Thread: To the American refugees

Originally Posted by MutantJohn

I figured they'd do the same thing they did to Obama. We've proved that our government can just yolo deadlock at any point in time.

This time however it may be for best. Although the lack of institutional agreements in the USA for well over a decade is one of the reasons for the rise of a figure like Trump, this time we should hope for that lack of agreement to remain and even intensify.

However, Like Elysia, I'm not confident that many aspects of American domestic and foreign policies won't be changed for the worse. With full control of the American system of power, the Republican party has everything it needs to push its agenda in full. It will all depend on what it learned from the Trump nomination, IF it learned anything at all.

If the GOP looks at Trump nomination as a victory of the Republican party, then it didn't learn anything and the populist right movements within will keep gaining strength and influencing the GOP policy. If, on the other hand, the GOP agrees that the American conservatism lost with trump nomination and that the GOP itself is in danger of disappearing or fracturing, then we may witness a stronger opposition to the Trump presidency and, even better, a reform within the GOP to clear out the weeds (Tea Party and other populist right movements that attached to the GOP like a cancer).

Well, he sure earned his right to be given a chance, regardless of what a certain leftist (or confused) sector of the society thinks when it comes out to the streets to protest against a legitimate exercise of democracy. In fact, what is most ironic about those very people that we see today making a fool of themselves on the streets protesting against democracy in the most democratic country in the world, is that they all share a major part of the blame for a person like Trump to rise above the crowd and win the presidency. It was through they past actions or inaction.

Anyways, concerning the ruling of the country, I'm not so much concerned about the most egregious policies defended by Trump. I agree that a large part of it was campaign talk. And I agree that the GOP won't be able to ignore anymore (it has been for years) the sector of the population that gave Trump his nomination. Much in particularly the low middle-class. And that will hopefully be good. The end of NAFTA, but also a certain American protectionism will be good for everyone, much in particular the old and too dependent Europe which will finally no longer be able to ignore its own decaying productive sector.

I'm however more concerned with what the Republican Party will be doing in the upcoming years, taking into consideration what we know about it on such matters as Net Neutrality, the further emptying of FCC powers, abortion, environment, religion and schools, etc...

And a word of caution to those teenagers and young adults out there, protesting and saying they are the generation that will make the world a better place:

We all were your age once. We too were idealist generations. My parents were the 50s and 60s generation of peace and love and look what that did for them. My generation was the 80s anti-cold war generation and the environmentalist generation and look what that did for us. Do not think your idealism is any different than that of those you fight against today. And especially do not think your idealism isn't still alive on older generations than yourself. Societies are much more complex organisms than what could be described by a single generation that sees itself different than anyone else.

It took me a long while -- only on my early 40s -- to fully grasp what my father was on about the day he bailed me out and told me "the only idealism I will respect on you is when you turn a realist". I was staying 2 nights in jail for having broken into a boutique and spray painting a fur coat with a group of friends.