USA 2016 Presidential Election Thread

[Rincewind]

I don't know, sorry but I don't know whether you're taking the mickey with some of your recent posts.

Me?

[Webbo]

I'd be interested on what your take on the whole thing is Webbo...who would you like to win?.

I was just laughing at Matt's description.

Tbh I take the view that's it's none of my business, who America chooses is up to them. Obviously I have a right-wing bias so I tend to root for the republicans but as for individual candidates I don't know enough about them and I'm not interested enough to find out.

[leicsmac]

I was just laughing at Matt's description.

Tbh I take the view that's it's none of my business, who America chooses is up to them. Obviously I have a right-wing bias so I tend to root for the republicans but as for individual candidates I don't know enough about them and I'm not interested enough to find out.

Fair enough, though given the choices the U.S. makes in this regard do affect us all I would expect at least some kind of vested interest from most.

I also think that if you were to look more closely at pretty much the entirety of the Republican field this time around you might find things out that even you, as a dedicated right winger, might find...distasteful. There's a pretty big difference between what we'd put as right wing and what the Americans think it is.

[Webbo]

We hear so much about how all politicians are the same and yet when someone comes from outside the establishment every one gets scared.

I don't know what kind of president Trump will make but it won't affect me directly and I haven't got a vote so there's no point worrying about it. I know if I was an American I wouldn't change my mind due to what someone in the UK thinks.

[MPH]

We hear so much about how all politicians are the same and yet when someone comes from outside the establishment every one gets scared.

I don't know what kind of president Trump will make but it won't affect me directly and I haven't got a vote so there's no point worrying about it. I know if I was an American I wouldn't change my mind due to what someone in the UK thinks.

 

 

I actually think his foreign policies will effect more than just America. I think he could be disastrous for the western world.

[Webbo]

I actually think his foreign policies will effect more than just America. I think he could be disastrous for the western world.

Maybe, maybe not but there's nothing I can do about it.

[MPH]

Maybe, maybe not but there's nothing I can do about it.

 

 

 

Nope.

 

 

 

 

It seems to me that the thing that matters most to Americans  is having a job and paying low taxes. Two great things and i do believe he'll get the economy going well, but  That isnt THE most important thing, for me.

[leicsmac]

Maybe, maybe not but there's nothing I can do about it.

I don't believe that's stopped you from being concerned and giving your opinion in the past.

[leicsmac]

Nope.

It seems to me that the thing that matters most to Americans is having a job and paying low taxes. Two great things and i do believe he'll get the economy going well, but That isnt THE most important thing, for me.

The economic policy of Trump or any other Republican candidate doesn't scare me that much. It's their social worldview that is the truly scary part for me.

[Harry - LCFC]

We hear so much about how all politicians are the same and yet when someone comes from outside the establishment every one gets scared.

 

I think you know that isn't the reason why Trump has received such a negative reaction. He's demonstrated several times that he is not a suitable individual to hold office, for example, he's shown himself to be ignorant of multiple key issues and doesn't appear to be willing to correct this.

 

I'm confident a more rational man from outside the establishment wouldn't be viewed as a threat in the way Trump is. Ben Carson is a half-reasonable example come to think of it..

[Webbo]

I don't believe that's stopped you from being concerned and giving your opinion in the past.

I like to think I'm pretty consistent but nobody's perfect.

[Webbo]

I think you know that isn't the reason why Trump has received such a negative reaction. He's demonstrated several times that he is not a suitable individual to hold office, for example, he's shown himself to be ignorant of multiple key issues and doesn't appear to be willing to correct this.

 

I'm confident a more rational man from outside the establishment wouldn't be viewed as a threat in the way Trump is. Ben Carson is a half-reasonable example come to think of it..

If that's what America votes for then that's their business.

[MPH]

The economic policy of Trump or any other Republican candidate doesn't scare me that much. It's their social worldview that is the truly scary part for me.

 

 

 

Well is that the part that effects you the most?

[Harry - LCFC]

If that's what America votes for then that's their business.

 

I didn't say otherwise. I was just disagreeing with you over how people have formed their opinions of the man.

[leicsmac]

Well is that the part that effects you the most?

 

It will be. I'm not overly keen of the idea of being saddled with a lifetime of debt just because I was unlucky enough to get hit by a car or catch a disease that needed emergency treatment when I make the move Stateside, for instance.

 

But in any case, the suffering of strangers also moves me and I find the idea of the richest and most powerful nation on Earth attempting to deny women access to make choices regarding their own body and denying one adult human being the opportunity to marry another adult human being (with the benefits that entails) simply because some man took it to be the word of divinity and wrote it in a book almost two thousand years ago totally unconscionable.

 

 

I like to think I'm pretty consistent but nobody's perfect.

 

Indeed, no one is.

 

If that's what America votes for then that's their business.

 

True, but it becomes our business when the Middle East gets blown up again and the UK catches some of the fallout from it.

[Webbo]

 

True, but it becomes our business when the Middle East gets blown up again and the UK catches some of the fallout from it.

Not bombing Syria didn't help the situation either.

[leicsmac]

Not bombing Syria didn't help the situation either.

 

Fair. But the point still stands: US foreign policy decisions do affect the UK, and even though we can't affect such decisions I think it reasonable to be concerned about them.

[Guest MattP]

Be hilarious if it ends up Clinton v Trump...I bet the democrats can't believe their luck.  I'd be very happy to see that.  At least the yanks know the left is best.

 

First time I've ever seen Clinto described by anyone as "left".

[leicsmac]

First time I've ever seen Clinto described by anyone as "left".

 

By US standards, she is. Over here, she'd probably be on par with some of the more moderate Tories in terms of policy, which is what she has to be to appeal to enough of a voter base to stand a chance.

 

I think many in the UK would still be astounded at how socially conservative vast swathes of the US are.

[Sharpe's Fox]

[MPH]

It will be. I'm not overly keen of the idea of being saddled with a lifetime of debt just because I was unlucky enough to get hit by a car or catch a disease that needed emergency treatment when I make the move Stateside, for instance.

 

But in any case, the suffering of strangers also moves me and I find the idea of the richest and most powerful nation on Earth attempting to deny women access to make choices regarding their own body and denying one adult human being the opportunity to marry another adult human being (with the benefits that entails) simply because some man took it to be the word of divinity and wrote it in a book almost two thousand years ago totally unconscionable.

 

 

 

Indeed, no one is.

 

 

True, but it becomes our business when the Middle East gets blown up again and the UK catches some of the fallout from it.

 

 

 

That is of course a very one sided view and it appears there are a lot of people in America who see it differently..

 

 

But to your other point- Simple- Get health insurance. People will often talk about the cost of health insurance but what you have to know is that the cost of living here is so much cheaper in England that so many people have alot more spare money that they choose to spend else ware. Bigger car, bigger house, more stuff, more nights out/ eating out I would imagine you to be a fairly intelligent person so i dont presume you call into the category of being someone who is either 'unemployable', or doesn't want a Job by choice, so i dont imagine you will have much difficulty in getting a job ( you might already have one lined up.. i don't know!).

 

Every company that has more than 50 full time employees is obliged to offer healthcare to their staff. If you work for a company that does not offer healthcare, then you can get heavily subsidized healthcare from the healthcare marketplace.

 

 

For example, the health insurance that i am offered through my workplace is $40 a month. My total maximum out of pocket expense for the healthcare is $1750 for the year. That includes medicines, drs visits, stays in hospital. Everything. Split over 12 months that's a maximum  cost of about $185 per month..  When you consider the average american has $400 more PER MONTH of disposable income than the average British person  as well as a much cheaper cost to living ( http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+Kingdom) Then you can see that really isn't something to worry about. Do people get huge bills sometimes? Yes of course they do. It's often because they have CHOSEN not to have healthcare and be landed with a huge bill. 

 

 

And for those who are not working or dont earn very much, there is of course the medicare/ medicaid program. On top of that.. During my first year my wife had a period of sickness. I took the  first job that i could get myhandsonI was a Janitor in a truckers depo. Horrible horrible toilets let me tell you, anyway.. I earnedjust a little too much ( !) to qualify for medicaid so my wife applied to the hospitals charity care program ( every hospital by law is obliged to have one) and most of those bills were paid for from that. She even applied to the ambulance companies charity care program and all those ambulance rides she needed that year were paid for.. Once she got a little bit better she then got coverage through the community free clinic , all the medicines she needed were on the $4 generic list ( cheaper than England!) and all her drs visits were for free.

 

 

Just like you have complained before about the scare tactics in the British media with regards to their right leaning tendencies, Believe it or not there are also some pretty biased media coverage out there towards most things American. Most of it is scaremongering though.

 

 

Sorry for the punctuation - written in a rush at work!

[Robin JD Popley]

Glad to see that Mitt Romney has come out and denounced Trump.

 

Why is that most Conservatives, whether American or not, can see this guy is Toxic yet The Tea Party, some Democrats and a good lot of Independents want this guy because 'he's different'. Reagan was different but was a gentleman. This guy spouts the same stuff Farage does...

 

Baffles me but there you go.

[Harry - LCFC]

I get the impression Trump's actually received a fair bit of criticism from the right in America. National Review, a well known conservative magazine, has been blasting him non-stop.

[BoyJones]

Havent read previous posts, so apologies if his has been posted before, but as I understand it, Trumps main card is that he is not beholden to anybody.

All previous recent US presidents have had to raise money to fund their campaigns, leading to the need to repaying favours and favouring big contributors with business contacts etc. if elected. Obviously open to corruption, favouritism and misuse of power.

Trump is probably the first candidate to have sufficient funds not to need outside finance and therefore not susceptible to pressure from businessmen wanting their pound of flesh. Transparency is a big topic in America, and the lack of it over the last few decades is beginning to hit home. US citizens seem to be fed up with the lack of honesty that is rife over there. Basically, none of the other candidates come across as completely trustworthy.

Trump might come across as a redneck, but an honest redneck, not being controlled by various business factions. Scary, but he might just do it.

[Rincewind]

Well Reagan did it. A second rate actor. The American public may be mad enough to vote in another nutjob. I don't think it makes much difference which one they choose. They are all mad.