Current Events > Non-U.S. posters of CE, share with me the politics of your nation

(+) Yeah! (+)

Obviously I talk a lot about U.S. politics because this is a U.S.-based site so it's a main focal point of discussion, however as someone who tries to have a worldly view I love learning about perspectives and atmospheres from all around the world.

So, some basic questions I guess:

What is the current political environment in your country like?

Do you agree with the current state or the direction your nation is heading?

Are there any threats from parties/politicians that have you concerned?

Is there anything that's giving you hope for the future, such as possibly countering the aforementioned concerns?

These are just questions so you have an understanding of what I'm asking, feel free to share any and everything you'd like about what's currently going on in your nation.

The floor is yours.

Other Australian users here are probably better educated on that topic but a few days ago I decided to look into One Nations policies, since my Trumper uncle now supports them.

To summarize, they put a lot of focus on anti-immigration, and their abortion section (actually titled pro-life) is about six times longer than the others. You can probably guess why.

In short theyre our Republican Party. But luckily they have little chance of getting in. Instead our other Republican Party in our de facto two party system is the Liberal Coalition, opposite the Labor Party.

When Im at a proper computer Ill post snippets from their site.

New Zealand is currently run by Dollar Store Lex Luthor and his two lackeys Uncle Ruckus and Screech.

Kradek posted...

Obviously I talk a lot about U.S. politics because this is a U.S.-based site so it's the main subjects of discussion, however as someone who tries to have a worldly view I love learning about perspectives and atmospheres from all around the world.

So, some basic questions I guess:

What is the current political environment in your country like?

The UK? Depressing. We have had 15+ years of austerity politics and immigrant scapegoating, resulting in catastrophic self-harm in the form of Brexit. Throw in gross incompetency and corruption during the pandemic. (At least anti vax bullshit was restricted to a relatively small group of fringe nutters).

Many of those whose interests lie in maintaining a strong welfare state with worker protection are extremely socially conservative (not to say racist), and let their hatred of foreigners and 'fuck it all' nihilism dictate their vote.

Do you agree with the current state or the direction your nation is heading?

No one is offering any radical change in approach, so we mostly seem destined for more of the same.

Are there any threats from parties/politicians that have you concerned?

There are some very nasty extreme right wing Tories, with allies in business and think tanks like the IEA, who want to remove the welfare state, slash regulation and tax, and turn the UK into some version of Singapore.

Right now, that's more than most can stomach. Hence the downfall of their puppet, Liz Truss.

Is there anything that's giving you hope for the future, such as possibly countering the aforementioned concerns?

I guess the failure of Truss's agenda and the fact that the Tory Party appears to be despised for now.

Though I am sure that 4 years of Labour not fixing everything will change that.

Kradek posted...

Obviously I talk a lot about U.S. politics because this is a U.S.-based site so it's a main focal point of discussion, however as someone who tries to have a worldly view I love learning about perspectives and atmospheres from all around the world.

So, some basic questions I guess:

What is the current political environment in your country like?

Bad, extremely divided nation and the far right won the elections.

Do you agree with the current state or the direction your nation is heading?

No, the party I voted for endes up losing the single seat they had, racism is increasing, bigotry is increasing and people with hate in their hearts are acting on it more and more. We lost our position as a guidance country for LGBT rights, turns out the government itself willingly falsely accused mostly people with a migration background of benefits fraud which destroyed many lives, the left in general is losing a lot of ground and were loosening all kinds of rules in favor of economic gains.

Are there any threats from parties/politicians that have you concerned?

Yes, we have right wing parties literally calling for tribunals and those parties also seem okay with culling racial and sexual minorities.

Is there anything that's giving you hope for the future, such as possibly countering the aforementioned concerns?

Nope.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68572666.amp

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/bdccde56.jpg

Okay, as promised, here's a brief rundown of One Nation. Note that some of these things I can get behind in a vacuum, but I don't trust that this party would employ them in a way that does anything more than cater to racists.

Water

... they have privatised Australias water, with more than 20% sold to foreign investors, while withholding the records of those who trade in this precious commodity... ... ... We will also legislate the full disclosure of water ownership and ban the sale of water to foreign investors.

Employment

One Nation supports jobs for Australians first and foremost... ... ... One Nation will increase its national apprenticeship scheme whereby first-year apprentices receive a 75% wage subsidy, followed by 50% the second year, and finally 25% in their third year. The release of this program in 2019 was taken up within three weeks by regional businesses. The second rollout of the program was again swiftly welcomed.

Refugees

One Nation favours Australians first and foremost. We believe in reducing the refugee intake for five years in an effort to redirect critical funding to Australian services. The cost to Australian taxpayers to hold each asylum seeker or refugee on Nauru has escalated to $358,646 per month or $4.3 million a year. One Nation supports the withdrawal of Australia from the outdated United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.

Energy and Cost of Living

One Nation will apply a national plan that guarantees low-cost, reliable, dispatchable power by building new low-emission coal-fired power stations. We will restore Australias essential 90-day fuel security policy with on-shore oil reserves and the capacity to refine fuels for domestic supply. Australias abundant natural resources should be for the prosperity of our own citizens instead of our global competitors. One Nation supports the investigation of nuclear power in Australia. We strongly oppose the waste of multi-billion dollar government subsidy schemes offered to foreign-owned solar and wind projects.

World Organisations and Trade Agreements

The Australian Constitution must be upheld at all times and not undermined by United Nations forums and its 193 member states. One Nation does not support the World Economic Forums 'Great Reset'.
Free Trade Agreements that function against the best interest of Australians must also be scrapped. Import tariffs should be reimplemented on select countries to protect Australia's remaining industry and manufacturing while safeguarding homegrown jobs and wage levels.

Citizen Initiated Referenda

One Nation will push for the introduction of a Citizens Initiated Referenda, enabling Australian citizens to put forward legislation or a referendum question without waiting for politicians to listen and act.

Not gonna lie, I'm not quite sure what this actually means.

Climate (here we go)

One Nation believes Australia should withdraw from the United Nations Paris Agreement signed in 2016.
Australia has committed to the deepest and most savage carbon emission cuts in the world on a per person basis. This commitment is predicted to slow the Australian economy with enormous job losses. In our view, this economic suicide cannot be justified on the evidence put forward by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
It is just too easy to allow our memories, often unreliable, to accept the often repeated claims that it has never been hotter. Given the economic costs, we believe we need to listen to the evidence.
It is the evidence we should take regard of when making policy. The history of science is that its the evidence that counts.
We have confidence in evidence when the experiment can be repeated and the same results are achieved.
We have confidence in science when the evidence is consistent with the theory and that theory predicts events in the future.
Scientists predicted global warming would lead to extremes of weather, which would be more intense and more frequent, but despite media reports extreme weather events were more common prior to 1960 than at any time since.

There's more in that section but it pretty much boils down to climate change denial.

Pensioners

One Nation will advocate for a $100 a week rise under the Work Bonus scheme that would allow pensioners to earn up to $13,000 a year without reducing their pension (Work Bonus Scheme is currently $7,800 p.a.). We believe that you must have lived and worked in Australia for at least 15 years before accessing pension entitlements. One Nation opposes the increase to the age of entitlement to 70 years of age.

Okay, this sounds alright. Again, it sounds alright. But what's the catch?

Farming

More than 53 million hectares of prime agricultural land is held by foreign interests. This equates to 14% of Australias total 372 million hectares of agricultural land. One Nation will ban any further sale of freehold farmland to foreign investors and limit the sale of leasehold farmland to a tenure of 25 years. One Nation will also reimplement Foreign Investment Review Board applications on all Agricultural Land from expiring Free Trade Agreements. We strongly support the re-establishment of a Federal Government backed rural lending fund to safeguard Australian farmers throughout drought and other natural weather events.

Foreign Ownership

One Nation will pursue urgent reform to Australias foreign investment rules by legislating a clear definition of National Interest' based on national security, competition, tax, a character test, and any other impacts to Australia. Essential services including power, water, telecommunications, roadways, and ports would be off-limits to foreign investors. With a crucial shortage of housing stock in Australia, we must stop the sale of property to non-residents and non-citizens.

Education

Despite a $24.8 billion budget for state education services, Australia continues to rank lower than comparable high- and middle-income countries in achieving quality education outcomes. One Nation will restore critical thinking in the classroom and reinstate the cornerstone of education with reading, writing, arithmetic, and discipline. There should be no room for Western, white, gender, guilt shaming in any classroom and instead children should be taught the benefits of a merit-based, free-thinking society.

Immigration

Zero-net immigration throughout COVID illustrated how putting the brakes on migration reduced congestion on our roads and allowed Government services to focus on Australians. One Nation will extend its zero-net migration policy and focus on permitting only highly skilled migrants from culturally cohesive countries into Australia. Migrants must demonstrate a sound level of English for assimilation purposes. Education courses in Australian universities should not be used as a backdoor to immigrate to Australia.

Medical Cannabis

Whole plant medicinal cannabis continues to act as a natural, proven alternative for chronic pain relief and other serious health symptoms experienced by Australians. One Nation remains at the forefront of advocacy within the federal parliament and will continue our push to bring the cost of access down.

Stop the Rorts

Australia is by and large a very generous nation with government-paid safeguard services for the sick, unemployed, aged, and disabled. For services of this nature to continue, we must prevent them from being rorted.
One Nation will push for an identification photo to be displayed on Medicare cards to positively identify users and reduce the number of fraudulent claims made by non-Australian citizens.
We will stop the use of NDIS funding to pay for sex worker services. (A Federal Court ruling permits the use of taxpayers money for sex workers under the NDIS scheme.)
And One Nation will set the term of unemployment benefits to three years in any given five-year period to end long-term unemployment payments to those under the age of 50.

Firearms

One Nation supports responsible gun ownership and will preserve the current laws which allow law abiding citizens access to firearms, whether it be for work, farming or sports-related activities. We do not believe that further stringent measures or regulations are required regarding licensing. One Nation calls for stricter border security and tougher sentencing for gun crimes and traffickers.

And now for the Big Two.

Covid-19

One Nation opposes COVID-19 vaccine mandates on Australian citizens.
While we acknowledge that people have died from COVID, there is a noteworthy difference between 'died of, versus 'died with. It is critical that an honest and thorough examination of how Federal, State, and Territory governments managed the pandemic is implemented by the parliament.

Pro-Life (yes, it's not called Abortion, the section is outright named after which way they lean)

Pauline Hansons One Nation acknowledges the scientific fact that a human beings life begins in the womb.
We were horrified when State Governments passed legislation which legalised abortion up until birth for any reason. This law is one of the most extreme in the western world.
One Nation will seek every opportunity to roll back brutal and extreme abortion law so that both unborn babies and pregnant women will have a level of legal and medical protection once again.

To accomplish the above, they plan to-

Reduce the gestational limit for abortions - Current legislation in some states allows the abortion of an unborn child up until the day of birth.
Ban sex-selective abortion - Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of a child. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over females.
Implement counselling and other safeguards - Women who may be considering an abortion must be provided counselling and compassionate assistance.
Medical care for babies born alive during an abortion - Neonatal care must be provided to babies born alive during an abortion, as would be given to any other child born at the same stage of pregnancy and in the same medical condition.
Anaesthetised abortion - Current procedures across Australia only offer the mother anaesthetic when performing a surgical abortion.
Restore Doctors Rights - Reinstitute a doctors full right to a full conscientious objection to abortion.
Ban organ harvesting - Prevent the use of aborted baby organs.
Mandate data reporting - Current legislation fails to report abortion rates in some states.

So... whaddya think? There's some stuff in there I can get behind but their stances on abortion, climate change and Covid-19 are worrying, as expected.

Source: https://www.onenation.org.au/issues

It is just too easy to allow our memories, often unreliable, to accept the often repeated claims that it has never been hotter.

Dammit, they're right!

If only there was some method of comparison that didn't rely on memory.

ai123 posted...

Dammit, they're right!

If only there was some method of comparison that didn't rely on memory.

Their angle is obvious. They want to build more coal power and the only comment they make on renewable energy they tie to foreign-ownership. What about local ownership? And is there any guarantee they want to reduce foreign-ownership and nationalize it instead? Or do they just want it to be privately owned locally instead?

And what alarms me most is that part about unemployment benefits. They're going with the old boomer bullshit idea that long-term unemployment only exists because people choose to be. No mention of addressing discrimination, especially based on things like criminal record, and also no acknowledgement of the fact that a certain degree of unemployment exists by design and the government has stated they accept it.

I discussed this with a friend of mine who is far smarter than I will ever be, and we got talking about firearm ownership and how it's actually a left-wing ideal rather than right-wing.

What you're looking at here is the limited Overton Window of mainstream US politics, and very silly, deliberately inculcated framing that actually benefits "conservatives." Left-wing and right-wing have very specific meanings that go back centuries. Right-wing referred to the half of the French parliament that wanted to conserve power in the hands of the social elite. Left-wing politics are about distributing power, flattening hierarchies, extending political franchise to more of the population. The definition of right/left the average person operates under is extremely limited and has been deliberately engineered to make people flip those ideas around in their head. It's not a surprise that there are pro-gun people on the left, because that's what we want: typically we want people to be able to do shit, unless we can make a strong argument against it which usually boils down to "because it infringes on someone else's rights or freedom." For example, "regulations" aren't "big gubbermint imposing on the little guy", they're in place to prevent corporate entities and employers from poisoning water supplies, discriminating in their hiring practices, or abusing their workforce. Firearms? Many of us are fine with them for a number of reasons, without even bringing up "revolutions" and crap, but it makes sense to put some restrictions in place, don't it? Otherwise one person can do a hell of a lot of infringing.

I wish this guy posted here, to be honest.

sfcalimari posted...

New Zealand is currently run by Dollar Store Lex Luthor and his two lackeys Uncle Ruckus and Screech.

kiwi here, spot on lmao

Here, it is not advisable to discuss politics.

I only wish I could provide such a nuanced opinion about Canada at the moment as you guys have.

Our Prime Minister, however, absolutely fucked up and has had SEVERAL unforced errors and public embarrassments that go back years.

But the next most popular national option is Pierre Poillievre(sp?), a clear populist and I live right smack dab in the middle of Canada where people will love him the most.....blegh.

I'm in the UK.

Kradek posted...

What is the current political environment in your country like?

Increasingly right-wing, authoritarian, transphobic and Islamophobic. The Conservative Party, which is now in power (led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak), are going increasingly deranged and creeping slowly towards fascism (though at least they haven't charged headlong into it like the US Republicans).

The good news is that they're almost certain to lose the next election. The bad news is that the main opposition, the Labour Party, though nominally socialist and with many left-wing or centre-left members, is led by Keir Starmer, who lied his way into getting elected leader by pretending to be a leftist and then u-turned on absolutely all his pledges and became a right-wing authoritarian, while his henchmen (or puppeteers) in the party bureaucracy centralised power in the party among themselves to prevent the wider party from reversing their takeover.

Polling shows no enthusiasm for Starmer to be PM, but the Conservatives are now so loathed - thanks to the "Partygate" scandal of former PM Boris Johnson and others breaking their own covid lockdown laws to have drunken parties while ordinary people weren't allowed to attend their relatives' funerals, and then his successor Liz Truss tanking the economy with her idiotic policies and being forced to resign after just 47 days - that Labour has big poll leads anyway. But there's no prospect of them reversing any of the current government's worst laws and policies - either Starmer supported them in the first place or he made noises of opposition but now refuses to commit to reversing them. Unless he completely u-turns (which, to be fair, he has quite a record of doing), environmental regulations will remain watered down, the National Health Service and local government will remain underfunded, authoritarian laws restricting immigration and peaceful protest will remain, and discrimination against trans people will continue to increase.

Kradek posted...

Do you agree with the current state or the direction your nation is heading?

No. Nothing here to add beyond what I've said above, really.

Kradek posted...

Are there any threats from parties/politicians that have you concerned?

Yes, from both the main parties, though the Conservatives more so. The Conservatives are more and more aligned with the extreme right and Labour seem more intent on appeasing them than opposing them.

Kradek posted...

Is there anything that's giving you hope for the future, such as possibly countering the aforementioned concerns?

Maybe. The Conservatives' coming defeat isn't likely to be reversed any time soon - much of it is down to long-term social and economic factors, not just their recent disasters - and the old truism about people getting more right-wing as they get older appears not to be true anymore, so the Labour leadership may eventually find themselves forced by electoral pressure to actually adopt some of the left-wing policies that are needed to reverse our ongoing national decline. But at this stage that's highly speculative.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Other Australian users here are probably better educated on that topic but a few days ago I decided to look into One Nations policies, since my Trumper uncle now supports them.

To summarize, they put a lot of focus on anti-immigration, and their abortion section (actually titled pro-life) is about six times longer than the others. You can probably guess why.

In short theyre our Republican Party. But luckily they have little chance of getting in. Instead our other Republican Party in our de facto two party system is the Liberal Coalition, opposite the Labor Party.

When Im at a proper computer Ill post snippets from their site.

When did the party come around, was it due to Trump or is that just your Trumper uncle who has joined the party because of such?

And damn, having 2 Republican parties is rough.

sfcalimari posted...

New Zealand is currently run by Dollar Store Lex Luthor and his two lackeys Uncle Ruckus and Screech.

Damn, while I may not know the actual politicians, I understand those references. Is that normal for NZ politics or is your country also experiencing a recent surge in right-wing extremism?

ai123 posted...

The UK? Depressing. We have had 15+ years of austerity politics and immigrant scapegoating, resulting in catastrophic self-harm in the form of Brexit. Throw in gross incompetency and corruption during the pandemic. (At least anti vax bullshit was restricted to a relatively small group of fringe nutters).

Many of those whose interests lie in maintaining a strong welfare state with worker protection are extremely socially conservative (not to say racist), and let their hatred of foreigners and 'fuck it all' nihilism dictate their vote.

No one is offering any radical change in approach, so we mostly seem destined for more of the same.

There are some very nasty extreme right wing Tories, with allies in business and think tanks like the IEA, who want to remove the welfare state, slash regulation and tax, and turn the UK into some version of Singapore.

Right now, that's more than most can stomach. Hence the downfall of their puppet, Liz Truss.

I guess the failure of Truss's agenda and the fact that the Tory Party appears to be despised for now.

Though I am sure that 4 years of Labour not fixing everything will change that.

Damn, that sounds eerily similar in a lot of ways to what is happening here in the U.S. and I feel ya on a ton of that. Especially the part where people who should have an interest in a strong welfare state and worker protections are instead prioritizing their hatred of immigrants. I remember when Brexit was happening and being discussed on 261. Crazy seeing the contrast of British posters both for and against it.

Hopefully Labour is able to accomplish more than you expect of them and instill faith back into the people. Weren't the main ruling party for a good chunk of time or am I misremembering?

I also remember Truss, her departure was hilarious because of the lettuce which lasted longer than she did. I'm glad your country was able to make a good joke about the joke of the person she is. In contrast my own country has the joke as the candidate for a party who polling is showing being neck-in-neck, though I don't put much stock into polling as actual election results are all that matter and the recent trends have been overly favorable to Dems.

I was reading some BBC articles on Sunak shortly after he came into power, sounds like an overly wealthy douchebag who cares about nothing except serving the interest of himself and others like him.

jblrulez posted...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68572666.amp

Damn, are shenanigans like that between parties common in Japan or did you share that because it is exceptionally off the wall? Was it to make them uncomfortable or a form of protest?

Zwijn posted...

Bad, extremely divided nation and the far right won the elections.

No, the party I voted for endes up losing the single seat they had, racism is increasing, bigotry is increasing and people with hate in their hearts are acting on it more and more. We lost our position as a guidance country for LGBT rights, turns out the government itself willingly falsely accused mostly people with a migration background of benefits fraud which destroyed many lives, the left in general is losing a lot of ground and were loosening all kinds of rules in favor of economic gains.

Yes, we have right wing parties literally calling for tribunals and those parties also seem okay with culling racial and sexual minorities.

Nope.

Damn, that's a lot of heinous stuff. Sad to see that your nation has gone the way of others who have also recently voted into right-wing extremists, though your case sounds particularly bad as that second paragraph shares some similarities with Weimar Germany turning over power to the Nazis.

Glob posted...

Here, it is not advisable to discuss politics.

Could you elaborate? Iirc you live in Vietnam, which if I'm not mistaken is a communist country, is that why or are the people in power particularly authoritarian when it comes to politics? Have the citizens just learned to take no interest and don't even have those discussions in their homes/private?

EyeWontBeFooled posted...

I only wish I could provide such a nuanced opinion about Canada at the moment as you guys have.

Our Prime Minister, however, absolutely fucked up and has had SEVERAL unforced errors and public embarrassments that go back years.

But the next most popular national option is Pierre Poillievre(sp?), a clear populist and I live right smack dab in the middle of Canada where people will love him the most.....blegh.

I've noticed your country increasingly going the same direction as my own, especially with the advent of Trump, and it is depressing to say the least. I've seen the guy you're talking about discussed a few times and yeah he just sounds like Trump as well as the people supporting him being Trumpers.

I've heard of some Trudeau scandals, however has he actually hurt the people of Canada either fiscally or socially? Or is it mostly just embarrassing stuff that doesn't make him look good?

Thanatos_the_Great posted...

Increasingly right-wing, authoritarian, transphobic and Islamophobic. The Conservative Party, which is now in power (led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak), are going increasingly deranged and creeping slowly towards fascism (though at least they haven't charged headlong into it like the US Republicans).

The good news is that they're almost certain to lose the next election. The bad news is that the main opposition, the Labour Party, though nominally socialist and with many left-wing or centre-left members, is led by Keir Starmer, who lied his way into getting elected leader by pretending to be a leftist and then u-turned on absolutely all his pledges and became a right-wing authoritarian, while his henchmen (or puppeteers) in the party bureaucracy centralised power in the party among themselves to prevent the wider party from reversing their takeover.

Polling shows no enthusiasm for Starmer to be PM, but the Conservatives are now so loathed - thanks to the "Partygate" scandal of former PM Boris Johnson and others breaking their own covid lockdown laws to have drunken parties while ordinary people weren't allowed to attend their relatives' funerals, and then his successor Liz Truss tanking the economy with her idiotic policies and being forced to resign after just 47 days - that Labour has big poll leads anyway. But there's no prospect of them reversing any of the current government's worst laws and policies - either Starmer supported them in the first place or he made noises of opposition but now refuses to commit to reversing them. Unless he completely u-turns (which, to be fair, he has quite a record of doing), environmental regulations will remain watered down, the National Health Service and local government will remain underfunded, authoritarian laws restricting immigration and peaceful protest will remain, and discrimination against trans people will continue to increase.

I have seen discussion of your country's politics to some degree as the UK and CA are the other 2 majorly discussed nations due to posters, so I have some grasp of what you've talked about. I knew Starmer basically betrayed the party, I didn't realize it was to such an egregious degree. I also remember Borris and his parties during lockdown being something that resonated deeply with your fellow citizens, which I was admittedly jealous of because my country has a party that intentionally mishandled COVID for political & economic reasons, but ultimately that attitude didn't even spawn until the news in like March was reporting that it was primarily black people dying from COVID and of course that's when Trump and Republicans started saying it's not worth keeping everything shut down, blood for the money god. Also Newsom of California had a similar party to what Borris did, if I'm not mistaken. The people of CA didn't reject him for it like the UK did Johnson, which while I wish he had faced harsher backlash for it, I wouldn't want CA to put Republicans into power over it.

Thanatos_the_Great posted...

Yes, from both the main parties, though the Conservatives more so. The Conservatives are more and more aligned with the extreme right and Labour seem more intent on appeasing them than opposing them.

Depressing similar to the Republican & Democratic party in the U.S. Though they have gotten better in calling out Republicans for their atrocities, we still have shit like the Senate refusing to investigate/call into question the fact that the USSC has accountability to literally nobody and will not self-regulate (The court's solution to their conflicts of interest) at times when it's of greatest interest to do so (such as Thomas removing himself from anything Jan 6th related). Dick Durbin has been especially frustrating on this.

Thanatos_the_Great posted...

Maybe. The Conservatives' coming defeat isn't likely to be reversed any time soon - much of it is down to long-term social and economic factors, not just their recent disasters - and the old truism about people getting more right-wing as they get older appears not to be true anymore, so the Labour leadership may eventually find themselves forced by electoral pressure to actually adopt some of the left-wing policies that are needed to reverse our ongoing national decline. But at this stage that's highly speculative.

Well that's reassuring, however I do understand your point about it being speculative. I think the U.S. is also thankfully breaking away from that old truism as well. For the first time in a long time people lost rights due to right-wing fascism and recently elections have shown it. Also the fact that the Democratic party has overperformed in every election since 2018, minus Republicans winning a 5 seat majority due to 5 seats in NY in 2022, which is still an overperformance from Dems as traditional trends showed the party getting demolished in Congress, as all the pundits/media were saying with their "red wave/tsunami" bullshit.

Kradek posted...

which I was admittedly jealous of because my country has a party that intentionally mishandled COVID for political & economic reasons

Oh, so did the Tories - a large part of their covid policy was designed to benefit capital rather than the public, and they took the opportunity to hand hugely lucrative contracts for personal protective equipment (some of which didn't work) to their friends. But it was the parties that really made the public hate them, and especially hate Johnson.

What is the current political environment in your country like?

In Canada there's basically four major parties

There's:

• the Liberals which is centre/every so slightly centre-left)
• the NDP (New Democratic Party) which is firmly left/social democratic
• the Conservatives which are most analogous to the pre-Obama Republican Party but are currently led by a populist.
• and the Bloc Quebecois which is an annoying regional party that advocates only for Quebec. It's mostly left-wing but its members are a mish mash

The Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been in power nearly a decade now. Most people are tired of them and blame them for several crisis' currently.

There's a housing crisis, a cost of living crisis, and an immigration crisis which feeds into the previous two. His government is accused of doing either not enough or actively making these problems worse.

The immigration issue in particular has enraged a chunk of the population against him. Basically Canada welcomes 500,000 new immigrants per year (out of a country of roughly 35,000,000). A lot of issues with the immigration system also come from both the Temporary Foreign Worker program (basically supposed to be a program through which Canadian businesses hire foreign workers to work at jobs for which there are no qualified Canadian applicants) and the International Student program (which as the name suggests entices foreigners to attend Canadian universities and colleges). Both these programs have been HEAVILY exploited as pretty much either a way for corporations to import cheap labour or for schools to bilk money out of immigrants (non-citizens pay about several times more than a domestic student).

The exploitation of these programs has led to increased rates of immigration, which in turn (since we're not building enough housing) is blamed for rising rent and housing prices. There's also a racial element to the backlash (a very sizable chunk of new Canadian immigrants come from the Punjab region of India).

tl;dr: People are fucking MAD and getting angrier/racist-er. The Conservative Party is polling historically well and will likely win bigly in the next election

Do you agree with the current state or the direction your nation is heading?

Not at all. For how much I admonish the negative reaction to the immigration programs, the fact of the matter is they are absolutely being exploited by the people seeking an easy way into Canada, by the corporate interests seeking to get cheap labour, by schools seeking a piggybank to bilk huge fees out of, and by the government since huge immigration rates artificially prop up the GDP.

Trudeau has wasted just about all his political capital. He has no major successes in office to point to, is making no major moves to fix the housing/immigration issues voters have, and has no "vision". There's no reason for me to vote for him again.

Usually I would vote for the NDP since they usually align more closely with my views anyway, but their leader is about as bad as Trudeau. He's an empty suit.

I'll never vote for the Conservatives, especially not with their current leader either.

Are there any threats from parties/politicians that have you concerned?

For how much I dislike him and how much people online will try to claim he is, Pierre Pollievre (the leader of the Conservatives) is not Donald Trump.

I wouldn't like him being elected, and I think his policies would be a disaster for this country; but he's not particularly anti-democratic or authoritarian in a way that makes me feel threatened.

Is there anything that's giving you hope for the future, such as possibly countering the aforementioned concerns?

Honestly, the only thing keeping me hopeful is the fact that after they get blown out in the next election, the Liberals and NDP will select new leaders who are hopefully better than the current crop, and from there an actual left-wing vision for Canada can be achieved. And I honestly aim to be part of that in whatever way I can when the time comes (though I'm unsure which party I want to work for).

The current electoral coalition that the Conservatives have built is also not particularly sustainable. There's too many competing factions at each other's throats. Maybe they'll have the solution to our housing and immigration problems, but I doubt it. Happy to be surprised though.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Not gonna lie, I'm not quite sure what this actually means.

I think it's similar to US states that have referendums where enough issues puts an issue on the ballot for voters to vote on. If so, that's actually a good thing, however I've been reading what you've shared and they do mostly sound like trash.

Dark_Arbron posted...

There's more in that section but it pretty much boils down to climate change denial.

Noticeable how they keep talking about the "repeated science" as justification when climate policies are based off repeated science.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Okay, this sounds alright. Again, it sounds alright. But what's the catch?

Yeah sounds fine to me.

Dark_Arbron posted...

So... whaddya think? There's some stuff in there I can get behind but their stances on abortion, climate change and Covid-19 are worrying, as expected.

They seem like a typical nationalist party fearmongering refugees, immigrants, and "foreign interest". It's interesting how they share a lot of heinous views with our Republicans, however our Republicans share none of the good One Nation claims to support. The GOP doesn't even have a detailed policy section like ON, it's just culture wars, hatred based off conspiracies and propaganda, and gaslighting. Really solidifies my view that they're the worst party in any country comparable to the US.

Dark_Arbron posted...

I discussed this with a friend of mine who is far smarter than I will ever be, and we got talking about firearm ownership and how it's actually a left-wing ideal rather than right-wing.

I wish this guy posted here, to be honest.

Yeah your friend sounds cool. I'm anti-gun because of the harm it's brought my nation and imo humanity as a whole, however their logic is sound.

Thanatos_the_Great posted...

Oh, so did the Tories - a large part of their covid policy was designed to benefit capital rather than the public, and they took the opportunity to hand hugely lucrative contracts for personal protective equipment (some of which didn't work) to their friends. But it was the parties that really made the public hate them, and especially hate Johnson.

Damn that sucks. We did the same with our PPP loans. Many members of Congress took out those loans, never paid them back, then cried foul over student loan forgiveness' because "you should repay what you owe". I hate Republicans so fucking much.

Kradek posted...

Yeah your friend sounds cool. I'm anti-gun because of the harm it's brought my nation and imo humanity as a whole, however their logic is sound.

Americas gun culture is definitely a huge problem.

You asked me some other things above but again Ill have to get back to them when on a proper computer.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Americas gun culture is definitely a huge problem.

You asked me some other things above but again Ill have to get back to them when on a proper computer.

No worries

Terrible.

Austria, so central europe.

We currently have a government consisting of conservatives and the green party.

The three big parties are the socialists, the conservatives, and the far right. Other smaller parties are the green and "neo-liberals" (conservatives in less old). We also have two other smaller parties coming up, the communists and the beer party.

Next federal election is going to be this fall.

Currently Nr. 1 in the polls are the far right nazis, getting 28% there.

How is this possible?

Because the far-right only has to say one thing: "Migration bad, Islam worse". That's all. They don't have to say anything else. At this point, they don't have to say even that.

The rest is done by the news we sadly can read every fucking week.

Here a 14-year old girl that died in the home of a 26-old from drug overdose, (March 6th), there a case of 14 kids sexually abusing a 12 year old (March 1st), and yesterday a case were someone got stabbed, because he tried to intervene when a group of people harrassed a woman on the street, right before the most popular ice cream parlor of the city.

Everything of that happend in my city.

It feels terrible.

The statistics show that violent crimes are on the rise, and every time I see these news and figures, I just want some "Law & Order". Yet the only one who talks about this, are the russia shilling Nazis and the enemies of democracy.

What the fuck is going wrong these days? How is it possible that getting some ice cream ends up with sexual harrassment (for a random woman) and a knife in your stomach (for the guy who tried to stop it)?

Kradek posted...

I've heard of some Trudeau scandals, however has he actually hurt the people of Canada either fiscally or socially? Or is it mostly just embarrassing stuff that doesn't make him look good?

personally I don't think so, or at least not any more than anyone else would have done. I know this doesn't make it "okay" but it makes it a little hard to care too much. taking funding from weird places, overpaying for projects because they're buddy-buddy with the contractors, that kind of thing. I think most significantly, somewhat recently there was the convoy protest thing that he used some rather extreme government powers to resolve and that was generally poorly received in the longterm (although on a personal level I think it was a mostly good idea)

a lot of the dislike of the liberals is that they tend to overpromise and underperform. sometimes on things that are legitimately difficult but other times on things that seem so simple that the only explanation anyone will come up with is that they never actually cared in the first place

Kradek posted...

I've noticed your country increasingly going the same direction as my own, especially with the advent of Trump, and it is depressing to say the least.

Some of it is literally the USA exporting their politics up here. Like the covid lockdown protests as well as some other more recent protest at parliment, forgot what it was about, have a bunch of rightwing people driving up from the USA to participate in them.

Kradek posted...

Could you elaborate? Iirc you live in Vietnam, which if I'm not mistaken is a communist country, is that why or are the people in power particularly authoritarian when it comes to politics? Have the citizens just learned to take no interest and don't even have those discussions in their homes/private?

Vietnamese people generally seem disinterested in politics, but saying the wrong thing as a foreigner can get you a stint in a Vietnamese prison or deported (its usually the latter).

Interesting that you can own water in Australia. Is it regulated and inspected?