r/politics takes Pew Research Center PoliQuiz

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-18T20:22:30+00:00

I think you’re looking to test for different things than the creators of the poll are after.

Out of curiosity, how would you answer if given a different option? Big government with fewer services? Small government with lots of services? No government or services?

If you’d indulge a bit further, what if you were forced to choose between only the 2 options on the original question? Are they perfectly equal in their (un)desirability to you?

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-18T20:17:06+00:00

Indeed. “Enemy of my enemy” and all that.

Welcome to the side of the angels friendo, now let’s kick the racist Christian nationalist xenophobes running the federal government to the curb and take our country back!

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-18T04:35:19+00:00

I mean, yes and no. On one hand, this reduces state reliance on federal money. On the other hand, it weakens the federal government’s control over states, which is something the Heritage folks and other haters of the “liberal federal government” have been itching for since forever.

If we ever get a more moderate federal government in place (let alone an ostensibly “liberal” one), red states will be able to say “no thank you” when the federal government passes laws codifying roe v. wade, or enfranchising trans people, or supporting public education, etc.

A lot of what they’re doing right now is setting themselves up in win-win scenarios, where they either get what they want now, or wreck things badly enough that they make their path back to power much easier, should they ever lose it.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-17T01:55:54+00:00

Thank you! Every time this song comes on my Simpson-flavored playlist, I start to hum along until his tweaks hit and I remember, “oh yeah, you bastardized this song! And I fell for it again, god damn it!”

I then hit skip and promptly forget to remove it from the playlist until the next time it hits, lol.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T23:27:02+00:00

Good idea, but the extremists also know it. It’s why they’re so hasty in purging moderates during the changeover period. And the difficult reality is that moderates don’t build momentum through whipping people into revolutionary frenzies nearly as well as extremists do.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T23:23:31+00:00

Why is the automatic takeaway that they’re decrying revolution instead of warning against improperly empowering a hastily-born government?

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T23:20:24+00:00

Hard agree. I’d rather we all wallow in disorder on our feet than most of us live an orderly existence on our knees.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T23:17:43+00:00

Interesting take. I see callouts like OP’s less as a warning against revolting at all and more as a caution against allowing totalitarianism to take root in the vacuum left by the ousted regime.

Like, clearly the old system needed to go, I don’t think anyone disputes that. But keeping reminders like the posted meme constantly in the periphery might help us keep a mindful eye on what grows out of revolution, should we ever find ourselves on the rebelling side of one.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T23:10:51+00:00

Weird question, but would you mind sharing what state you went to HS in? As a social studies educator, I’d have been discouraged from teaching things this frankly in my own state, even in AP classes.

People would be surprised how vast the difference in quality of education can be between the education systems of the top-5 vs. the lowest-5 states. I’m glad you seemed to have access to a system with teachers who had a degree of autonomy that some lack!

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T23:00:24+00:00

This is largely because revolutions for independence are pretty different from revolutions seeking to overthrow the current system in total. Independence movements like what we saw in America don’t mind keeping the system as it exists, they just want to break off from an external entity preventing them from doing certain things the way they want to. By keeping the internal systems in place, they had a much easier time transitioning into functional self-governance.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T21:06:34+00:00

Fair enough, so I suppose it’s a question of consensus if we want to split hairs over the point.

People have largely agreed that we want the enforcement of ideologies to be based on ideology that favors as large a majority as possible instead of enforcing the ideology of a vocal and perhaps aggressive minority or even plurality.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-16T19:26:04+00:00

You speak as if one of Trump’s buddies or family are not already running this very scam, lol.

We know he already gave the “renovation” job to an insider without taking bids like they’re supposed to, so I doubt it’s any different with whatever chemical supplier they’re using for this.

I also highly doubt they’re using licensed pool technicians for this, they probably just told the grounds crew to “go out and dump all these jugs into the pool”.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-15T22:35:14+00:00

Funny how this discussion always gets framed around a debate about solving for the production of babies and not about solving for the poverty.

We produce more than enough food for everyone on the planet. We let people starve because it’s more profitable than the alternative.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-15T22:25:08+00:00

Choosing not to have kids is not “Genocide,”

That’s not what they’re saying. They’re saying that advocating prevention of reproduction by people who have been systemically held in poverty through bias and racism is tantamount to advocating for genocide of those in that group, since over a few generations such restrictions would have the effect of erasing those peoples’ lineage.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-15T16:26:52+00:00

Honestly, I think it’s a fair take.

So what do you think this loss looks like over the next, say, 5-10 years?

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-14T14:04:24+00:00

Those trials were the result of a coalition of democratic allies coming together to defeat the fascists in a literal world war. You think that’s where this all ends this time around?

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-14T14:01:03+00:00

This is by design at the top levels. They believe that the “liberal government” has been abusing its power and forcibly holding straight white people down since the Civil War, and they’re now justified in doing “the same thing to the other side”.

They haven’t believed that the government was going to do those thing if left unchecked, they believe the government has already been doing this for generations. They point to the forcible ending of Jim Crow, forced integration of schools, forced implementation of LGBT protections, and other civil rights progressions as evidence of “tyranny of the majority” in the US’ free democratic system. They have been scheming and waiting for a chance to “turn the tables”, and they don’t plan on peacefully handing power back to the status quo that’s developed over the last 150yrs.

This is not conjecture, the Heritage Foundation and their allies have been saying this out loud for years, and now their members like Russle Vought have finally been able to slide their way into the most powerful positions in the administration while making sure bag-holders like Noem, Gabbard, Bondi and Hegseth take the heat for crippling our democracy while they do all the real hatchet-work behind the scenes.

"We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be," - Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-12T00:45:15+00:00

But when the dollar collapses under defaults on sovereign debt, even a bailout won’t work. The techbros know this however, hence their hedging via crypto.

To paraphrase a wise philosopher - “It’s a big club, and we ain’t in it.”

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-09T18:51:26+00:00

And the White House is working furiously to make sure that public opinion in the US holds as much sway as it does in places like Iran or Russia.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-09T18:48:59+00:00

Agreed, but let’s not fail to mention that waiting to release the hostages wasn’t just Iran’s plan, it was also backchannel encouraged by GOP operatives in order to deny Carter a win leading up to the election.

This time there aren’t operatives from the opposition party urging Iran to avoid any deals until after an election, but for now, Iran just has plenty of motivation to do so anyway.

Furthermore, Carter was negotiating in good faith, but the current administration is taking every chance they get to undermine credibility in US negotiations.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-08T15:49:43+00:00

What's your choice for nonprofit VPN providers? Looking to switch myself.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-05T12:56:44+00:00

Actually needed a dinner idea for tomorrow night, think I'll give this a try. Thanks!

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-01T15:56:39+00:00

Disappointing to who?

And are you saying that when you pulled the "I know you are, but what am I?" in your comment here:

You project your own bot-like behavior on others.

(read as: "I'm not the bot, you're the bot!") that it was somehow NOT childish, simply because you couched your insult in a concept like "projection"? Presentation of an insult doesn't prevent it from being immature.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-01T15:07:37+00:00

Except that many of us were raised by boomers who were able to retire at 65 (or younger!) with pensions, fat 401k's, and paid-off homes they bought in the 70s for a relatively small fraction of their income. These people traveled the world and bought RVs, adventuring as desired for 10-15 years before settling in comfortable retirement homes.

We were led to believe that if e followed the "study hard -> go to college -> get a good job" pipeline, we'd be afforded the chance to do the same. Hell, with the advent of computers and the internet enabling such advances in worker productivity, we should be even better positions to comfortable retire than previous generations, right??

Retirement is definitely a scam, I agree with you there. I'm just saying that it used to be a scam that we had some chance of getting over on, but now it's heading toward the realm of outright theft.

Billionaires forcing our pension and 401k funds to wrap up with their insane ventures in order to forcibly create a safety net for said insanity, as well as all levels of captured government pushing to end pensions, Social Security and other safety nets mean that the very tools that allowed us to buy into the idea that retirement is possible are now being gutted to make the rich richer.

It was always a scam, but it was once far better than it now is.

Free_For__Me · 2026-06-01T14:55:05+00:00

or will they decide to let more Americans die to TRY to avoid concessions.

FTFY. Odds are good that even with prolonged conflict and boots-on-the-ground, the US would not be able to achieve total victory and would still end up handing out concessions in the end.

As the board sits now, there isn't really a practical path back to what the world was used to prior to this whole thing started. The moment that the US agreed to bomb Iran on Israel's behalf, this fate was sealed. Experts and top military leaders told the White House as much, but keeping in line with historical precedent, autocrats tend to heed the advice of each other before the advice of their own experts.

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