This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.

Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Yeah I suppose the fact that he's just increasing the power of the executive instead of actively trying to extend his own power after his term does sink a hole in this theoretical boat.
I have seen several debates regarding "increasing the power of the executive". The main dispute seems to be if president uses preexisting power due to circumstances or if he is usurping more unique powers outside of legal context. For instance president can achieve to increase budget for his executive and in practical sense he has more power, because he has more money under his control. On the other hand he did not create any unique legal power - he just utilized what he had before.
I heard similar argument regarding using National Guard even against wish of local governor. Of course it is not used often - e.g. when Eisenhower federalized local National Guard to force integration of segregated schools in 1957. If Trump used the same move that was not used for decades - is he increasing his power as it was quite rarely used, or is he just exercising power that was always available to him so there is no power increase going on?
More options
Context Copy link
But is he? Again some of your evidence for “increasing the power of the executive” is not passing a budget. That hasn’t happened in this century. If so, why do we think Trump is increasing the executive power?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link