People who voted for Trump knew their shot at the elites was fired through the guts of their neighbors

I don’t follow you here…

Do you want to be a millionaire?

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Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to NOT wanting to be rich.
Apparently you are insane or a liar if you just want to pay your bills and
enjoy the time you have with family and friends.

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No, I’m actually not a liar. Right now, I just want to pay my bills month-to-month, you?

When I get there, I can worry about the Joneses.

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Épater la bourgeoisie!

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Not if you look at the demographics. They are on the losing end of a demographic tsunami and their influence is quickly waning.

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Perhaps what this country needs — and I never thought I would say this — is a diminished federal government and more States’ Rights.

That way there would be the outer states with clean air, gun control, healthcare, civil liberties and voter rights; and an inner core of states which would be a Randian/Christian hell-hole.

Tell me that I’m wrong. Please. But I don’t see common-ground forming anytime soon.

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So, basically, what’s left of the USA in Richard K Morgan’s Thirteen?

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I think you just made my evening, my friend; though westworld has yet to air tonight, so we’ll have to see.

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I’m starting to think it might be good for the longterm if california took nearby states with it, leaving the rest of the country to wallow in it’s mistakes for a bit.

That way, US citizens have an example of what works to point to, as many times as they have to.

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That’s why Hillary Clinton hemorrhaged going on six million votes compared to Obama’s second go 'round (who the racist filth seemed to like so much better, go figure

Republicans stole millions of votes. It’s hard to even say what rhetorical factors lost votes when the loss of votes from voter suppression was so heavy. 300,000 in WI, 600,000 in Texas. Across 50 states, that could easily add up to 6 million (if 6 M is even current after more votes are counted).

I’m not saying everyone who voted for Trump is racist (thought they had to decide they’re chill with racism). But I don’t see how we can have this discussion without talking about people who weren’t allowed to vote.

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I don’t know the book. It sounds like Bladerunner.

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I’ve been saying for some time: everyone raved about how the cyberpunk genre was technologically prescient, everyone ignored the way in which it was politically prescient.

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Hey, maybe Shirow Masamune was right.

Granted this is supposed to be after nuclear WWIII and Non-nuclear WWIV.

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It’s very good, post-cyberpunk. Set a hundred or so years from now. One of the main protagonists is a Variant Thirteen–a genetic construct functional sociopathic “hyper-male”, who has been brought in to hunt one of his own kind, in a North America where there is a Republic States Of America, the Rim States, and the North Atlantic Economic Union. The conspiracy gets intricate and deep. Solid worldbuilding, interesting characters, if a bit heavy on the sex and violence (but, hey, Richard K. Morgan. It’s his style).

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Things get even stranger in America when you are wealthy and still mainly want to pay your bills and enjoy the time you have with friends and family. The good news is, with that kind of money if you want a modest lifestyle you’re not insane or a liar but “eccentric.”

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I’m definitely not cut out for the kind of politics that requires me to empathise with suckers and bigots, so …

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Not necessarily.

The Trumpeters are about 20% of America, overwhelmingly white, mostly of above average income.

They’re hugely outnumbered by the non-fascist electorate. But most of those folks either can’t or don’t vote.

Felon disenfranchisement and voter suppression creates the first group; the electoral college and widespread disgust at plutocratic corruption creates the second.

Moving the Dems right in an attempt to attract Trump voters would be just repeating the mistakes of Blair and Clinton Mk1.

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Cory uses the word neighbors, but outside of large cities, middle income whites don’t actually interact with minorities, so the sentiment in the title is largely misplaced.

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We all hurt, we’ve all been wronged by politicians who are concerned more with keeping their jobs than with doing their jobs. Part of how they keep their jobs is to pit us against each other, so they’ll tell the white males “that black woman is getting a better deal than you” because she gets food stamps and public housing.

Except she is also only allowed substandard education and employment, so food stamps and ghettos is all she has to fall back on.

I’m a white male. I don’t think I’ve ever been actually harmed by any minority being treated with respect. This isn’t a zero-sum game where a Hispanic getting a job means I don’t get a job (logically I can just as well be denied a job if some other white male is chosen over me.)

It makes perfect sense that white supremacists would love Donald Trump, not even because of anything racist he says, but because he has the same mindset of “I’m always being cheated by a rigged system”, when in fact he was never cheated at all (the media paid more attention to him than any other candidate.) White people still get preference in America, even if they think someone with dark skin getting equal respect means they are now getting less respect.

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