The big problem is decades of attacks on education.

A lot of Americans have been voting to attack education, too.

I consider myself a staunch democrat (notice the lower case “d,” I am not a liberal), in that I am a strong advocate for democracy. But, maybe I, and others, need to rethink our positions on democracy. It doesn’t seem like a very good idea to have people who are generally ignorant of climate science, or science in general, deciding what US climate policy should be. We shouldn’t put questions like, “is climate change real,” to a vote. We have the scientific method for determining that, and It works so much better than popular opinion.

My defense of democracy generally comes down to: “yes, there are some ignorant people out there, but most people are well enough informed and reasonable enough.” Maybe that’s not always true.

But Russia and China are both capitalist countries.

They’re certainly not ideologically liberal, even if they have embraced some liberal economic principles, albeit under significant state control and direction.

Of course, I should have said the Western liberals are defending their position atop the global hegemonic order, and the MLs are trying to unseat them.

I was just trying to think of models that are eligible for the maximum $7,500 tax credit, and that are relatively affordable. There are lots of great EVs out there from several different manufacturers.

Edit: I will mention, though, the Equinox EV looks like it’s a pretty good car, for the price. Car and Driver rated it 8.5/10.

…Tesla - by far the nation’s biggest EV maker - have told a Trump-transition committee they support ending the subsidy…Elon Musk, one of Trump’s biggest backers and the world’s richest person, said in July that killing the subsidy might slightly hurt Tesla sales but would be “devastating” to its U.S. EV competitors, which include legacy automakers such as General Motors.

Jesus. So much for the idea that Tesla is working to accelerate the transition from ICE vehicles to EVs.

I will never buy a fucking Tesla. Ever. I would buy a Chevrolet Equinox EV, and I encourage anyone who is in the market for a new vehicle to buy one before the tax credit goes away.

Edit: I would also get the Honda Prologue. It’s also eligible for the $7,500 tax credit. So is the Volkswagen ID.4.

Marxist-Leninists support Soviet and Chinese imperialism for the same reason liberals support Western imperialism: they’re both ideologues who want their people and ideals at the top of the global hegemonic order. They’re in a war for global ideological (and possibly ethnic) supremacy, with the winner getting to rule the world.

Maybe you’re right. Maybe group autonomy and independence must be sacrificed for economic and material stability. Maybe strong, centralized technocratic states are better for the broad base of people than allowing each group to have their own autonomy and self governance. If that’s true, then I guess the US needs to become more like China. How do we go about doing that?

Well, I’m not a bolshevik, or Marxist-Leninist/Maoist, whatever, so that’s not what I want. I realize that MLs don’t really give a shit what people want, though. Still, I think the US getting taken over by MLs is pretty unlikely.

Isn’t more division inevitable, though? I know a lot of people want to believe that Americans are more unified than not, and that we only disagree on some details, but agree on the core principles, but is that actually true? I think most Americans generally believe in broadly liberal ideals, like individual rights and freedoms, but disagree pretty strongly on which rights and freedoms should be prioritized (or recognized/enforced at all), and for whom. And that makes a pretty big difference. Those differences are more fundamental than a lot of people would like to acknowledge. Plus, there are, I think, a not insignificant number of Americans who aren’t guided by liberal principles at all. I’m one of those people, and, look, I understand that people like me are a small minority, but we exist. And I’m kind of sick of not having any representation at all.

The Soviet Union failed, though.

What is the solution?

People have been doing this?

I have this fantasy that I and everyone in the US who shares my ideology could all move to the same state, take over the state legislature and just build our own semi autonomous micro nation. But then I realize that 12 people moving to the same state probably isn’t going to make any difference.

You’re so close to getting it.

Americans have got to be the dumbest bunch out there.

Of the countries that score above a 0.9 on the human development index, the US is definitely among the stupidest, if not the stupidest. But, that’s kind of misleading. The US shouldn’t be compared to places like Switzerland or Norway, nations that have populations of less than 10 million. The US is more comparable to the EU as a whole. We should be seen as a union of nations rather than a single nation, and like the EU we have some states that are much more developed than others.

So, we’re not one “bunch” of people, anymore than Europe is one “bunch” of people.

Studies suggest political divisions are increasingly seen as moral judgments, fostering a “mega-identity” where political views signify personal decency.

I think this is important information that doesn’t get enough attention. The divisions that exist in the US today are often portrayed in the media as mostly superficial, as though we only disagree on the minor details of public policy choices, but generally agree on the core principles. I don’t think that’s true. I think there are significant ideological, philosophical, and moral disagreements among Americans. We have fundamentally different ideals, and we have differing visions of how America should be, and for how people should act and behave.

There are not only two different visions. I don’t think it is a strict dichotomy. I think there are several different, visions for the US. Some left, some right; some that want to focus on religious, social, cultural, or ethnic issues, some that want to focus on economic or material issues. There are multiple different ideals competing for supremacy, since the US is a de facto two party system, the winners are which ever groups can form the largest coalition of voters.

53% of white women just voted for Trump.

Well, I’m not distinguishing between myself and the liberals based on skin color, but ideology. Liberalism is not an ideology that is exclusive to people with light skin. There are plenty of liberals who have darker skin. There are also many people who are left of liberals who have lighter skin, myself included.

They should be handled as a problem.

I don’t understand. Handled how?

I do think a lot of liberals are spending far too much time trying to score cheap political points…That criticism actually extends to one of Ocasio-Cortez’s top allies in the Senate — Bernie Sanders — as well.

America is silly. Because of our first-past-the-post electoral system, we are a de facto two party state. As a result, Americans have come to believe that there are only two political or ideological possibilities: liberalism and conservativism. Therefore, everyone is either a liberal or a conservative, and everyone who isn’t a conservative must necessarily be a liberal, and vice versa.

I am not a conservative, but I am also not a liberal. I don’t agree with either ideology. Yes, generally, I might agree more with the liberals than the conservatives, but that doesn’t make me a liberal. It doesn’t even necessarily make me a liberal ally. Stop calling us liberals. We are not liberals, stop trying to make us part of your group. Stop with the, “hey, we’re all liberals, guys,” no, we’re not.

Bernie Sanders is not a liberal. If he were a liberal, he would be a part of the liberal, Democrat party. He is not, he’s an independent. He often joins with the liberals, because, again, the liberals are nearer to him than the only other party, the conservative Republicans, but he nonetheless remains an independent. Stop calling us liberals.