The Politics Thread

[Juliajms]

I had a similar thought awhile back when he said something like liberals need to stop losing sleep over what's happening here.  That's much easier advise to give and follow when you can leave the country and take a wider perspective on a regular basis. 

 

Most of us can't do that either because of various obligations or money.  If I didn't have two toddlers, I would definitely go to Europe or Asia a couple of times a year to save my sanity.  Hell, even Canada might do the trick in a pinch.

[Vee]

It's not a pro-Trump conspiracy. It's a genuine attempt from someone to deflect blame and write their self-serving narrative. What matters most is how unprecedented it is and how it continues to delegitimize Trump.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Obama, the man (if not the politician) has always been somewhat globally-minded though.  I'll just put it this way-- he's been more open to a global mindset.  As someone whose family hails from elsewhere, I definitely understand the mindset, I think it's more akin to where my thought processes are. Before I had turned 5, I had traveled outside of the U.S.  By the age of 7, I had my own passport. 

Like Obama, being raised around cultures that were not centered around an American way of life was part of my upbringing.  So I think I always had it in mind that it was possible to live and adapt to live elsewhere. 

My mother had two children when she moved to the U.S. from the Caribbean.  She did it for better opportunity and it was very hard and the challenges of being a 'foreigner' and a black and female foreigner totally alone in a strange country (my father couldn't even join her until two years later) were very real but I think I grew up seeing family in various parts of the world who had moved thousands of miles away from where they had been born and raised and having to adapt to and begin a new life in unfamiliar lands.  I think it's in my DNA (lol).

I think because of my personal experience the idea of moving to another country (provided they are not overtly hostile to people of color, or more hostile than America, I should say) is an entirely realistic one.

Edited September 8, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[Khan]

 

I won't argue with you there.  What I suggested before was just speculation.  I'm not entirely sure about anything in regards to that article.

 

But the timing of it all, and the fact that it was written anonymously, just does not sit well with me for some reason.

[Juliajms]

Sure, just having a father from Kenya and growing up in Hawaii made Obama more open in this way. Add to that having a world class education from an early age, being smart and having the opportunity to travel extensively.  Now he's incredibly rich and belongs to the class of Americans who can basically live anywhere they want to. That's great for those people, all I'm saying is it's much easier to stay optimistic and grounded under those circumstances.

 

I can only imagine what your mother went through.  It's definitely an advantage to know that you can survive if you ever have to pick up and move again. I remember being on the bus in San Francisco with older Chinese ladies who were clearly immigrants. I was pretty sure I would not be able to adapt to Chinese culture the way they had to American.

 

My main point is when your daily grind is in America, I think it's very hard to take the Age of Trump as a bad moment that will pass (which intellectually I believe it is, unless he nukes someone). When he does things like put children in concentration camps, yes, that keeps me up at night.  Maybe it wouldn't if I were sipping coffee at a cafe in Paris or eating sushi in Tokyo every few months, but that's not my reality right now.  I feel pretty immersed in 2018 America and it's ugly.

 

 

 

 

[marceline]

I agree that Obama has become a global figure. Much like MLK, Cesar Chavez, Gandhi, Mandela, Clinton, and Carter.

 

These were all men (yes, men because men had the power) who came up from humble beginnings, They were flawed and imperfect but they did their best to leave the world a better place than they found it.

[DramatistDreamer]

Also, when your forebears were slaves, you cannot help but think that although times are difficult now, times have been much worse and that you are here because they were able to survive calamity and utter degradation.

 

My mother migrated to employers who made mostly undelivered promises.  This was not the vaunted land of opportunity for her that it was supposed to be but she made the most out of an often negative and exploitative circumstance. Only when I got much older, did I realize the sacrifices my mother made and her life in the U.S. was actually a downgrade from where it was in her home country.  She went from being considered relatively middle class in her home country to low-income, working her fingers to the bone in the U.S.  Somehow, she managed to visit home and my parents managed to take us to see and stay with relatives so we'd always have a good sense of where our people were from and that just happened to be across an ocean.

Honestly, I don't know how she managed all of this but my enduring image of her from childhood was her sitting quietly and balancing her checkbook, her making a weekly budget and grocery list (we rarely ever ate out, which as a child could be frustrating).  In this day and age, where kids have cellphones by age 10, it's all but impossible to live as simply as we did growing up.  Oh and we didn't own a car, we walked everywhere...even more than a mile to the supermarket (lol) and back, while countless cars zoomed by us.

Back then you could be working class and actually travel once every couple of years, if you were frugal.  Today, it's all but completely impossible.

 

I guess I'm grateful that I did grow up in a dual culture.  At the time I was ostracized by American kids for being different but now, even that made me resilient, to deal with the hard times when they come (and they still do unfortunately).

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Enough about me though.

 

[Khan]

 

Amen.  That's what I always remind myself whenever I get down about our current state -- which I feel more than a little bit responsible for, since I foolishly did not vote.  As bad as things are right now, I tell myself, they can't BEGIN to compare with what my ancestors had to go through.

 

I appreciate your sharing the circumstances of your childhood, DD.  I just wish America had been a better place for you and your mother.  We let you down.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Thanks Khan.

Life ain't been no crystal stair, as the poem says but we still hope, we still strive (or least attempt), you know?

[I Am A Swede]

It's general election time here today, and all signs point towards a parliamentary nightmare. The Sweden Democrats, a xenophobic party with their roots in neo-nazism, looks set to become the second largest party. But since no other party wants to deal with them (thankfully), it will be difficult to form a functioning government.

[DRW50]

 

Somebody I know in Sweden was very upset about this op-ed. The NYT is being the NYT, as usual.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/opinion/how-the-far-right-conquered-sweden.html

 

It sounds like the far right party made gains, but that the main two blocs are still in power, if they can form a coalition.

[I Am A Swede]

Yes, the far right made some gains, but nowhere near as much as I feared, and the Social Democrats did much better than predicted. But we're still left with major problems when it comes to forming a strong government. No side, neither left nor right, have enough seats in parliament to be able to govern. Even a coalition will struggle. Right now the left has 144 seats and the right 143 with the Sweden Democrats having 62 seats. We're in for some serious bargaining between the opposing sides to see if they can come to an agreement.

All the remaining parties have however reiterated their determination to keep the Sweden Democrats away from any position of power. We'll see if they can live up to that promise.

[DramatistDreamer]

I forgot to mention @I Am A Swede that I read an article last week about Swedish elections so I was paying to the results of your elections.

[JaneAusten]

Obviously I don't completely understand the parliamentary system but it would be a great thing if these two polar opposites politically could come together and actually work collectively and help solve some of the problems that have contributed to the rise of Neo-Nazism.  Maybe it's immigration partially I don't know, but if so, address the problems that contributed to it and solve them. Collectively solving common problems through compromise could show the rest of Western Europe a path to deal with the divides versus everyone going to their corners and digging in. 

 

I wish you luck and hope you guys might be able to help show the rest of us the way.