Who will win the USA election?

A._Badger

smamst wrote: »

Do they actually have free elections in America?

I mean really free.

What do you mean by 'really free'? Would you like to suggest somewhere that meets your criteria?

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

A friend of mine is a life long Democrat. However she is also a member of the Republican Party because it gives her the right to vote for a more moderate candidate in the primaries. I'm sure she's not alone in that.

an interesting hedging tactic - but wouldn't that actually make the republicans more likely to win, as if they choose a ridiculous right wing lunatic then more swing voters will vote democrat?

noodle_doodle

Elections in a two-party state are won by winning over the waverers in the centre. The more mittens lurches to the right (and picking that nutjob ryan as his VP was one such instance) the more of those voters he gives to obama.

A._Badger

vivatifosi wrote: »

A friend of mine is a life long Democrat. However she is also a member of the Republican Party because it gives her the right to vote for a more moderate candidate in the primaries. I'm sure she's not alone in that.

I'm sure she isn't.

One of the traps that lies in wait of British pundits commenting on the US is that although things may sound the same, they don't necessarily mean the same. It's the political version of the sidewalk/pavement confusion.

Party affiliation is just one of them.

Of course, the converse is true, too. But it's worth considering that however poorly informed American commenters can sound when they pontificate about the UK - we can appear every bit as banal, when the positions are reversed.

A._Badger

noodle_doodle wrote: »

Elections in a two-party state are won by winning over the waverers in the centre. The more mittens lurches to the right (and picking that nutjob ryan as his VP was one such instance) the more of those voters he gives to obama.

Ah, yes, the hallowed 'lurch to the centre' - the results of which have worked so stunningly well for this country's present administration and which have been such a roaring success across Europe.

FTBFun

Generali wrote: »

7:4 Obama.

I don't understand why so many Republicans seem to think that the Government is incompetent to run business but competent to run peoples' sex and social lives. Libertarianism is about gays being free to marry as well as businesses being free to create wealth.

We could do with a half-decent libertarian party in the UK, ever since the Lib Dems lurched to the left.

Generali

FTBFun wrote: »

We could do with a half-decent libertarian party in the UK, ever since the Lib Dems lurched to the left.

Wasn't the lurch in 1911 with the passing of the National Insurance Act? It feels like that. I can't recall the Lib Dems, the Liberals or the Alliance being even remotely Libertarian.

The Australian Libertarian party is called the Australian Sex Party. That tells you all you need to know about Australian political discourse.

A._Badger

Generali wrote: »

Wasn't the lurch in 1911 with the passing of the National Insurance Act? It feels like that. I can't recall the Lib Dems, the Liberals or the Alliance being even remotely Libertarian.

The Australian Libertarian party is called the Australian Sex Party. That tells you all you need to know about Australian political discourse.

It's tragic that instead of giving a proper airing to the Austrian school of economics, 'Libertarian' has become shorthand for 'licentious'.

FTBFun

Generali wrote: »

Wasn't the lurch in 1911 with the passing of the National Insurance Act?

Indeed - I remember it well.

There is a party called "The Liberal Party" but they're pretty small fry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_(UK,_1989)

Generali

FTBFun wrote: »

Indeed - I remember it well.

There is a party called "The Liberal Party" but they're pretty small fry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_(UK,_1989)

The Liberal Party is a United Kingdom political party, formed in 1989 by a group of individuals within the original Liberal Party. It is not connected to the coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and is opposed to what the party considers excessive cuts imposed by the coalition.

Hmm, a 'Libertarian' party that wants the Government to spend more than half of GDP, or at least that's what the Wiki page implies.

I'm not surprised they're small fry: why vote for a Libertarian party that wants to control everything?