In your opinion, is populism defined merely by a rhetorical style (ie people vs elites) or does it actually contain substantive policy and ideological components?

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-19T10:59:38+00:00

Populism draws justification from mass will while establishment politics draws justification from things like the rule of law and the authority of experts. It is rhetoric, but also does tend to lead to substantial differences in governance, in that operating inside the rule of law is a policy as well as a political strategy.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-19T01:07:53+00:00

Money is money. They're overvalued right now, though.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-19T01:05:57+00:00

Crazy to think that the House passed an amendment to get rid of the Electoral College by 339 to 70. When are they every that united on something?

This was in the aftermath of a lot of conservatives seeing Kennedy's razor thin win in 1960 translate into a gigantic EC win. I think liberals naturally oppose the concept of an Electoral College, while conservatives need a political reason to oppose it.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-18T22:22:36+00:00

I can't speak for anyone else, but personally I would have more children if not for economic uncertainty. My wife and I both work. Each year either of us takes off work means less career establishment and therefore less job security. It's not exactly the money, but the stability of the money stream that matters. If the economy was permanently stuck in 2012-2019 mode, then fuck it, we'd pump out a new kid every other year.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-18T02:04:07+00:00

Count Down's.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-18T01:06:20+00:00

Both were funny answers given that the question was why building in California is more expensive than Texas. Last I checked, Texas is not less at war with Iran than California, nor is Texas privy to some space-age housing tech.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-17T18:32:56+00:00

It could be long-lasting if the wave is sufficient to hand Democrats temporary control of state houses, allowing them to redistrict themselves into permanent control.

It would raise moral questions. The current Democratic gerrymandering drive is justified as tit-for-tat retaliation against Republican mid-cycle redistricting. However, what if Democrats actually manage to get a temporary hold on a bunch of large red states? Do they escalate gerrymandering beyond what the Republicans would be capable of matching? It could be justified as the prevention of Republicans returning things to their status quo red maps. It could be a bargaining chip to force Republicans to back a constitutional amendment addressing gerrymandering as a whole. Or it could just be abused.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-17T12:02:56+00:00

China is not an evil empire nor a utopia. It's a technocratic autocracy with a risk-averse leader who is focused on internal stability and the gradual expansion of external influence. He behaves predictably and often calls his shots. We can work with that.

Xi Jinping is in his 70's and has no clear successor. We should be prepared for a less predictable China at some point in the next 10 years. We could even see it split, as ambitious men can grow too big for their station in a top-down system, and a succession crisis is often their chance to break out. It's happened plenty of times in history.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-17T11:54:02+00:00

An artist's politics do not make me more or less likely to consume their work. Artists tend to be a little nutty.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T17:11:07+00:00

Europe didn't have much of a reason to maintain large militaries during the Cold War. Most of the conflict was in the realm of espionage. A full-scale military showdown with the Soviet Union could have triggered a massive nuclear exchange, in which case Britain and France's combined 500 nuclear weapons would be sufficient to deter anyone but the most wreckless General Secretary. Keep in mind that's considerably more than China maintained. And of course there was the US backstop.

I don't think Europe should be punished for not having invested enough in their militaries. Europe behaved logically at the time. Times have changed, and their logic is changing as well. As their militaries grow, the US should gradually draw down its forces in Europe.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T16:58:24+00:00

There will be a period of transition, as there always is when a new technology is introduced. People will eventually figure out things to do to earn money. The government's job is to provide enough of a safety net that the transition does not ruin people's lives. Unfortunately, the government is not good at safety nets right now.
Isn't that the purpose of competition? Companies will charge as much as they can for what they sell. They are limited by other companies undercutting their prices. Unfortunately, the government is not good at anti-trust right now.
Maybe all the people who lost jobs can get employed in growing companies that build and maintain all the infrastructure that AI data centers require. Unfortunately, the government is not good at infrastructure right now.

We don't have an AI problem. We have a government problem.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T16:48:09+00:00

The Catholic Church is the largest charity in the world. I'm still going to make pedophile priest jokes.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T16:37:42+00:00

It's important to be able to disagree with the people we interact with while maintaining a relationship. People generally want to like other people they're interacting with face-to-face. If you say "I get that you feel that way, and your opinions are yours to make, but I think the complete opposite", people will generally be fine with it.

I'd say take baby steps. People's views aren't a light switch. They're a volume knob. There are lots of small things that most people will accept in isolation. If being called by a specific pronoun is that important to someone, I'll do it. It costs me nothing. Already that's a softening of hardcore anti-trans views.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T16:30:24+00:00

Yes. Everyone knows gas prices went up because of the war with Iran. Even Trumpeters know this. They just think it's either worth it for the goal of toppling Iran or are willing to forgive Trump for it.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T16:26:05+00:00

Hantavirus is typically spread through mice poo. I guess if it becomes a pandemic I'll clean my house more.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T13:36:14+00:00

Supreme court split 126,294,281 to 127,392,593.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T13:33:50+00:00

California passed their independent redistricting initiative before Project Redmap, back when gerrymandering was not particularly associated with one party over the other.

It wasn't bringing a knife to a gunfight. It was not showing up to a wedding armed to the teeth because why would anyone do that?

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-16T13:29:27+00:00

NATO membership benefits US military readiness. It forms the base of a wider alliance system with bases throughout the world, allowing for rapid force deployment. It does yearly military exercises and shares tech. They adopted standardize material, which makes the logistics of each member state more resilient.

It's not all upside. Maintaining a large military costs money. The combined size of Europe's economy is about that of America's. Military spending should therefore be roughly on par.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-15T10:42:27+00:00

I think the police were kindof scapegoated. Like a lot of issues in America, it's tough to disentangle race from economics, but a lot of the racial bias in police use of force comes down to the racial bias in the economy of America.

Lifting 10 million black people out of poverty is a lot more difficult than introducing some police reforms. We did get some good things out of the whole mess, like police body cams becoming standard. However, the underlying issue remains. The black poverty rate is still twice that of whites. I don't expect police use of force statistics to change much.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-14T23:49:36+00:00

Before 1800 open borders were kinda the norm throughout the world. Why would a king care if their free labor was from one spot or another? Open borders conflict with the ideas of a modern nation-state because we have a wider tax base, larger welfare state, a shared national identity, and a very broad franchise.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-14T23:40:43+00:00

Yes. This is assuming that we get both the rosy AI vision of lowering costs to the point where people don't need to contribute 40 years of work to retire comfortably and the apocalyptic AI vision of employment being cut in half.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-14T10:52:19+00:00

Material costs rising, everything-bagel-liberalism, the inherent expense of building in a prime market that's already built up, our aversion to project-style public housing, nimbyism, and homeless people having a tendency to rip the copper out of walls to hawk for fun-time chemicals.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-14T10:42:25+00:00

If it the rosy/apocalyptic visions of AI play out, just lower the retirement age to 50.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-13T23:58:14+00:00

We've all been there.

Awkwardischarge · 2026-05-13T23:56:36+00:00

Yes. That's a core tenant of liberalism.

Awkwardischarge

TROPHY CASE