US Politics Thread

BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
Huh?

American politics and beliefs are extremely fractious. But it's not at all "separate countries (states)" that's at play - it's almost exclusively urban versus rural - on almost every single contentious issue.
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I don’t disagree that the further one moves from an urban center, the redder most states get, but your own statement speaks to my point.

We have a system where CA gets 2 Senators, the same as MT. We gave gerrymandered states, so that bluer, more urban areas are chopped into pieces, added to redder areas, and blue votes are overwhelmed.

Any map will tell you which states are blue and which states are red. Those maps don’t tell anywhere close to the whole story on urban vs rural, because once an area has a “winner” the entire area is painted in that color.

I much prefer the maps that break down voting by local area percentages. Then, you start to really see where blue & red voters really are, how blue states can have large swaths of red regions (IL is a perfect example!) and red states can have significant blue areas.

Indeed, as you distill it even further, you see the dramatically outsized influence of low population density areas on higher population density areas.

A simple example of that would be how Biden can win the presidency by millions and millions and millions of votes, gaining the most votes in US history, yet only REALLY win the election by less than 100,000 votes in a few key swing states. THAT’S where the “republic” comes in and can COMPLETELY CHANGE the wishes of the national electorate…otherwise known as the “popular vote.”

My point about States Rights, and the “50 different countries” was that there are 50 completely different versions of what is lawful in each of the 50 states. There are 50 completely different tax structures designed by 50 different taxing legislatures, with even more that that at the local level, who write their own municipal codes!

Two examples often cited are guns and radar detectors! You can have a legal permit to both own and carry a gun, but on a cross country drive, you would be breaking in the law in multiple states taking one route and perfectly legal driving a different route! Same for a radar detector ditto g in your front windshield! Cross a state line on a federal highway and you might be stopped for just having a radar detector, not speeding!

In my own situation, as I approach my retirement years, there are MAJOR DIFFERENCES in how individual states treat both income taxes and property taxes, one’s two major tax burdens.

I live in Illinois. It had traditionally been a high property tax (2% of home value per year) but low income tax (Flat 3%) state, until the state ran into financial trouble and raised income taxes to 5%. Sales tax is also high at about 10%.

Just across the border in Wisconsin, income taxes are about 6,75%, but property taxes are about 1/4 of IL taxes.

However, IL doesn’t tax retirement income, whereas WI keeps it the same for workers and retirees!

That’s like deciding whether to live in Spain or Portugal in retirement, or France or Germany! Two completely different tax structures and legislative cultures.

In the USA, one needs to look no further than the movement of people from CA, NY, NJ and IL to places like CO, IN, TN and FL to set that even American citizens move inside their own country to escape high tax states for tax exile-type states.

If you want to delve further, look at abortion laws or the recent “anti-woke” legislations in some states, where book burning is making a comeback!!!

Yes, red vs blue voting can appear to be a rural vs urban issue, but politics and the political decisions that drive the political votes can be very parochial from state to state, because of the relative autonomy of the states and their often distinct outlooks on what America is to that state!
 
AlgarveBlu said:
Loved this bit of the interview

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He's still pushing the bullshit, frequently repeated by his brain dead followers, that he presided over the best economy ever. Trump inherited a booming economy from Obama and trashed it in 4 years. Record unemployment numbers and he's the only president to leave office with a) negative job growth and b) unemployment higher than when started. Promised to eradicate the national debt and increased it by $7.8 trillion. Tax cuts for billionaires. A disastrous trade war with China that only increased the trade deficit. Business investment plummeted. The botched handling of Covid.
 
AlgarveBlu said:
Loved this bit of the interview

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I watched part of the interview. Bret Baier was very aggressive with Trump, asked probing questions and pushed back on (some) of the nonsense answers Trump supplied.

I really didn't expect this sort of interview from Fox. I suppose that Ruppert still hopes that someone other than Trump wins the Republican presidential nomination.

On the other hand, Bret (whom I wasn't familiar with prior to this interview) seems to have a largely good reputation as an honest reporter.
www.hollywoodreporter.com

“The Partisanship Comes Through Very Slyly”: Bret Baier Has Some Skeptics

The anchor is a vital member of the Fox News Channel’s news division, but some people who have worked with him question his editorial impartiality.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
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