end with everyone including you personally - whomever your are.

Golly, I wouldn't want to force freedom on you.

But as long as you have it, you can always exercise it to go somewhere you won't. Try doing the reverse.