Ping Bot Report This Comment Date: September 19, 2016 10:26AM
Bring back LBJ :-)
jgoins Report This Comment Date: September 19, 2016 11:22AM
If there is anything wrong with our culture it is we are too politically
correct and afraid of hurting someone's feelings. People need to grow up and
not worry about hurt feelings or being offended. There is no protection under
the constitution for protecting one's feelings nor should there be. Grow up
America and stop accepting participation trophies.
pulse Report This Comment Date: September 19, 2016 11:44AM
I want to smack both of them in their shit eating grins.
I'm also sooooo fucking sick of the US election. I can't believe you guys can
put up with this shit for so long.
Here, an election is called, a few weeks later we're at the polls, it's over.
None of this circus of nominations and bullshit that seems to go on for years.
I don't know how you do it.
Robert Report This Comment Date: September 19, 2016 01:29PM
I don't understand why all of the photos of Hillary are from 20-30 years
ago.
She doesn't look anything like that anymore, she is old,old and looks awful.
pulse Report This Comment Date: September 19, 2016 01:31PM
Yeah. THAT's the problem.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: September 20, 2016 11:04AM
How do you get to know what the candidates eunning for Prime Minister stand for
in 2 weeks?
pulse Report This Comment Date: September 20, 2016 02:44PM
Because they're the leaders of their respective parties.
Trump would've lead the republicans for years before now in our system. You
don't just get chosen to run. You get elected into a seat then nominated to lead
the party. The party is elected not the politician.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: September 21, 2016 11:37AM
Well that's a problem with our elections, it's party politics. Many of us feel
we should do away with the party's entirely and candidates run on their own as
individuals. So many here go to vote and only vote for the party the candidates
belong to without regard to who it is. Technically here in the US anyone born
in this country who is at least 35 years of age can run for and become
President, but in reality they would need a lot of money to do it.
In Australia do voters really know that much about the party through the years?
Does the ordinary work a day voter hear that much about the people running?
pulse Report This Comment Date: October 18, 2016 09:48AM
Honestly yes. We get daily news updates, I'd say the average joe knows
generally a pretty reasonable amount about politics. Obviously there's those who
know more and focus more closely, but in general you know basically what the
parties stand for, because it hasn't really changed much in the past hundred
years.
Whilst we have numerous parties (it's not a 2 party system, we have dozens) the
core ones have been around forever. You can see roughly their leanings here
(from earlier this year):
vs yours
So we're all fairly aligned. Also worth noting that Liberals and Nationals
operate as a coalition and formed government together. Nationals tend to
represent country and farming regions, liberals cities and major towns.
But yes; in short, the parties' stance on most subjects is pretty well known
well before an election is called, it's not just standing in front of an
auditorium speaking crap and making up policies (and running for a year+ in the
campaign trail) which is a lot of what your politicians seem to do, at least
from an outside observation perspective.
We also have an election every 3 years (edit: and voting is mandatory).
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 18/10/2016 09:50AM by pulse.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: October 19, 2016 12:48PM
How is voting mandatory and what happens if you don't vote? Voting in the US
is a right of all legal citizens and we can choose to vote or not. There are
many here who refuse to register to vote because they do not want to take the
chance they can be called for jury duty. If voting were mandatory here then we
would all have to register and it would make it easier for the government locate
and control us. We also have a problem with dead people voting and voter fraud,
I can't imagine all the problems we would have with 300 million voting.
pulse Report This Comment Date: October 19, 2016 11:42PM
Since we all have tax file numbers (vaguely similar perhaps to your social
security numbers), and the government knows where we live and what we earn etc,
it's pretty easy.
Everybody is registered to vote automatically when they turn 18, and jury duty
is really easy to get out of.
Come election day, you turn up at a polling point and they check your name off
in a massive book. If your name isn't checked off, you receive a lovely fine in
the mail.
Of course there's always ways around it, and mistakes happen etc, and If you've
fallen off the voting register (which can happen, eg by changing address and not
updating your details) and you haven't voted, you can pretty much never go back
on it / vote, because when you do they'll retrospectively apply any fines that
you've accrued by not voting in the meantime. In the lead up to an election,
print and TV media is bombarded with ads reminding you to make sure your voting
details are up to date, because if they aren't, fines will be issued, etc.
So in some ways, similar to yourselves, voting is a right of all citizens; it's
just you're expected to exercise your right to vote, which in generally makes
the system fairer because the party in power really is representative of the
majority.
We also like to vote and have our voices heard.
edit:
It always amuses me the people who are hard and fast supporters of a specific
political party. I'm a democrat, I'm a republican, I'm a liberal, I'm a labor
supporter.
I vote for who's making the most sense to me and my life at the time. I've voted
for both of our parties in Australia at different times over the last 18 years
of my voting. American media would call me a swing voter, but I tend to think
that's should just be normal.
I don't know. It just seems strange to me to follow a party for life.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20/10/2016 12:20AM by pulse.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: October 20, 2016 11:42AM
In this country there are illegal aliens who have obtained social security
numbers and even driver's licenses illegally which is one aspect that is being
disputed by Trump and supported by Hillary. These illegals can now vote in our
election and that is voter fraud. I don't think Australia has many people
sneaking into your country through an open back door because the only way to get
there is by air or boat here they only need to walk across our borders either
north or south.
While we do need to find a better way to run our elections, with a population of
over 300,000,000 it is very difficult. I did come up with a method for the
election though yesterday. Maybe if our 50 states each choose someone from
within their state to run, then handle it like Miss America pageant and hold the
voting like American Idol. I know that kind of voting is not secure but
neither is the current voting.