Lies and Hollywood myths, too right.
Have you heard the first episode of Jon Robinson’s Things Fell Apart?
The extraordinary story of how the abortion issue was taken up by evangelicals, when it had previously not been an issue at all, after a kid made an ‘art-film’ for his preacher dad in the hope that it would act as a showreel to get him into Hollywood.
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I don’t know. The problem is that people see politics like they’re sports teams. They’re either blue or red and there is no room for any civil discourse.
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Just watched this
Panorama, Trump: A Second Chance?: Panorama - Trump: A Second Chance? - BBC iPlayer via @bbciplayer
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What a poes.
He is absolutely off his tits on something
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Thinking about the movie Civil War 
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That won’t happen but large scale protests for sure.
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I have noticed it’s become more splintered, for me it seemed to start in the Bush II years when post-2004 liberals took comfort in the fact that we make up the majority of the voting populace, taking increased umbrage at elections being decided by the electoral college which gives rural states an outsized influence. In our own state of Washington, the taxes paid by folks of the blue (liberal/democratic counties) heavily subsidise residents of the eastern part of the state, home to red (conservative/trumper) folks.
My wife & I live in a city (home to Cameron/Deep Concentration as well) that is a bubble in many ways - it’s full of the educated/techworker class and the politics are extremely leftwing compared with the rest of the country. If you were to wear a Trump hat here you would attract looks at best, assault at worst. The only bipartisan issue I can think of has been marijuana legalisation. The only displays of national symbols/anthem etc you really encounter is when you go to a sports match.
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deeeeep sighs. most of my life, i’ve been slightly more political than most, and have opinions, but i’ll try and keep this brief.
what are the bonds that hold america together right now? if you asked me, i’d say that there’s this abstraction of “freedom” to which both the left and the right try and claim the mantle to. the whole concept of “freedom” is so baked into the american psyche that to advise against it immediately makes you unamerican. at this point, “freedom” has become so intertwined with “capitalism” that every american has a distorted view of what freedom should look like.
as a lefty, the idea of freedom to me looks like a lot of things - if all ‘men’ are created equal, than the rules should apply equally to everyone here - bodily autonomy, an expectation of safety and stability, believe/love whatever/whomever you want, an ability to change stations in life, a low risk of harm when you initiate change, consideration in any larger discussion… you get what i mean.
but wait! there’s caveats! i think you should be able to own a gun, but not 100 guns, and not a gun that can shoot 100 bullets in six seconds. i believe you should be able to start a business or activity, but if that biz/activity hurts someone else, a governing body should slow that roll! i believe we got as far as we did by supporting a government who props up the roads and the shared land and steps in when horrible things happen! i believe that money should keep kids fed and roofs over people’s heads!
now, if you’re on the right - and there’s looooads of them - freedom looks pretty different to you. there’s a sense that might makes right - and freedom shouldn’t include any thumbs on the scale for anyone without the might. freedom means no obstacles to the ever-encroaching gun or religious culture. freedom means money above all - those who have exploited the systems to gain as much as they have, have “won” ultimo freedom. in a capitalist christian sort of view - it means something to the extent of “those who have, must be closer to god - for we have the freedom and couldn’t be stopped”.
but wait, there’s caveats! freedom means that nothing is guaranteed - you’re free to get a good education or health care (if you can afford it), you’re free to equal justice under the law (without examining why rich people get it and poor people don’t) and you’re free to say what you want (if you dare - those who don’t like it are armed) and worship who you want (but mob rules, and there’s more bland christians in this country than anything else, so don’t be mad when they try and move into the institutions and blur the church/state divide). oh - and for some reason, freedom means freedom for unconscious masses of fetal cells - you can’t tell people that owning a machine gun is a bad idea, but you can employ laws that interfere with medical procedures, but only for uterus-havers.
so there you go! freedom! we all love freedom, even if many other countries are objectively more free. freedom! we’ve all had it hammered into our heads that freedom means something, but depending on which side of the divide you’re on - your flavor of freedom tastes best. we’re territorial, but when people have empathy in their hearts, they can see this. even if they think the other side is wrong.
every time there’s an election i try and get out of town. i can’t stand the heat, can’t stand the noise, got no money to create generational influence, i guess i got no choice… but to come to the oregon coast where i chill and watch basketball and stare at the sky and avoid people and try and plan my next move. the coast is as close as i have to seeing the center - i’m stepping out of the seattle bubble, but not so deep into red country that i get black eyes while drinking in bars.
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You nailed it - there’s a reason Beyonce’s “Freedom” is playing at every Kamala rally and has become a theme song for her campaign. All Americans like to say they in “freedom” but rather than a rallying point it becomes the debate over “negative freedom” (liberty from coercion & external constraints on behaviour) or “positive freedom” (the liberty to act on one’s own free will) as formulated by Isaiah Berlin. Traditionally the right /GOP espoused the former as Cameron notes above regarding gun rights and the left espoused the latter. Now it’s been switched and muddied with culture war issues (negative freedom for liberals means abortion rights, gun rights for the conservatives). So I suppose you could say Americans say they are devoted to freedom in principle but in practice it means many different things. For me this election is especially painful and I don’t even want to really think about it. Pouring a glass and marking my ballot tonight…
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Dropped my ballot off last week. And yes, that pit in my stomach is back already, the one I forgot about for the last four years.
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Freedom is a selfish pursuit for republicans and a community pursuit for democrats.
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For some peculiar reason I came to the US in 1973 from what was still the UK. I have consistently refused to become a citizen firstly, because in my old-fashioned radical view, if voting worked in would be illegal. Secondly, when you get down to it the choice between Repugnicans and Demohips is not much of a choice. Both are straight-ahead capitalists and while I much prefer the Democratic side, I generally can’t see that they’re worth voting for. Over the years, it’s become obvious that environmental issues are the crucial ones and what we’re offered is a sticking plaster (Bandaid to the Americans) when what’s needed is a tourniquet - or perhaps amputation - to the economy. Which ain’t gonna win many votes among any well-trained consumers. And would be generally impractical given all circumstances at this time. Thirdly, I have consistently lived in “blue” areas so any vote I could cast would not amount to much of any significance beyond making me feel part of the crowd.
Having said all that, I think Trump is an absolute disaster waiting to happen for any number of reasons. Let me rephrase. He has already been an absolute disaster and continues to destroy the parts of America that aren’t actually too bad. It is astounding that this race is even close, let alone that he may yet win. What is the problem with those who are not entirely revulsed by him? Well, I read a ton of explanations for the behaviour and motivations of his followers and none of it is pretty. My answer to all this is that America is a predominantly racist society with no real knowledge of its history. The way Obama was treated by the Repugnants was blatantly racist - and it never really got called. Much of the opposition to Harris is purely because of her racial background. I mean many Americans simply don’t want a better life for themselves if it means that those, pick the racist and/or epithet of your choice here, would also get a leg-up. It’s cutting off your nose to spite your face, pure and simple. Freedom for me but not for you.
I remain cautiously optimistic that just enough Americans will come to their senses and deliver a convincing win for Harris. Where I live, Eugene, Oregon, there are loads of Harris signs - almost every house in my neighborhood. I’ve seen one Trump sign and it looks pretty pathetic. But drive out of town and it’s worrisome. Big and many Trump signs, although Harris has some.
The danger is obviously that Trump will ratchet up the “Stop The Steal” baloney unless there’s something of a landslide for Harris. My pessimistic assumption is that the landslide will not be clear enough and that we will have months of the same crap Trump and his cronies indulged after he lost the last time.
I have never seriously considered returning to what my brother calls the Former United Kingdom (FUK), but if Trump “thought” continues here I’ll be tempted.
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You got the right idea, Deep.
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Why ‘former United Kingdom’ out of interest ?
I’m no nationalist by a long long way but it wasn’t exactly great in the ‘70’s either… 3 day week/ National Front etc etc
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related to this thread, here’s something I wrote mostly about how the US impacted the UK consciousness for those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s
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Good read that.
Having lived over there- the America of my imagination, like you- growing up in the eighties-doesn’t quite correlate with the reality.
That said I too can easily still get lost in the grimy romance of 1970’s New York through Serpico etc etc- never loses its fascination
Not too different I imagine to an American living here, realising we don’t all speak like king Charles and live in castles.
Koch era New York from afar seems like the last days of the Roman Empire
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