Have politics been more interesting these past few years? Do you feel more involved or more emotionally invested?
define "investment" define "personal" your question and thread header define a considerable intent to be dishonest
It's not a trick. I was idling during the Obama presidency--not very interesting, really. Do you feel current politics are more interesting? I think they are.
It seems, at least in Australia anyway, that the right wing faction of the left, along with the greens, have been exposed as the 'neo left' and were discarded by the people at the ballot box so the traditional left has to reassert itself to make up for all the damage caused before politics can get back to its grass roots.
Gotta love it. Bubbles don't just maintain themselves. Right makes messes, left is assigned cleanup. It's that way in the US as well - although confused by the common ascription of "left" to the Democratic Party, in the US setup.
Interesting isn't quite the term I'd use. They've become increasingly terrifying over the last few decades. Not just my own country - which isn't the US, and I realize that most Americans are unaware of politics anywhere else - but wo0rld-wide. I gather the current reigning fathead is likely to succeed the hard-working and luckless Elizabeth May in the UK; I heard the reigning fathead of Hungary is bosom buddies with the reigning fathead of the US now and the reigning fathead of Alberta openly declared war on environmentalists.... It's everywhere. Far less involved. When I believed there was hope, I was active in various ways. Now, I'm going just through the motions, the same way i keep recycling - as a duty. Emotionally, I try very hard to stay distanced. I want the use of my brain and liver for another decade.
i like Barack (though i don't know him or Michelle personally, only from watching them on tv) i think he is an amazing person i like Michelle. they appear to be cut from a similar cloth both seek to gain excellence in their chosen field and both seem to have the core personal drive to serve the people. this is extremely rare. i think leaders should be public servants as a core personality trait. some people are interested by watching others suffer "interesting" and "investment of personal interest" and "fascination" and feelings of personal gain or loss" are completely different things. usa society has a really big issue with addiction the oxy addiction issue is a symptomatic social condition of the culture. the addicts didn't really know how good they had it when Barack was in. will they be pushed into cold turkey ? unlikely because it doesn't make the lobbyists rich 130(roughly) American citizens die every day of the week from opioid over dose how many people are they connected with ? how many people does that show must be functional addicts ? opioids alcohol amphetamines ... that is millions of people who are functional addicts https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
...and that doesn't even begin to account for the social media dependents, sugar and salt addicts, adrenaline junkies....
I try to avoid politics but since friends are actively involved I get pulled in despite my kicking and screaming.
Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. Translation: May you have an idiot for your President. "Interesting" often isn't a good thing.
Well, you might be right. Had the coin landed on the other side, we would be debating the Hillary Presidency.
Unfortunately, we couldn't even say, "At least she's better than Trump," because nobody could have predicted how hideously bad Trump would be.
The predictions were pretty dire. The ones that came closest to the mark were the late-night comedians. And even they guessed conservatively.
many said DPRK was a breath away from launching a nuke at the usa because of how trump had treated them. thats pretty interesting. had DPRK not had the ability to drop 500 chemical weapons on the most densly populated financial hub of the world, that may be a different story today. the talking up a war with iran is probably the same lobbyist ad agencies looking to secure their next election budget meanwhile 130 Patriot American citizens die every day from opioid over dose.
Lots of people had Trump called more or less exactly - predicted pretty much exactly what we've seen. This guy, for example, and most of the hyperlinks on the sidebar there: http://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com This guy even more accurately, albeit with a narrower focus: http://driftglass.blogspot.com This guy indirectly, via link and essay: https://mikethemadbiologist.com This accurate predictor even has some major media exposure: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/ and so forth. The discouraging thing about the claim that nobody could have predicted Trump is that it's a retread - the same wwas said about W. And in the same circumstances - lots of people accurately predicted W's Presidency. Gore Vidal and the Onion are probably the most famous - Vidal for his uncanny foresight in predicting that W would be the least popular President in American history by the time he left office, at a time when W's popularity seemed untouchable. Lots of people predicted Trump's Presidency. Many of them had also predicted W's. It's just that such people are not handed six figure salaries and lifetime sinecure jobs as pundits, famous slots on TV, book deals financed by billionaire supported presses, and lucrative roles as visiting lecturers or think tank intellectuals. That kind of payoff and household name status is reserved for those who were and are consistently wrong about the Republican Party and its voting base.
The classic thing is that the right dominated green 'left' has never won an election from opposition here and the right wing of the left has only ever gained leadership/power after their predominately right wing elected politicians vote for a right wing leader.