I really appreciate the dive into the politics there! As I talked with a coworker, to start understanding politics understanding historical context is important and I can keep some understanding with other countries, it’s hard enough to know the nuance of all of our states, figuring out how to get started with other countries is difficult so the primer really helps. Some of this sounds familiar over here on the antiquated thoughts driving politics that should have fallen by the wayside years ago, though I think a few of yours might be older than ours is. Friend visited the UK recently and traveled throughout, like I told him, I intellectually knew how old that area is but realizing that there were places that were historic before our country even existed is still kinda baffling. But I digress.
Having to do a dive into the Tories as I just knew them as your conservatives, it’s interesting that both the UK Conservative party and Scottish Conservatives definitely have a lot that I look at and go “That really does look like (Pre-Trump) Republicans” then every once in a while I see them supporting something that I realize if a Democrat would try to bring forward they’d be shouted down as being a communist. But what’s most fascinating dichotomy between our countries is your conservatives are staunchly fighting to keep the UK together, as you say wouldn’t allow you to hold a referendum after making you all leave the EU. Over in the States our Conservatives have gotten in bed with the US South which constantly yells about and threatens to secede again, and the Republican party is the one where you’re going to find the confederate (not the confederate, flag, Virigina Battle Flag but that’d involve them knowing their own ‘heritage’) flag all over the place so you could argue our conservatives are more seperationists. Growing up with this creates a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to be opposed to splitting, though like with the pulling out of the EU and as you described there’s actually a lot of ability to be successful to sustain yourselves that’s makes sense… vs our guys have the likes of most of our southern states who cry how much they hate the federal government, yet percentage-wise are some of our most reliant on federal funds.
Hah, my dad was the same way about the internet, and… not wrong, it looked so hopeful, yet now so dark. But then again, I’m a guy who hasn’t had the proper combination of time/money/ability to get out of my country as the closest border is an 8 hour straight drive so about as close to the center of big country talking to someone on the other side of the world about the politics of our lands, so, who knows, maybe a little light there.
The thing I find is that… so much of what’s going on is a pattern. Been joking when talking with my dad about the book World War Z I understand why people follow Nostradamus more, as a book written in 2006 is talking about the very problems that are happening today and coming up with some honestly concerning predictions. But then, a student of history and paying attention to current events can make someone look like a seer. As you say, the shipping to China, it’s madness, except China has been pushing to take over just about everyones markets by being the cheapest even over keeping it own countries, but now they’re becoming a dominant superpower again. I know in the US situation, it was because the Pre-Trump Republicans had become so business “friendly” (bowed the knee to the businesses above all else) that their attitude of “Free market” was fine to ship everything overseas to be made even at the cost of the workers here.
The banking crisis as you talk about, here again, but it was the Democrats that bailed them out… why? Aren’t they opposition to the Republicans? The thing is the Democrats in the 90s freaked out when Ronald Reagan got in power, then H.W. Bush followed him, and so Clinton came in as the business friendly Democrat, and that’s been the doctrine since. There hasn’t actually been a workers party in the US as long as I’ve been alive.
I wish we could’ve been like Iceland, but when Democrats had control of the house, senate, and presidency they couldn’t even get a healthcare plan that involved a government option, just the government giving insurance companies money, going after the banks is a non-starter in this country probably until the next depression.
Trump… honestly was one of the logical conclusions (I threw up in my mouth a little typing that), on one hand he’s been the anti-establishment. In my state, where the capitol is over 1000 miles away, and I’m one of the closer half of the country, people have been sick of “DC elites”, not all there’s entire discussions on the Republican strategies otherwise, and the person that hurts the elites must be good. Trump is part of the establishment now, but he doesn’t act like it, and the news doesn’t act like it, still treats him like an outsider. That got a lot of people up when they don’t pay attention to any news.
I think a lot of the problems caused and had by the US is by age, the country punches way above its weight class, lot of power very very fast. That wouldn’t be a problem except we’re still dealing with the fallout of our civil war that was 160 years ago, but the way the country views it is as if it were ancient times. Hell there are people who were alive when Civil Rights happened and yet it’s taught in schools like it is so far back no one could remember it. If you’re at all curious on that I do have a bit of an unhinged TED talk here in where our school history fails to discuss the context that’s happened through history. On if that’s on purpose, that’s yet another completely different unhinged TED talk lol.