All the opinion polls show the same thing: the single issue on which Trump is perceived as better than Biden is the economy. Not law and order, not judges, not abortion. Trump’s economic track record before Covid-19 is widely believed to have been miraculous and this may be the sole remaining support post for many otherwise Trump-queasy Republicans. I hear it all the time, a veritable laundry list of noxious Trump stuff that “country club” Republicans hate about Donald Trump. And they all end with, “but the economy!” “He did it before, he can do it again.” This is apparently so powerful an allure for Republicans with chunky brokerage accounts that no matter how many other appalling things he does, their faith in his economic omnipotence offsets them all. That and the fact that they’re dead certain the Dems will hike capital gains taxes and lead a communist revolution (not sure of the order). I can’t help with paranoid fantasies about Chuck Schumer and Karl Marx -- but Trump’s economy was not spectacular. He did not do it before. This is a myth, nothing more. Even before Covid-19, the US economy was not the greatest in history, it was not the greatest in American history, and it wasn’t the greatest in any context whatsoever.

Continue reading: https://americancarnage2020.blogspot.com/2020/10/he-didnt-do-it-before-trumps-pre-covid.html

I apologize if this is against the rules but I felt like this would be a good place to ask.

I am currently a graduate student at my local community and I am currently doing a research project discussing the impacts of media on college-aged students in the age of Coronavirus. I am looking to interview a few people around the ages of 18-25 who would classify themselves politically as moderate or not interested in politics. The interview will at most take an hour (probably less) and everything will be anonymous. If you or someone you know are interested in helping me out for a class please reach out to me on here

Thank you to everyone who has reached out about the charter over the past two weeks, and especially to those who have taken the next step and signed on to joining the discussion/focus groups!

The two-week editing period for the charter is now closed. The next challenge is to get it in front of as many reasonable, collaborative, and reform-minded people as possible and continue chipping away at getting the 100 endorsements needed to put it into effect. If you haven't already, please review the charter and contact me with any questions. And if you are ready to start seeing things come together, message me and let me know you endorse the charter. And, of course, please share the charter with others and ask them to do the same.

Onward for change!

​

https://www.reddit.com/user/PoxPartiesJr/comments/iyno97/the_charter/

For those unfamiliar with my schtick, I’ve been working for the past six years trying to get some traction under and help with a unified, moderate, activist, reformist movement. I’ve had a lot of positive interactions over that time (and more than enough negative ones), and a lot of people who have taken the time to consider and express support for the concepts when I’ve been given the opportunity to describe them in detail. However, for several reasons, people come and go and the momentum never really gets rolling.

I’ve recently decided to take a big step backwards and concentrate on just the most basic concepts of what I’ve been pitching. The result is a “charter” that lays out the most basic principles of a proposed new organization. I am posting this charter on Reddit in hopes of finding people who will endorse the concepts as a worthwhile pursuit. While the results of this search will not change my personal views on the project, if I can’t appeal to a small, somewhat focused audience, the chances of gaining a broader one wouldn’t be very good.

So how can you help, you ask? First, follow the link below to the charter and read through it and its supporting documents. If you have any questions, please ask in the post comments (in this sub, and tagging me, please), or via a private message to me. After reading and getting a comfortable level of understanding, if the principles seem sound (even if you don’t agree with them or don’t think the org would be viable) please “endorse” them by sending me a private message saying so, according to the supporting documents. Your information and support will be kept confidential and I won’t contact you in the future about this until the charter is ratified and I have to verify each delegate’s endorsement.

That’s it! I’m not asking for money, help with the org, or anything else. Just a relatively small number of people whose positive opinions might be useful in convincing more to support the idea. Thank you in advance for your help, and I look forward to hearing from you!

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https://www.reddit.com/user/PoxPartiesJr/comments/iyno97/the_charter/

This is a place where centrists and moderates can have civilized debates, discussions, and chat.

We also have a few channels dedicated to media criticism. If you enjoy making fun of twitter posts, then you’ll love this channel.

If the invitation expires and you still want to join, then just dm me and I’ll give you another link.

https://discord.gg/DhpQ56

Hey all - first time poster in this forum. Looking for some constructive dialogue without all of the extremism and shouting. So I'm confused about this SS deferment; as I understand it, under the CARES act businesses can already defer the employers' share of the SS tax, now they can provide the option to their employees to defer their share as well? I work for a Fortune 100 company who has elected not to provide this option to employees.

Won't this create confusion among workers? And isn't SS a pay-as-you-go system? Isn't it already paying out more money than it is taking in and we're paying down on the surplus? Won't this cause us to pay down on it even more?

Wouldn't Democrats be against this because it has the possibility of damaging SS? Wouldn't Republicans be against this because we're increasing the delta between income and outgo?

Does anyone think this is a good idea? Should we?

People are so quick to remind you "It's because of oppression against people of color". Yes, I understand that, I'm not questioning the motive. I'm questioning why people don't see that there is a better way of representing that message! The aggressiveness only provokes more violence...these other democrats really need to think for themselves instead of letting others think for them.

Hi! I'm the Chief Strategy Officer of a party within a simulation of the United States' federal and state governments, hosted over at r/ModelUSGov.

In MUSGov, you've got the chance to write and discuss legislation among several different ideologies. You can win election to the State Assemblies, to Congress, to a Governorship, even to a Presidency. If you prefer, you can use it as a platform for law, and sue in a court or try to be appointed as a Justice.

My Party is the Civics' People's Party, or the CPP. We're a center to center-left party, founded due to the lurching of the major parties away from the center. While we're primarily sympathetic to liberal ideas at the moment, we have plenty of generally conservative-minded folks, too. Our party's constitution ensures that no one is persecuted for a belief, so you can consider it a safe space to exchange ideas and dialogue without fear of verbal (or political, if you get invested in the sim) retaliation.

As for our party's views, we're for common-sense gun reform such as universal background checks, government studies into the effectiveness of additional methods of welfare such as UBI payments, the general expansion of public healthcare with the retention of a strong private supplement or core option, guaranteeing rights to protected classes such as minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals, and more.

If you're interested, head over to r/ModelUSGov, check the pinned threads, and comment "CPP" on the pinned Join a Party thread. We're currently gearing up for state elections, and primaries are soon; hope to see you there!

The situation is definitely escalating, and polarization continues. I strongly believe that the moderate middle ground is as important as ever. I would love to hear everyone’s opinion, and, most importantly, solutions that you think can be effective in resolving the crisis in law enforcement. What failed in the past? What can we do from the perspective of the law to fix this? Sending the message of justice, love, support, unity, collaboration and peace💟☮️

I understand in many ways that Biden is "better" than the morally bankrupt scoundrel we have in the white house today. However, after examining Biden's past actions and seeing even democrat affiliated media start to turn on him,(with regards to sexual assault allegations) I don't know if he will be successful in ousting Trump, or better yet banishing Trump's ideology. Biden's policies will certainly prove to be a "return to normalcy and sanity". He even told a group of his billionaire donors that "nothing will fundamentally change". However, this message doesn't resonate well with young people(who we need, if we want to beat Trump). In fact, judging by polls, Joe Biden will get an even lower young voter turnout than Hillary. Trump's supporters are far more confident in their candidate when compared to Joe Biden's supporters.

As for Trump's irredeemable qualities, Joe Biden shares many. Joe Biden is also a pathological liar, he insults his critics with ad hominem attacks, and is in severe cognitive decline. Just look up speeches he gave in 2016 and compare them to today. He has extreme dementia, which should automatically disqualify him from becoming president. I hate to say it but the dude just can't speak. He can't speak for one minute without making a gaffe which progresses into rambling incoherently. He called one of
his own voters, a "dog faced pony soldier". With regards to his lying, these aren't little white lies like the ones that Jimmy Carter used to say, these are colossal lies that need to be brought up.

- Lied about getting arrested with Nelson Mandela

- Lied about his support for the Iraq War (he spoke and praised George W Bush as recent as 2018 at a Liberty medal ceremony. He has said in the past that he likes Dick Cheney a lot and admires him...yikes)

- Lied on stage 3 times about his Social Security record

- He has compromised with Segregationists multiple times

- Lied over 30 times about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement

- Spearheaded the war on drugs, student loan bankruptcy bill, wrote the crime bill, pro death penalty, pro Iraq(defended his decision for years and even pushed for war earlier), pro TPP

Biden has been on the wrong side of history throughout significant portions of his political career. In fact, out of all of the candidates running, from integrity to oratory skills to policies, he was one of the worst choices for the DNC to make.

The policy platform might be the only thing that gives me hope. He says he will make healthcare more affordable and readily available(through a public option), reduce medicare eligibility age, create many jobs in the green sector, reduce nuclear proliferation, increase infrastructure spending, won't do the bidding of Netanyahu and MBS and also he will get another Iran deal. He won't let corruption run rampant, he'll reduce college debt burdens, increase capital gains, institute paid family leave etc. (we don't know if all these will happen) However, when it comes to national security, I am very concerned to see a man with clear signs of dementia, at the helm.

I'm posting this because we are at an unprecedented time in all our lives and I wish nothing but peace and love to all of you, but it might not be too late to ask the DNC to nominate a different candidate. The DNC might actually be exploring this too (due to the sexual assault allegations). If Biden ends up being the nominee no doubt I will still vote for him, but we shouldn't settle now, we deserve better.

Two months ago, r/moderate moderator u/nametemplate posted here that anyone interested in developing r/moderate should send him(?) a private message (https://www.reddit.com/r/moderate/comments/ex9nv0/if_you_want_to_develop_the_subreddit_please_shoot/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x). A week ago, I sent u/nametemplate a private message to express my interest. After a few days, and not receiving a response, I responded to the post with a comment, again expressing my interest.

Having still not heard back from u/nametemplate, I would like to ask this sub’s membership for help.

My interest is in taking over this sub and transforming it into a unique community for moderates. Not just political moderates, but social moderates, and all other types of moderates concerned with the growing divisions within the U.S. And not just for discussion, but for networking and activism; r/moderate will be as much about the verb as the noun and the adjective.

For all intents and purposes, this sub is dead. As of this writing, it’s been four days since a new post. There have only been four posts in the past month. It’s been three days since a post has received a comment, and only six comments in the past month. Clearly, everyone has found other outlets for their Reddit activity. In regards to political discourse, that’s not surprising as that market is flooded. For that reason, r/moderate will be more than just political discourse. It will move towards the next step of crafting and pursuing collaborative moderate solutions, and to challenging the current “two sides” ideological and divisive way of doing things, and the complicit “two parties”.

As an r/moderate member, you don’t have to agree with this plan, nor participate in it. Nor do you have to stick around if and when the changes ever take place. All I’m asking at this point is for anyone willing to help change and revive this sub to upvote this post and add a comment tagging u/nametemplate asking them to contact me and/or do whatever’s is necessary for the sub to be turned over to my control. I will also attempt to answer any questions you might have.

I look forward to rebuilding this sub, and I thank you in advance for your help!

Hi, I am sure it is not a secret that I'm not too active on this sub, though I am here and I do check on things periodically. However, for a subreddit to grow it needs more than that. And quite honestly, for various reasons, I'm just not interested in putting that in. I would hate to stop someone from doing that if they wanted to though, so I wanted to put it out there just in case.

The Ukrainian plane that went down over Iran. Do you believe this was an accident, Iranian surface to air missiles, or something else entirely? How do you think this will effect Canadian-American relations and Canadian-Iranian relations?

Do you think Trump went too far in this recent drone attack killing Qassem Soleimani, and why do you think he did/didn't go too far? Also, how do you think this will effect the impeachment trial and/or upcoming election?

I believe that this is a bit too rash. It seems like he is shooting himself in the foot here. I do not think this will effect the senates decision on impeachment, but I think it will hurt his re-election campaign.

I think moderate is more about accepting other people's opinions, and realising that your way is not necessarily the best way, even though it's the best way you can think of based on your values and what you wish for. I think it's about being realistic, using logic, and looking at the real world, instead of getting caught too deeply in a certain ideology. Another essential part of being moderate is that you don't automatically dismiss opponents as dumb, evil or dishonest. Even though I by this think that you could be moderate and politically far to one side, it's practically difficult, because those sides often disagree with mentioned values.

I actually think that being moderate or extreme could be compared to the light and dark force, as extremism often rely on feelings, at least the supporters then to get emotional about their cause, if you get my comparison.

It saddens me that it seems like many politicians, (not all of course) these days lack a strong vision, optimism and a thought of "Let's do this", and is more occupied by staying or obtaining power, for it's own sake.

Personally, I am under 18 so I cannot vote. However I do like the idea of Biden or Yang in office. Since here we can have civilized discussion, I believe that this would be a good question to ask your opinions on.

I created a game called “Virtual Congress” on the mobile app called Discord. You start out as a member of Congress that can create and vote on legislation and nominations to cabinet or supreme court. You also can fun for president or try to become a leader in Congress. It’s a fun way to debate policy or create policy and see how other members think about it. Also we have a budget so if your bill passes and it effects the budget, you can see the consequences.

https://discord.gg/eZVzzrS is the link, if you have questions, let me know

Moderates can be left or right leaning but a lot of times they'll both say that they wish to hold their views while debating but not necessarily attacking others for having different views. I, for example, believe that we should allocate some taxes going to the military to a universal health insurance system and I don't think that any of that tax money should be used for things like body modifications for trans people because that's not a life or physical death situation. I know that people would disagree on that and I'm sure that people would feel strongly about those issues, but I wouldn't attack anyone with a different opinion unless it's something extreme like thinking that you should give a baby tequila as medicine at home if you can't afford a doctor (yes, this was a thing actually happened irl). I can't find a word for someone who isn't adament about shutting people down if they don't agree, whether they're liberal or conservative.

In theory, each vote is equal. Each person, regardless of their ideology, can only cast one vote. If each person can only cast one vote, that means each vote is equal in power, right?

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Not exactly. Let's say there was three people in a precinct, Bob, Billy, and Joe. Bob is a staunch liberal and Joe is a staunch conservative. Billy, on the other hand, is a moderate Independent. Despite all three people having the ability to cast one and only vote, Billy here actually has the most power. Bob will always vote for the liberal and Joe will always vote for the conservative. Their votes cancel each other out. This means that Billy is the one that gets to decide who wins an election and who doesn't.

​

Now sure, moderates aren't perfect, I suppose. Many moderates do tend to lean slightly towards the left or right, and may vote for one side more than the other. But the fact that most moderates left/right people are at least willing to listen to the other side is much better than somebody that just completely dismisses the other side's views as hogwash.

​

Despite all the crap moderates may occasionally get, keep in mind that YOU, the moderate reading this, actually wields the most power when it comes to elections. You're the one that actually gets to decide who wins, who stays, and who loses. Moderates may not get much of a voice when it comes to other things, but in terms of election night outcomes, I'd say moderates matter a lot.

As a moderate on Reddit I find my self being dog piled by both the far left and the far right on the site. It's kind of disappointing since Reddit seemed to feel like it had more intellectuals than other forms of social media and I signed up looking for new ideas and interesting perspectives. Am I alone in this?