site banner
Goodguy  2d ago (text post)   Edited 1d ago   8814 thread views

Midterms Megathread

Cause otherwise midterms discussion will be scattered around a bunch of separate Culture War thread posts. And it's nice to have more off-the-cuff rapid reactions in a dedicated megathread.

The first thing I've noticed so far: if the exit polls are correct, Americans are very pessimistic about AI.

13
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Is America doomed to fail, and is it near-term? I want to find a solution to this because the answer should be no, but that's not where we are headed. We must conclude that the people who disagree with us, those who voted opposite to our desires yesterday, are who they are, as a product of their environment. Their rearing, their education, their associations, and if what has been inculcated in them has been biased in the opposite of my/our own values their whole life, and if now they are part of the third and perhaps fourth generation holding the same biases down from their forefathers, never having heard anything but that bias, than we understand the unsolvable conflict ripping this country apart today.

How can we reinform those in our society who are tearing down that society? Eighty years of forced contrition? And how do we overcome the captured institutions and the corrupt politicians and unelected bureaucrats to put resolute legislation into effect? Such does not seem workable. Do we let the society crumble until violent revolution is the only alternative left beside our own contrition?

I simply posit the following: The Founders of this country formed the government of The United States and the Constitution protecting it from the best western traditions of representative government from Greece on down. They did so to guarantee that we are a constitutional republic and that we would remain that way. Therefore, no tinkering with the specificities of language or colloquial interpretations thereof, can allow for a change in that intent. I.e. The U.S. Constitution innately protects its own survival. It guarantees the right to personal property, separation of powers, the freedom of religion, the rule of law. It does not allow the substitution or adoption of any other ideology - communism, socialism, etc., to supplant it.

The Oath Clause (Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution) states: "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; ..."

Attorney Generals in all 50 states whether corrupt or not, must be made to enforce this law. This law removes the likes of Bernie Sanders, AOC, Ilhan Omar, El Sayed and any others of their ilk from office and should have prevented all DSA candidates from even running. Enforcing this law is the only way we can preserve this country as intended. Enforcing it, may make you mad at me - make you hate my guts - but it does not force you to change your opinions.

I see once more we have thought of the novel idea, "What if we could make it so our enemies don't get to vote?"

I'm sorry to inform you that if the American people want to vote for communism or Shariah law or the Hunger Games, the Constitution does not in fact prevent that.

I think the clause speaks for itself, but if unclear, my appeal is to the logic that the Founder's intent should prevail and be respected. If someone is against personal property, the separation of powers, the rule of law, and frankly against Christianity, they are unable to honestly swear to defend the Constitution.

I don't advocate for banning anyone's religion or opinions. But certain positions just disqualify some from holding or seeking office under the Constitution.

I think the clause speaks for itself, but if unclear, my appeal is to the logic that the Founder's intent should prevail and be respected.

That logic is not in the Constitution. You may believe we should "respect the Founder's intent" (and that only Christians should be allowed to hold office) but that's not what they wrote.

the oath clause is pretty much pointless decoration, yeah?

Well, no, you are required to uphold and defend the Constitution, and if someone literally said "I don't believe in the Constitution and I want to destroy the Republic," there'd be a good case to deny that person office. But whatever you might suspect about certain elected officials, merely holding political or religious views contrary to what the Founders would have approved of doesn't mean someone isn't capable of following the Constitution.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats