What Is The Greatest Threat To The Long Term Viability Of The Democrat Party

I am a Republican. What would a Democrat say to get me to switch parties?

I don't think there is anything that can be said to change a Republican's mind in these matters.  To be fair: it's hard to change anyone's mind about personal beliefs with an argument, no matter how strong that argument may be.In 2000, more people identified as Republican than Democrat; Today, more people identify as Independent than either party, with the Republicans finishing third.  This means a good number of those who identified as Republican, and who are of the sort to change their mind already have done so.  The events of the last Republican Presidency and the intransigence of the Republican congress being a better cause for reconsideration than any words can bring forth.  If one remains a Republican after the United States was attacked on their watch, waged war against the wrong country in retaliation leading to the longest war in our history, had it's economy laid to rubble without government oversight, bailed out of the perpetrators of the collapse with little going to the victims, moved forward on social issues against a backdrop to Republican obstruction and vitriol spewed toward the have-nots in our society like gays, the poor, and dark-skinned, and watched the downgrade of the US credit rating caused by Congressional intransigence, one must be pretty strident in their convictions, whatever they may be.  Clearly, one can't point to Experience to change their minds.And then if one is the sort that denies climate change, or whether Obama was born in America,  it seems one can't draw on Facts to change their minds.So you are left trying to come up with an argument strong enough to pull somebody from a deeply held belief without being able to use Experience or Facts to bolster your debate.  And your audience is only the most strident adherent to the Republican political dogma.  Where does that leave you?Pretty much where I started: I don't think there's anything that can be said to change a Republican's Mind.  On the bright side, do you really want a big bloc of closed minded individuals mucking up the ideological debate on your side too?

Which country do you think is a greater threat to the world: China or America?

I vote the US now, China in 10 years.The US has the power to project. But it is an empire that is waning. We're broke, we're tired, and we are locked in the logical political result of the two party democracy: stalemate and inaction. The major threat to the world posed by the US is because the world economy hinges on the US being stable and secure. If the US economy were to collapse it would take the world down with it.On the other hand China's population alone increases it's environmental impact by at least a factor of 4 over the US. 1.4 billion Chinese chasing the new Chinese dream is an absolutely terrifying environmental proposition. Add up the entire populations of the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan and you still don't equal the population of China. They buy refrigerators and the ozone shivers. China is quickly destroying it's own natural environment at a bone chilling rate. What will happen when a rich modernized China runs out of clean food, clean water? What we are seeing now is the beginning of the world resource end game. China is jostling for sea boundaries in the South China Sea. It's quickly building military to project and protect.China's 1st Aircraft CarrierChina is making friends in Africa by building free infrastructure. FREE.China has a staunch ally in totalitarian Russia on the UN Security Council. It's also making friends in Brazil and Latin America. Who needs the West?The Chinese Communist party does not follow the rule of law. They will do whatever it takes to preserve national stability and their own power structure. They aren't bad people. I think of them as nice Chinese grandpas who play rough. I would trust them to look after my kids.They just don't give a fuck about the rest of the world.Your precious Kyoto protocols, human rights, and love of democracy are lost on these guys.  The West can't get it through their thick skulls who they're really dealing with. They don't talk as much as the West. They just quietly go about figuring out ways to put China in a stronger position with each and every day. No troubling elections, legal checks and balances, or free press to bother them. And the bad news is if China actually needs them to maintain stability. A fragmented China is even more terrifying.We are the borg. Resistance is futile.

Why has democracy been so popular?

My somewhat cynical response to this is that it is popular because it gives the populace the illusion that they have some sort of control over who governs them, as distinct from a monarchy or dictatorship where the right to rule is by birth or military strength, respectively. They will then make broad proclamations that “democracy is freedom!”, which is a nice illusion that is rarely truly the case.I think that anybody who has any experience with government workings will see that there are powers behind the scenes, special interests, etc. that dictate how the country is run - which laws get voted on, which ones get enforcement priority, even which issues should be put to the populace on a ballot or referendum.Without wishing to be too harsh on democracy, though, just about every form of government can be manipulated to bring them away from the ideology - communism has only very rarely truly been what it was supposed to be, and generates an elite just like a capitalist society does. Theocracies get bound into such political agendas that have very little to do with the religion.Of the forms of government that have been shown to be viable over a long term, democracy in a capitalist environment is the most effective, in my opinion. Rampant capitalism doesn’t work unless there are checks and balances that can only be provided by the government. So it’s the best compromise, for my standards.