Quote your early Atlas posts, and give your (hopefully) wiser commentary.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

-first of all, there is no chance that the ev number by state would be exactly the same. congressional seats and therefore electoral votes are reapportioned every ten years as a result of the census.

-also, someone being elected for seven terms is not realistic. even in the very unlikely case of the 22nd amendment being repealed, as you described, nobody could maintain that much support for more than 25 years.

this is not meant to criticise you, though. i just kind of get annoyed at tiny little things like that. it is a good timeline, in general.

…you know this is a joke timeline, right?

[SATW]

Bob Casey, Jr. is one these types of people. I tend to agree with him on many issues (and voted for him in 2012), but I just see him as a man who is living off his father's career.

This was only in March, so I believe the same thing pretty much...except I will NOT be voting for him in 2018, if I still live in PA.

[free my dawg]

I praised Andrew Cuomo.

Let's just leave it at that and drink to forget I said that.

[afleitch]

I struggled to pick just one nugget in the plethora of sh!te that made up 2003-2004, but I thought I'd go with this one.

Yah, but we have Tommy Sheridan! Spit..I hate that man with a passion. I'm a middle of the road man. In fact I gave the Tories my 2nd vote back in May because the Scottish Parliament is a wee bit too left-leaning for my liking with all those Nationalists and Greens kicking about

I was an annoying, grating Labourite. If I'd stayed that way, I'd have fitted in better amongst the UK posters

[SteveRogers]

My first ever post:

You have to have 2 US citizen parents when born abroad to be a natural-born citizen.  Indeed IIRC a law was passed specifically stating that (in order to keep the Vietnamese rape babies out).

False. The actual law regarding birthright citizenship is as follows:

Title 8 U.S.C. §1401

The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
[I then posted the entire statute]

Well, I was right, though I see how that might seem like a semi-obnoxious way to enter the forum. I was going through a phase where I felt the need to battle birthers so I came here to clear up various common misconceptions.

2nd post: 

Also, unlike Huntsman or Pawlenty, Perry is the type of candidate who can give Obama a run of his money when it comes to style. He is tall, handsome, a good orator and a decent debater.

Except for when he refuses to debate his opponent, which should pretty much tell you everything you need to know about Rick Perry.

Well in retrospect, Rick Perry turned out to be.. yeah, pretty terrible at debates. Good job past me.

[Oak Hills]

I believe that President Obama will win, but it is far from a sure thing.

Well, I got that prediction right.

[TNF]

Political Typology : Solid Liberal

Select Smart Ideology Selector : Radical

Political Compass : -5.75, -3.49

Political Matrix : -6.71, -3.65

Politopia : South

World's Smallest Political Quiz : Liberal

Ok!Cupid Politics Test : Social Liberal (66% permissive), Economic Liberal (25% permissive)

Moral Politics : Socialism / Social Democratism

Vom

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Political Typology : Solid Liberal

Select Smart Ideology Selector : Radical

Political Compass : -5.75, -3.49

Political Matrix : -6.71, -3.65

Politopia : South

World's Smallest Political Quiz : Liberal

Ok!Cupid Politics Test : Social Liberal (66% permissive), Economic Liberal (25% permissive)

Moral Politics : Socialism / Social Democratism

Vom

Lmao

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I've made a few posts on the forum before but I have not really properly introduced myself and I figured that this is as good a place to do it as any, since I'm a bit shy with formal introductions.

Social Issues

General: Center-left, some communitarian tendencies but that's not really the most determinative strain in my positions in this realm.

Abortion: Somewhat conflicted feelings. Both my personal beliefs and medical ethics dictate that somewhere after conception but between birth certain lines should be drawn but I would rather leave where to draw them and what kind of lines they should be up to people who know more about bioethics than I do. I would probably counsel my loved ones against abortion except in case of risk to their life, rape, or incest, but I have less than no desire to see that legislated.
Gay marriage/adoption/families: Very strongly support. I also support covenant marriage, including for same-sex couples. I am aware that this is a very unusual position but I stand by it.
Affirmative action: I support socioeconomic affirmative action rather than race-based affirmative action, which I think is actually constitutionally questionable at worst.
Hate crimes legislation: Support.
Gun control: I think that it's important to keep in mind that to an extent there's an urban-rural divide on this issue. States should set minimum registration standards, which local governments should be allowed to add to. I do however support federal bans on certain types of military-grade weapons for civilians.
Death penalty: Abolish completely, except possibly in times of domestic war or for uniformed personnel directly involved in theaters of combat overseas.
Euthanasia: Do not legalise but do not prosecute except in cases of obvious abuse of authority on the part of doctors.
Drugs: Legalise and tax marijuana cultivation and possession but keep heavy limits on transport and a ban on importation; deliberately put and keep other 'soft' drugs (a term which should be defined by medical professionals working on commission rather than career bureaucrats) in a legal grey area by lightening sentences and not aggressively prosecuting. Maintain heavy sentences and aggressive prosecution for trafficking of harder drugs; equalise sentences for crack and powder cocaine; offer mandatory supervised rehab as an alternative to imprisonment for addicts.
Prostitution: Maintain bans on soliciting the services of a prostitute. Vigorously prosecute current laws against the human trafficking end of the business. Decriminalise actually being a prostitute, so that prostitutes who are being victimised can safely go to the law for help.

Economic Issues

General: Left-communitarian

Taxes: Maintain a progressive income tax but aggressively eliminate almost all loopholes and deductibles other than for spouses, dependents, and charitable donations. Investigate the feasibility of a cap or tax on total personal wealth.
Spending: Radically cut spending on old Cold War projects that no longer do anything. Avoid long-term structural deficits if possible but running deficits in individual years is not the end of the world.
Welfare: Maintain and strengthen.
Education: Radically increase support for public education up to the university level.
Regulations: Increase significantly on financial services, transit, natural resources, and likely some other industries I'm forgetting. Loosen on small businesses, especially hospitality and retail.
Labour: Repeal Taft-Hartley. Mandatory bargaining for all unionised industries, and all companies must allow free votes on unionisation.
Free trade: I oppose omnibus free-trade pacts but support low or nonexistent tariffs for many if not most things. We must, however, maintain the ability to adjust tariffs to protect our own businesses.
Health care: Keep PPAC Act for the time being but lay the groundwork for a bigger push for a more universal system.

Foreign Policy

General: Internationalist but non-militarist.

Military: Streamline and smarten. Get out of useless land bases in places like Germany and Japan; maintain air and sea capabilities worldwide.
United Nations: Strengthen it by strategically undermining the positions of authoritarian regimes within it.
Israel: Take a harder line in favour of a two-state solution with an internationalised Jerusalem.
Alliances: Ramp up commitments to other democracies.
China: Take a much, MUCH harder line. Demand major and meaningful reforms in the areas of minority rights, local government, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, labour relations, and environmental protection in exchange for our continued favoured trade arrangements.

Constitutional

Implement IRV for Congressional elections
Restore rules requiring floor filibusters in the Senate
Devolve partisan functions to House Majority Leader and require two-thirds vote to elect the Speaker
Directly elect the President via nationwide IRV

Not much strikes me as obviously, screamingly bullsh**t now (although some does, such as wanting to loosen regulations on the hospitality industry for some reason...?), but I had a really pompous posting style four years ago (just to name the most notable problem, why in the world am I using British English?), and some of my political views were either similarly pompous ('...but I stand by it'. 'We must, however...'. 'Streamline and smarten'.) or vague platitudes that I slapped together because I liked to hear myself talk (what in the world am I even saying about gun control?!).

My next post is:

John Raese has lost elections to Jay Rockefeller, Robert Byrd, and Joe Manchin, and even though they were all Senate races Manchin was Governor at the time that Raese lost to him. Still somehow less pathetic-seeming than the prospect of Rossi losing all three top-tier statewide elections in his state (in the case of the one of the offices twice), though.

I stand by this.

Also, 2011 Madeleine liked Bob Menendez better than Frank Lautenberg, I can only assume because she was insane and a mega-HP.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I am still immensely proud of my sixth ever post:

Scenario: After Hillary pulls out of the Democratic nomination, veteran California Governor Jerry Brown announces his nomination, based on his handling of a state considered ungovernable. To complement his West Coast weirdness, he chooses reliable Ohio Progressive Senator Sherrod Brown.

The GOP meanwhile opts for wily moderate Massie Scott Brown, having triumphantly and unexpectedly won in the NH Senate election. As part of his pivot for the GOP base, he chooses fellow freshman senator Paul Broun of Georgia. Despite their difference on social issues, they agree to run on fiscal issues and as a contrast for the Obama years.

Who will win?
Which states will go which way?
Will minority voters be swayed by the presence of brown people on the ticket?

Perfection.

There is a lot of dodgy stuff on the early posts: I said Noxon's domestic policy was good, I talked out my arse on Baltic politics, I have a horrendously sanctimonious and melodramatic post about cocaine, I supported Radikale Venstre etc.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Do I have to do this?

[IceSpear]

Political Typology : Solid Liberal

ROFLMFAO! This is definitely the best one.

[The Other Castro]

Mike Rounds: 51%
Rick Weiland: 28%
Larry Pressler: 18%
Gordon Howie: 3%

I just realized I was within 1% for everyone for the actual results. Nice job younger me.

[Hash]

My infamous first post was this sh**t:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

a. You were 14 years old you moron, you could not vote for anybody even if you wanted to
b. Sarkozy? Poison Dwarf? Go off yourself please. I wish to apologize for my youthful stupidity and the horrible political views of my early teenage years. Although, on the plus side, my first post was not 'Harper 2006!', which it would likely have been if I had registered about a year earlier.
c. Surprisingly nice on Ségo, although this was written before she was revealed as a psycho lunatic. The only thing I don't regret from my awful 2006/2007 views is that I already knew Ségo was trash. Also, I don't care for 'experienced politicians' anymore.
d. The Ché! A real blast from the past!

Some time later, in the same thread:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

a. I do love that I said 'no offence' in that last sentence, which cannot be offensive to anybody. I suppose the dumb 14 year old me must have thought that you needed to be polite when talking on the internets.
b. More cheap bargain bin political commentary, from an impressionable 14 year old just getting interested by politics, rehashing trite nonsense - 'at least he's said something!!!' or, Jesus F. Christ, 'he's going to do something to control immigration'. Likely because of my parents and unfriendly school environment, 14 year old me did not like brown people and absolutely loved the tough rhetoric of dumb politicians - "LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!" or "CONTROL IMMIGRATIONS!!!!" Again, I wish to apologize for my youthful stupidity and the horrible political views of my early teenage years.

On the plus side, I did write in some other post "What's up with this clown Dupont-Aignan? He needs to get help" (in early 2007). Some 8 years later, one could say exactly the same. Oh, French politics, how you never change.

Most of my other posts were inane and stupid what-if questions and scenarios clearly thought of and written by a dumb insufferable 14 year old, bargain bin political commentary typical of a sperglord kid who just discovered political discussion on the internets in 2006, or *gasp* a forum community match-up with me. So horrible. ugh

[Phony Moderate]

Mitt Romney will get the nomination for a number of reasons. Firstly, he has a lot of experience, and the Republicans have a history of choosing an experienced nominee. Secondly, he's not too Conservative and not too Liberal for the Republican base. Thirdly, he has charisma and seems to be quite intelligent.

Well, I was right but way too kind to the old dear.

There's going to be an election here most likely this summer or next summer. Who do you guys think will win? The Tories have a big lead in the polls right now, and i can't see them losing to be honest. Labour will hold on to maybe 250 seats if they are lucky, and the Lib Dems (who i support the most out of the three main parties) will hold on to about 50 seats. The Tories will get about 350 seats. Also, the BNP (British National (Nazi) Party) look as though they could do well, and they could win a seat or two (i hope not though).

Back in the days when Cameron was a fluffy liberal, the BNP were at their height, most were expecting a 1997 in reserve the following year and no one had heard of Nick Clegg. But...yeah. The highlight (aside from not realising the existence of NI in my prediction) was my faint praise of the Lib Dems...I suppose I supported them until the Bigotgate saga (yes) put me in the Labour fold.

Barack Obama 2009-2017
Hillary Clinton 2017-2021
Jeb Bush 2021-2025

The first one is probably going to be right...and if Jeb loses the nod to a nutter he could come bac four years later with a "I told you so" tagline.

Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Lincoln Chafee, Colin Powell, Ted Kennedy, Tammy Baldwin.

This was an unironic post in a "Least corrupt politicians" thread.