Are Americans a Broken People?

[don]

Re: Are Americans a Broken People?

"a corn pone Hitler".

Maybe the last 8 years was a dress rehearsal. We had the inbred banjo player on the front porch. The one they trained to call himself, The Decider

[Mn_Mark]

Re: Are Americans a Broken People?

From Alternet:

...
Remember the 2000 U.S. presidential election? That's the one in which Al Gore received 500,000 more votes than George W. Bush. That's also the one that the Florida Supreme Court's order for a recount of the disputed Florida vote was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in a politicized 5-4 decision, of which dissenting Justice John Paul Stevens remarked: "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law." Yet, even this provoked few demonstrators.
...

What a bunch of left wing nonsense. Using the 2000 election as some kind of indicator of corruption? Gore received more POPULAR votes, but it's the ELECTORAL votes that matter. We don't really have to revisit all that again do we?

This country needs to split up. The left wing is never going to stop trying to destroy what makes America unique and turn it into another Belgium, and the right wing is never going to give up trying to hold on to those precious principles and cultural capital. Just divide it up and let the lefties go collectivize themselves into oblivion without taking the rest of us down with them.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Are Americans a Broken People?

This country needs to split up. The left wing is never going to stop trying to destroy what makes America unique and turn it into another Belgium, and the right wing is never going to give up trying to hold on to those precious principles and cultural capital. Just divide it up and let the lefties go collectivize themselves into oblivion without taking the rest of us down with them.

I was finding myself almost agreeing with this, but from the other side of the isle. "I'll take Belgium over Palin any day," I thought.

But then I realized something. This country is more polarized than any time since reconstruction. Congress proves that.

Looking around, I found this chart showing GINI index vs. Polarization in the House of Representatives. I only wish it went back to the late 1800s.



If anything, I think that the spike in income inequality and political polarization certainly rhymes with the title of this thread.

I know that some of this is political - and much of it has to do with open labor markets in Asia - but the spike in inequality/stress etc. must come from the complexity of work. When we have greater computational power, the only place left for people to work in is the area of essentially contested concepts - which is always a highly politicized area - always complex - and always requires multiple and fast decisions with imperfect information.

Some people were not wired for this.

With manufacturing gone and simple admin jobs taken care of by MS and Ricoh et.all what work is left that is not complex?

[MulaMan]

Re: Are Americans a Broken People?

I called it retard syndrome. There are even many posters on iTulip that constantly spew Fox News, CNBC anti-American propaganda crap and I think they are so brainwashed that they actually believe this stuff.

For example, health insurance is about to turn into an abortion debate - please abort me now. What a bunch of retards!

[don]

Re: Are Americans a Broken People?

I was finding myself almost agreeing with this, but from the other side of the isle. "I'll take Belgium over Palin any day," I thought.

But then I realized something. This country is more polarized than any time since reconstruction. Congress proves that.

Looking around, I found this chart showing GINI index vs. Polarization in the House of Representatives. I only wish it went back to the late 1800s.



If anything, I think that the spike in income inequality and political polarization certainly rhymes with the title of this thread.

I know that some of this is political - and much of it has to do with open labor markets in Asia - but the spike in inequality/stress etc. must come from the complexity of work. When we have greater computational power, the only place left for people to work in is the area of essentially contested concepts - which is always a highly politicized area - always complex - and always requires multiple and fast decisions with imperfect information.

Some people were not wired for this.

With manufacturing gone and simple admin jobs taken care of by MS and Ricoh et.all what work is left that is not complex?

Polarized? Unless you're referring to an obsolete camera phenomenon, all the evidence is the 'two' parties are firmly united as handmaidens of the financial oligarchy. Could you define polarization as used in your chart.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Are Americans a Broken People?

Polarized? Unless you're referring to an obsolete camera phenomenon, all the evidence is the 'two' parties are firmly united as handmaidens of the financial oligarchy. Could you define polarization as used in your chart.

1. The USA today definition

2. A more sophisticated explanation

3. My short version: Bipartisanship is as dead as it was after the civil war. I am measuring simply voting records. More esoteric discussions of whether Goldman bought Washington were beyond the scope of my analysis.