Hitchhikers Guide to Political Discussion
Created | Updated May 17, 2003
Welcome to the Hitchhikers Guide to Political Discussion part of the H2G2 Political Forum. Our goal is to list political discussions from across the Guide and to leave no political debate orphaned and forgotten. If you would like to see an entry or forum listed here, submit a report from the political front.
| Entries | Forums | |
|---|---|---|
| General Discussion* | Ask h2g2 | What's Wrong With Americans In October, 2000, st. broelan asked, "So what gives? Not being very worldly I can't claim to know what the prejudices against Americans are. But I feel like I'm an average American, just like any other average American, maybe I can dispel a few cultural myths...?" and after 780 posts, no one has run out of problems yet. |
| Talking Point: 11 September, 2001 | Why do people hate Americans? Zoe said, "I would just like to know some rasons behind the hatred. Any comments??" | |
| Abortion | Talking Point: Should Abortion be Available on Request? | "Pro/Anti-abortion" - better terms Demonica asks if there's a better way to name the sides in the debate than pro-life and pro-choice. Is there anyone who is against choice or opposed to life? |
| Death Penalty | The Death Penalty Peta and Ashley ask for opinions on the death penalty. | WWJD Just zis Guy asks, "What would Jesus do?" He then answers the question and the conversation is quite short. |
| No Subject I don't know what the original poster said, but the replies seem to be about the potential of executing innocent people. | ||
| Primitive Stuff... Is mise Duncan points out that the death penalty is contrary to the convention on human rights. | ||
| Pragmatic vs. moral arguments jgr suggests that there are pragmatic reasons to not use the death penalty. | ||
| Surely Christians must oppose CP? Huw B states that the one of the ten commandments very clearly prohibits killing. Therefore Christians should oppose the death penalty. | ||
| State Sanctioned Killing Della the Cat Woman discusses the Innocence Project, the effect of executions on society, and the use of medical personnel to carry out lethal injection. From the h2g2 Post. | ||
| Ask h2g2 | When the state kills is it justice or murder? HappyDude raises the question - is the death penalty justice or murder? | |
| Environment | Talking Point: Why Should We Care About the Environment? | |
| Talking Point: Are Recent Weather Extremes Caused by Global Warming? | ||
| Ask h2g2 | Enviroment-hp Xanatic wants to expose some of the lies that we are told about the environment. | |
| Screwed up enviromentalism Xanatic wants to clear up some environmental misconceptions. | ||
| The Hague Climate conference C Hawke asks for opinions about The Hague Climate Control Conference . | ||
| European Union | H2G2 Politics Forum | Europe Dogster asks if the idea of a European "super-state" is such a good idea and if the UK should be more integrated. |
| Ask h2g2 | Europa: The European Union HappyDude asks for opinions about the European Union. | |
| Should I wote for the Euro? hooloowoo ponders the vote to abandon Danish crowns. | ||
| Democracy in Europe Ray of Sunshine asks: If the European Parliament is the only directly elected body of the European Union, can the EU be called democratic? | ||
| Drugs | Talking Point: Should Cannabis be Legalised? | |
| Free Trade/Fair Trade, Subsidies and Protectionism | The Fairtrade Mark Zarniroop tells us about the Fairtrade Mark which identifies products where every person who helped make it is treated well and paid a living wage. | |
| H2G2 Politics Forum | Import Tariffs Das Mouldy Sandwich asks if the American steel tariff's are fair and how they reflect on the commitment of the United States to Free Trade. | |
| Ask h2g2 | What's so special about farmers? Is mise Duncan asks why should British meat farmers incompetence be underwritten by the taxpayer when they lack the ability to keep a herd disease free? | |
| Motorsports gets taxpayers money. Kaz reports that the British government is is giving the motor sports industry 6 million pounds of taxpayer funds. Is there a more worthy cause? | ||
| Gun Control | Gun Control in the US Zach Garland talks about the gun control debate in America and the gun laws that currently exist. | Gun Control Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron argues against gun control because most people are responsible enough to own firearms and armed citizens are an excellent deterrent to crime. |
| Ask h2g2 | The Right To Bear Arms HappyDude asks about the English right to bear arms in the 1689 Bill of Rights Act. | |
| 6 Years Later Rama points out that it's been 6 years since Thomas Hamilton burst into a Primary School, with 4 handguns, in Dunblane, Scotland and killed 13 children and their teacher before turning the gun on himself. Is the UK a safer place after the banning of handguns as a result of the Dunblane massacre? | ||
| Gun Control Just zis Guy asks about the restrictions on who can buy what firearms in the United States. | ||
| Right to Bear Arms CMaster asks why so many Americans feel so strongly about the right to bear arms. | ||
| Gun Control? Dorian Gray suggests that we should have bullet control, and the conversation goes on to discuss self-defense and burglary. | ||
| Guns and Politics in the USA GTBacchus proposes a collaberative entry on guns and politics in the United States. | ||
| National Politics | ||
| Australia | The Ideology of the Australian Labour Party Almighty Rob introduces us to the Labour Party of the Australia. | |
| France | Ask h2g2 | French first round elections Dogster notes that the far-right canidate came in second in the first round elections after center-right President Chirac. He ponders the implications. |
| UK | Liberal Democrats - UK Political Party Demon Drawer introduces us to the Liberal Democrat Party of the United Kingdom. | |
| Ask h2g2 | Not being difficult: but can we discuss the election? Andy wants to talk about the election without fighting. | |
| State funding of political parties Dogster asks where Labour party proposals to look into state funding of political parties will lead | ||
| Politics - a waste of time? Bright Blue Shorts asks if the parties are too close together in policy, is this all a waste of time. | ||
| Heavy duty election issue... Orcus points out that Brittany Spears has decided to back labour. | ||
| Who should be the next leader of the Conservative party? Archangel Galaxy Babe wonders what the Tories will do now that that William Hague has resigned. | ||
| UK Elections 2001 HappyDude asks for opinions about the election. | ||
| The next 4-5 years Jed Cooper asks if the Labour party will deliver. | ||
| The BNP and Repatriation St Emily Ultramarine wonders that if the British National Party wants to deport people to their nationa of origin, shouldn't how far back will they go. Will the offical language of the United Kingdom revert to Welsh and Galic? | ||
| Our Manifesto Pring & Walkers post the manifesto for their New New Labour Party. | ||
| USA | Ask h2g2 | US Elections - The Electoral College Other Person asks about how electors are selected and if a system that removes the popular vote from the decision about who is president be changed. |
| 2000 Election | The US Presidential Election 2000 - A Democrat's Perspective badtz_maru007 makes several complaints about the election of President Bush. | |
| Ask h2g2 | So is there a winner? All I want for Xmas is a Dukla Prague away kit asks about the 2000 presidential elections. | |
| Election Fraud Rainbow suggests that President Bush won the election because of Governor Jeb Bush's corruption and wonders how Americans feel about that. | ||
| Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron | Election 2000 After listening to the election coverage all nightTwo Bit Trigger Pumping Moron muses over the historic event in his journal. | |
| Venezuela | Ask h2g2 | Venezuela Dogster asks: Is it a case of vested interests overthrowing a (somewhat) progressive president, or is it a genuine popular uprising against a president who doesn't represent the interests of his people? |
| Zimbabwe | Ask h2g2 | Zimbabwe Orcus asks whether or not we have the right to intervene in elections in Zimbabwe. |
| Personalities | ||
| President George W Bush | Ask h2g2 | George W. Bush, Jr. Researcher 146198 posts some amusing quotes from the president. Others chime in with other quotes. |
| Political Philosophies | Talking Point: Monarchy or Republic you Decide! | |
| Ask h2g2 | Right or Left? Jamie of the Portacabin asks if researchers are right wingers or left wingers and why. | |
| Political Compass (was French first round elections) Find out which political philosophy fits you. Dogster introduces the "Political Compass" two dimensional measure of political orientation, and questions it's validity. [Ed Note: another two dimensional political categorization scheme is The World's Shortest Political Quiz.] | ||
| Communism/Socialism | Socialism Bob the Cactus introduces socialism. | |
| Ask h2g2 | Comunisum? JK the unwise questions some communist cliches. | |
| Socialism good, bad, indifferent? Dorian Gray suggests that the ideas of Karl Marx are good, although Stalin, Mao, etc. are not. | ||
| Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron | Communism Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron suggests that communism will always fail because it ignores the fact that people are inherently greedy and selfish. | |
| Socialism in the 21st Century Researcher 190755 lays out a plan to spread the influence of socialism in the new century. | ||
| Democracy | Democracy Man in Brown introduces this very popular if poorly defined and understood system of government. | A better way? Dad 'n Dave wonders if there's a new better way to run nations than with nearly identical parties who take from their safe constituency to give to fence sitters. |
| H2G2 Politics Forum | Do we need more democracy? Woodpigeon is concerned about voter apathy and asks: Do our political systems need to become even more democratic, and how specifically should that be done? | |
| Ask h2g2 | Democratic principles JAR asks, "If a political party is responsible for investing the judges, and the judges are responsible for investing the president, and the president comes from a political party, how is that compatible with democratic principles?" | |
| Sham Democracy An editorial by Dogster questioning how much the voters influence government when 51 the largest 100 economies of the world are corporations rather than countries. | ||
| Procedural Democracy Dogster | ||
| Libertarianism | Libertarianism Colonel Sellers introduces libertarianism. The philosophy of personal and economic freedom and the belief that when people act in their own self-interest, they manage better than any impersonal government can. | |
| Politicians | Ask h2g2 | Is it ok for politicians to lie to the electorate? A girl called Ben asks ... well you see the question. |
| Ask h2g2 | Politicians switching sides Is mise Duncan asks if politicians should resign if they switch sides. | |
| Poverty | The Dispossessive Case Lucinda considers how poverty and language is intertwined. | Kitchen Wonko likes to speak of poverty as the result of one's work which is a measurable piece of one's life. |
| A654239 - The Dispossessive Case Lucinda starts a conversation about language and poverty. See also The Dispossessive Case | ||
| Protesters | H2G2 Politics Forum | Anti-capitalist protestors: dangerous idiots or virtuous crusaders? Dogster asks if Anti-capitalist protestors are dangerous idiots or virtuous crusaders. |
| Ask h2g2 | Disrupting other people's lives Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron asks if its fair for protestors to interfere with the rights of other people to advance their cause. | |
| Refugees | H2G2 Politics Forum | Australia Das Mouldy Sandwich posts about Australia denying a ship load of refugees from Afghanistan seeking asylum from landing on their shores. |
| Reparations | Reparations An editorial by Dogster defending reparations for slavery and colonialism. | |
| Ask h2g2 | Slavery Lawsuits Hit US Firms Looneytunes announces that several US corporations have been hit with a class action lawsuit over slavery. | |
| Rights and Liberties | Rights Pattern-chaser explores the balance between rights and duties. | No such thing as rights... Orcus states that there is no such thing as an inherent right or duty. |
| Civil Liberties and Terrorism Dogster is concerned about the loss of liberties as a result of terrorism. | ||
| Terrorism | ||
| WTC and the Fallout | Talking Point: 11 September, 2001 | |
| H2G2 Politics Forum | US: Terrorist attacks After the 9/11 attack, Dogster asks: What will the impact of this be for America and for the rest of the world? What will it do to peaceful relations, the situation in the middle east, the world economy, the status of middle eastern people living in the US, etc.? | |
| Afghanistan: Bombing begins Dogster considers the targets of the bombing in Afghanistan. | ||
| Afghanistan / Taliban / bin Laden Dogster asks about the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. Have the peace lovers been proved wrong? Is the end of the Taliban a good thing? Will this coalition government thing work out? Could the war have been conducted better with fewer civilians bombed, less food warehouses destroyed, and so forth, or is that just trying to find criticism where there is none? | ||
| bin Laden video Dogster asks: Whaddya think? Is it genuine? Does it change anything? | ||
| Note on terrorism in the US Dogster suggests that terrorists aren't opposed to democracy and freedom, but an attack on US economic and military domination. | Terrorism around the world Athena suggests that the way to deal with terrorists is to address the terrorists' concerns. | |
| Civilisation Bossel doesn't mind the words that President Bush uses; it's the way he combines them that makes his ears curl. | ||
| Criticising war-mongering is to show true respect for the dead Dogster | ||
| IRA | H2G2 Politics Forum | Is the war over? Is mise Duncan considers if the war with the IRA is over. |
| War | Ask h2g2 | The Ethics of War Happy Dude ponders the of 'Just War' questions: Is it ever right to go to war? When is it right to wage war? What is the moral way to conduct a war? This is based on the ideas presnted at The Ethics of War |
| Pro-War Demo MrCoconutt wonders why there are never any demonstrations for wars when the cause is just. | ||
| Israeli Conflicts | Ask h2g2 | Israel /Palestine Zorpheus asks about this ongoing conflict. |
| How do you 'take' peace to a war-loving people? Tonsil Revenge asks how if we can force peace. Can we settle the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? The conversation then drifts to the music of Sting and Mark Knopfler | ||
| Bush calls Sharon 'a man of peace' LÒÒnytunes - As US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Israel in a bid to start crucial ceasefire talks today (12/4/02), President George W Bush maintained Ariel Sharon "is a man of peace" - while a Saudi princess donated her Rolls-Royce, a woman gave up her dowry and other Saudis poured millions of dollars into a fund in aid of families of Palestinian martyrs. When will this lunacy end? | ||
| Colin Powell in Middle East - failure? Zagreb asks if the Secretary of State's mission was a failure. |
