Rather than judging Presidents based on how their policies match with my own personal political ideologies, I prefer to judge them on how well I can see them performing their role in the office. This past election was past from clean, and as far as I can see, the Republican reaction to the election has not left President Obama with a Congress easy to work with. Since there's a split Congress, if Romney had won, he still would have had trouble with the Senate. However, with Obama's heavy influence on compromise for his past term, I feel like Democrats would be more likely to comprise with Romney than Republicans with Obama, even if they only do so out of an obligation to uphold their image as 'cooperative.'

Romney, if nothing else, has also shown his flexibility in policies. While this has disgusted some people, I feel we need a President who knows how to do this. The current public image of the relationship between the President's seat and Congress is one of constant fighting. Certainly, both parties would like to paint it this way, because it's beneficial to both to show their side "extending the open hand of compromise", while implying it's the fault of the other side for being stubborn.

Romney, hypothetically, would more easily be able to reach compromises and successfully push for bills because of both his flexibility and a more open Congress. This would give the public a more positive image of the government and increase faith that, perhaps, the government isn't broken and can still get things done. This faith, more than any policy a President can push, is what I believe can aid the country most at this point.

I didn't consider it that way, thanks for the clarification!

As a word of warning: if you truly mean this post as an experiment to compare the response on Hubski to the response on Reddit, then the open disdain phrased in your question creates a distinct bias against responding with a controversial opinion that could seen as belonging to a "young, relatively wealthy white male."

That being said, I don't think Romney would have made a bad president. The way he ran his campaign was dubious and I tend to lean Democratic, but even still I still think Romney was a stronger choice than Obama.

I agree.

The people who signed off on the funding that went to my school probably just wanted me to shut up and graduate though.

SIMPLICIO: But then how can schools guarantee that their students will all have the same basic knowledge? How will we accurately measure their relative worth? SALVIATI: They can’t, and we won’t.

It seems to me that people love results too much these days. Grades are easy. Grades can be sorted into statistics, and statistics are rewarding. Statistics can be brought into the DoE in a manila envelope with a report that says, the 4 billion we sent to this state raised scores by 7% over two years.

Some of the clauses in No Child Left Behind just seem to be poorly thought out and hidden from the public. A friend of mine who teaches at the local high school informed me that teachers are evaluated, partially, on the improvement that a student makes throughout the year. Teachers who lead AP or IB classes with higher-scoring students are, under this clause, going to get a lower evaluation simply because these students do not have much room for improvement that can be reflected score-wise. Which means there's now an incentive for teachers to create impossible tests at the beginning of the year and then give an easy final to get a good evaluation, regardless of how well they actually teach.

Any specific uses you have in mind for your computer? Are you in a design field? Engineering? Programming? Interesting in gaming or keeping your system vanilla for work?

It’s true that students in Finland, South Korea and Canada score better on mathematics tests. But it’s their perseverance, not their classroom algebra, that fits them for demanding jobs.

I believe you may have misread these sentences because they're terribly phrased. The author isn't claiming that the US scores lower than Finland, South Korea and Canada because they're less lazy. Rather, he's claiming that although these countries score better than the U.S. in math, their algebraic skills don't make a difference past graduation. Rather, their perseverance helps them in their career pursuits.

By extension, the author implies that US students can simply make up for a lack of algebraic knowledge with perseverance. Okay.

Furthermore, the author's argument that taking out algebra would increase graduation rate is exactly the kind of statistically pleasing nonsense that sadly seems to be the norm and might appeal to the US government. It reminds me of the NY state testing change that happened a few years ago to some tests, where high scores would be curved down and low scores would be curved up, so that the state could claim- backed by statistics, of course- that they created a test that increased the percentage of students who passed without making it too easy for higher scoring students.

Is absolute freedom a paradox if it's applied universally rather than to an individual?

If no one can place restrictions on one another, this places a restriction on everyone.

It seems to me then the question is asking if I would prefer absolute freedom or absolute security, applied to only me and no one else, which is essentially asking if I would rather do whatever I want or be imprisoned. Looking at the question this way, it's biased towards absolute freedom.

First off, I guess I'm in a similar rut. Every day seems to drag out endlessly. The days are long, the nights are even longer. I feel as if I'm separated from the world, numb and friendless. My family is going through some divisive issues at the moment and I know I'm seriously fucking up some of my relationships. My fraying tempers are definitely not helping. And typically, that's what I've found happens when I fall in a rut. It negatively affects the way I think and act, which in turn, makes it harder for me to become 'genuinely happy' again.

It helps to know that really aren't that bad. My family has gone through similar situations in the past and made it out in one piece. And it's reassuring to know that I have close friends I can talk to, even if I'm not doing so right now. I have a clear goal for college, even if I don't know where it'll lead. Simply taking a moment to rest my mind and realize these facts- by meditating, by talking to a friend, or by posting anonymously online- helps me to focus my thoughts.

Thanks.