The 2010s, a decade full of immense progress.

Even with Elliot Page, which I'd know nothing about except he did some huge coming out thing that became a big deal. I'm not sure why, but maybe the movie offers weren't exactly rolling in and it was time to play the free publicity card.

You might know Elliot by, "Dead Name," Ellen Page as the star of Juno. I would think transitioning would be relatively easy for this person because he looks like a fourteen year-old boy anyway. Anyway, what little news I watch is waiting for the weather report (mainly) and he was being talked about on a major news show and then it littered my Google feed, for some reason. I guess an actor that almost nobody has cared about in five years transitioning to the gender they already looked like is a big deal.

Elliot Page was once known for being an outspoken feminist, but now Elliot Page is a wealthy white man. They say you always become the thing you hate most, I guess.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/01/a-proclamation-on-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-and-queer-pride-month-2021/


President Biden officially declared June Gay Pride Month. He is only the third President to do so. President Obama and President Clinton were the other two (though Clinton was pretty horrendous on sexual issues, and even President Obama was in his early years).

President Biden may be the first President in American who has very very much as ally through his whole Presidency. Of course this is due to him being very old and most of his anti-gay political stunts he got out of his system decades ago in the Senate..... He even supported the Defense of Marriage Act (as did Clinton) which is pretty reprehensible in my view, though I guess to be expected for that time period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Joe_Biden#LGBTQ_issues

In any case, not much to be gained by dwelling on bad history, I am glad President Biden is keeping our country moving forward. And, I am very proud to live in a country that recognizes Pride Month and continues to progress. The crucial thing now is to look at parts of the world where equality is not in place be be a projector of rights abroad.

Quote: Gandler

In any case, not much to be gained by dwelling on bad history, I am glad President Biden is keeping our country moving forward. And, I am very proud to live in a country that recognizes Pride Month and continues to progress. The crucial thing now is to look at parts of the world where equality is not in place be be a projector of rights abroad.

(Quote clipped, relevance)

What the rest of the world is doing is none of our business.

Quote: Mission146

(Quote clipped, relevance)

What the rest of the world is doing is none of our business.

I 100% disagree, but let's put aside social topics for a second.

Let's say there was an active genocide, like there has been not long ago, in a county, let's say Rwanda, would it be right to let over 500,000 people (probably closer to 1 million) be killed, and millions more displaced, and the economy disrupted? In this case we famously did not act (and many people bash us for not intervening). The UN attempted to intervene, but only a couple hundred were on the ground (mostly French and Canadian I believe), and had virtually zero impact (blue helmets can't really engage in combat except in self defense).

Clinton did not want to intervene for purely political reasons. This is just one failure in modern times of not intervening, but it is an extreme example.

Quote: Mission146

(Quote clipped, relevance)

What the rest of the world is doing is none of our business.

What about official trade agreements? What would be your approach if North Korea was trading goods made in their prison camps? Should we do the trading based only on our needs? Or you pick another issue, like child labor, or people working in horrible conditions in other countries at poverty wages, or some selling advanced weapons to dictators

Quote: Gandler

I 100% disagree, but let's put aside social topics for a second.

Let's say there was an active genocide, like there has been not long ago, in a county, let's say Rwanda, would it be right to let over 500,000 people (probably closer to 1 million) be killed, and millions more displaced, and the economy disrupted? In this case we famously did not act (and many people bash us for not intervening). The UN attempted to intervene, but only a couple hundred were on the ground (mostly French and Canadian I believe), and had virtually zero impact (blue helmets can't really engage in combat except in self defense).

Clinton did not want to intervene for purely political reasons. This is just one failure in modern times of not intervening, but it is an extreme example.

Do they want us to police the world, or not?

I would just say it's none of our business if there is a non-zero cost, at least, until we no longer have any national debt.

Quote: rxwine

What about official trade agreements? What would be your approach if North Korea was trading goods made in their prison camps? Should we do the trading based only on our needs? Or you pick another issue, like child labor, or people working in horrible conditions in other countries at poverty wages, or some selling advanced weapons to dictators

What would the Government be trading in? As far as child labor goes, have you had an iPhone within the last ten years, but more than a year ago? You can't force your country's standards on everyone else.

Sure, child and prison camp labor is wrong...but if it's not happening in our country, then it's not our problem.

Quote: Mission146

What would the Government be trading in? As far as child labor goes, have you had an iPhone within the last ten years, but more than a year ago? You can't force your country's standards on everyone else.

Sure, child and prison camp labor is wrong...but if it's not happening in our country, then it's not our problem.

I don’t know what libertarians believe about any necessity of getting into other countries problems, but I’m pretty uncomfortable with prison camps with human ovens roasting a significant number of its population for instance.

Would you only be concerned about the smell of human bodies burning in Canada as our biggest issue? Or when human remains get on our nicer beaches?

My position isn’t so much of unlimited attention to enforcing human rights in other countries, but it’s always doing something, not just nothing.

Quote: Mission146

Do they want us to police the world, or not?

I would just say it's none of our business if there is a non-zero cost, at least, until we no longer have any national debt.

I know that this is a very late reply, but, yes. I think we should police the world (and much of the world does as well).

There are very few countries that are in a position both morally and logistically that can police the world. If America will not do it, who will? China?

It is very important that the world is policed by the right countries. And, America is the perfect country for having Western values, being anti-imperialistic, and actually having the ability to (which alone very few countries do).

The idea that we cannot care about foreign issues until there is zero debt is fallacious. Our debt when scaled for GDP and population is actually pretty average (or above), so having the largest debt in the world, and hearing people talk about the raw numbers of "30+ trillion this is unheard of", is not relevant. For individual contrast, the average American has about 100k in personal debt (that includes mortgages and student loans -not just revolving credit type debt- which definitely skews it up), so its like saying, "Oh James has 70k in debt so he really should not be donating a couple thousand a year to charity until he cleans up his debt and lives within his means, he needs to worry about himself first", when in reality James is sightly above average for debt.

At the end of the day we can choose between the East and the West policing the world, and we all know which is preferable.

Consider allowing Japan and Germany to fully re-arm and allow them to have nukes.

That would certainly change the balance of power, and no doubt would scare the hell out of Putin.

I am of course aware that post-WWII the allies have taken great pains to prevent Germany and Japan from ascending again, but hey, it's expensive being the world's cop: our infrastructure is falling apart and we could use the cash infusion which a smaller defense budget would allow.

History teaches that no country, no empire lasts for ever.