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What happened to the U.S.A.?

rjay said:
I am 70yrs old.
I am Canadian. As such I have a bit of insight into internal political squabbles that have happened over the years.
weak internationally
Something new happened tpday. The current President called out another President in an international forum.

Wow, has America ever looked so weak internationally?

We need a new country to look to, for leadership. The U.S.A. is so internally focused, they are
a mess.
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There is lots of competition for leadership. There is China, Iran, Russia, and others that would be happy to head a one world government. Many simply assume Obama or some other benevolent American would win the seat, but you never can tell.
 
ecofarm said:
"America First"

What did you expect from nationalism? It's a myopic, small-minded ideology.
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Exactly. This "America First" stuff has got to go. We need to start putting America Last. Amirite?

Maybe The Democrat Party should use that for a campaign slogan.

America Last!​
If you don't give a crap about Americans, vote Democrat Party.​
:donkeyfla​
 
rjay said:
I was speaking of international leadership. The U.S. has always been a big part of that. These days that leadership is coming out of Paris and Berlin not Washington and London.
The U.S. seems unable to take her eyes off of her own belly button. Britain is preoccupied trying to maneuver the brexit waters
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I thought you were talking about in relation to Canada specifically given that this is the Canadian political subforum.
 
Surrealistik said:
I thought you were talking about in relation to Canada specifically given that this is the Canadian political subforum.
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Nope. Just a Canadian viewpoint on international politics.
 
countryboy said:
Exactly. This "America First" stuff has got to go. We need to start putting America Last. Amirite?

Maybe The Democrat Party should use that for a campaign slogan.

America Last!​
If you don't give a crap about Americans, vote Democrat Party.​
:donkeyfla​
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This is a response I'd expect from a 5 year old.
 
countryboy said:
Exactly. This "America First" stuff has got to go. We need to start putting America Last. Amirite?

Maybe The Democrat Party should use that for a campaign slogan.

America Last!​
If you don't give a crap about Americans, vote Democrat Party.​
:donkeyfla​
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So should Canada follow a Canada First trade policy and try to screw over other countries on trade issues? If every country has a "first" policy, wouldn't that just lead to bunch of bickering and trade wars?
 
Chomsky said:
What we're seeing is the wholesale sellout of America to greed and power.
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Now that Obama is out of office, the selling out of America will come to an end.
 
rjay said:
I was speaking of international leadership. The U.S. has always been a big part of that. These days that leadership is coming out of Paris and Berlin not Washington and London.
The U.S. seems unable to take her eyes off of her own belly button. Britain is preoccupied trying to maneuver the brexit waters
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France and Germany are taking such a leadership role fighting ISIS.
 
Yes_Minister said:
So should Canada follow a Canada First trade policy and try to screw over other countries on trade issues? If every country has a "first" policy, wouldn't that just lead to bunch of bickering and trade wars?
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America first doesn't mean we have to screw anyone. :roll:

Who the hell complains about putting America first? :doh
 
countryboy said:
America first doesn't mean we have to screw anyone. :roll:

Who the hell complains about putting America first? :doh
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I live in Canada, why should I support "America First"? Why should Canadians not think this is Trump trying to screw them over and wanting to promote a unfair trade deal where the US gets complete access to the Canadian market and Trump can impose tariffs on Canada at a whim?

I am technically half American, because my mother was born in the US, but I have not gone through the official process of claiming American citizenship, so I think I am well within my rights to complain about this policy, I have several family members in the US. This is the Canada section, so Canadians commenting on this is more then fair and thus have the right "why should Canadians support America First" and if every country does have a "first" policy, would that cause trade wars?

I also wonder if "America First" is a slogan rather then rather then a concrete policy.
 
rjay said:
Wow, has America ever looked so weak internationally?
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Sure. I'd say between Nixon's resignation, and the end of the Iranian hostage crisis.


We need a new country to look to, for leadership. The U.S.A. is so internally focused, they are
a mess.
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You say that like it's a new thing. :mrgreen:

The US has always had an isolationist streak, which occasionally comes out to play.

The difference today is that a) the US is more partisan than in recent memory, and b) we (not me, but other people) elected a ****ing selfish egotistical autocratic corrupt moron as our President. So it goes.
 
Yes_Minister said:
I also wonder if "America First" is a slogan rather then rather then a concrete policy.
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Uh, that would be "yes."

Trump doesn't have any actual policies, just talking points. He then presumes someone else will actually do something about his vague injunctions.
 
Yes_Minister said:
I live in Canada, why should I support "America first"?
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Ooo, soory aboot that. I figured the average person would understand what I meant.

Let me rephrase that. Why would anyone complain about placing their own country first? ;)
 
Visbek said:
Uh, that would be "yes."

Trump doesn't have any actual policies, just talking points. He then presumes someone else will actually do something about his vague injunctions.
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Yeah, even if I did live in the US as a citizen, I wouldn't support "America First" because its a slogan, I don't care about slogans, I care about policies.

America First can mean whatever Trump wants it to that day, does he want to screw over other countries like Canada, Mexico and Germany on trade deals or not? Hard to tell if he focuses more on slogans and less policies.
 
countryboy said:
Ooo, soory aboot that. I figured the average person would understand what I meant.

Let me rephrase that. Why would anyone complain about placing their own country first? ;)
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Because countries can benefit sometimes by working together, rather being competitive in all things. Trump seems to boil all international relations to a zero sum game and that is not good policy.

Also Canada is different country then the US, its smaller population and GDP then the US, so Canada does have rely on relations with other countries to say further economic prosperity within Canada.

Canada's founding being a combination of French and English cultures, means it has less of cohesive identity then the US does, Canada is born out of compromise, so Canada is more willing to compromise then other countries. I don't think a "first" policy works well for Canada and I do wonder if every country did have a "first" policy, if the world would descend into trade wars and bickering.
 
Yes_Minister said:
Because countries can benefit sometimes by working together, rather being competitive in all things. Trump seems to boil all international relations to a zero sum game and that is not good policy.

Also Canada is different country then the US, its smaller population and GDP then the US, so Canada does have rely on relations with other countries to say further economic prosperity within Canada.

Canada's founding being a combination of French and English cultures, means it has less of cohesive identity then the US does, Canada is born out of compromise, so Canada is more willing to compromise then other countries. I don't think a "first" policy works well for Canada and I do wonder if every country did have a "first" policy, if the world would descend into trade wars and bickering.
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This is less about a "first" policy, and more about hating Trump. :roll:
 
Phys251 said:
That's the irony: Trump has proven to be a remarkably poor influence in terms of actually passing legislation. Yes, Obamacare may finally get repealed after about the 20th try, but let's be honest: If Mike Pence had been sworn in on January 20th, Obamacare probably would have been long gone by now.
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And The best part? The GOP's inability to pass their repeal of the Affordable care act directly affects their ability to pass tax reform and their draconian budget. There are only 30 or so remaining days left on the official congress schedule to get things done.
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
And The best part? The GOP's inability to pass their repeal of the Affordable care act directly affects their ability to pass tax reform and their draconian budget. There are only 30 or so remaining days left on the official congress schedule to get things done.
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This is the first time I have realized that our representatives have such a cush gig! Every time you turn around they are on a break! There is almost six months left in the year and they are required to work on 30 or so days? On a similar note, I cannot remember when a Senate vote added up to the number 100?
 
Rexedgar said:
This is the first time I have realized that our representatives have such a cush gig! Every time you turn around they are on a break! There is almost six months left in the year and they are required to work on 30 or so days?
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Uhm... I'm pretty sure they're back next week.

They are in session about 133 days per year. However, they have lots of other work to do when the Senate is not in session. They raise funds, they talk to constituents, they talk to lobbyists, they review legislation, they draft legislation, they travel, they go over testimony, and so forth.


On a similar note, I cannot remember when a Senate vote added up to the number 100?
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It's pretty routine for every member of the Senate to vote.

Sometimes you'll get someone who abstains or otherwise doesn't vote, but it's almost always 95 or more Senators voting.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes#chamber[]=1
 
Phys251 said:
And it takes very little cognitive effort to support. Globalism, by contrast, means understanding different nations, cultures, ways of life, and how they fit together.
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Globalism is about taking what someone decides to give you. **** that, people should decide their own destinies, their own culture, and their own laws.
 
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coldjoint said:
Globalism is about taking what someone decides to give you. **** that, people should decide their own destinies, their own culture, and their own laws.
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We only have one planet. Like it or not we have got to figure out how to get along on it. And we haven't been doing too good of a job of that.
 
Phys251 said:
We only have one planet. Like it or not we have got to figure out how to get along on it. And we haven't been doing too good of a job of that.
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Like it or not, globalism and multiculture is not the answer. Cooperation and compromise is. I see the US bending over backwards to do that, usually at our expense.
 
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