After last night's debate Trump would claim he has the biggest boat.

lol! Those definitely are not 18 foot seas and it certainly isn't 50 mph breeze. ;-)

Marketing at its best.

Jake, while I agree with what you stated here;

Trump is using his own money, not any donors, etc.
You knew that, right?

Our system is co corrupt- if Billary were a Repo- she would already have been tried and in jail. But because she's a Demo-
with the intelligence of our voting public- she'll probably win.
4-8 more years-
of striving for mediocrity.

And- to stay in the theme-
Billary would be sailing a Wave. (Lacks performance, very forgiving hulls, Sunfish style rigging, etc.)
Ted would be on a N20 with flight control (precise skippering)
and Donald would be on a SC22. (It's going to be great)
Marco would be on a H18magnum. (Solid, with the wings to taunt others boats from)
Bernie would be on a Sunfish (Well, it's a sailboat- and the only one everyone should have; or course- it'll be free!)

And it kills me when those from other countries think by getting their slive of the media- they act as if they no amnything about a candidate overseas.
TonyF18- would be sailing 2-up, with Bernie on his Sunfish!

Don't kill yourself Todd.

In this time of internet we, I, can read in fact all the same media which you have in the US. Not media slives.

It's only the slang: "they no amnything" which I have difficulty with to understand. And ofcourse the endless number of abbreviations like TLC, BS, etc.
(I recently detected a special site for that: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=calling+bs )

But what I do miss, is the actual physical US-environment, people talking in the street, buildings, actual US-living. So the interpretation and validation of all this US media news is tricky for me. Hence my posts.

Todd, you are an outspoken right-wing man on a forum which has probably a majority of Demos. So I guess each election time is a hard(ish) time for you.

Cheer up.

"Todd, you are an outspoken right-wing man on a forum which has probably a majority of Demos. So I guess each election time is a hard(ish) time for you."

I believe you are way off about the majority. It would be interesting to know how you determined your assertion.

That's an interesting issue, you mention here Rick.

Must confess it was an assumption, based on intuition combined with reading the forumposts for almost 7 years.
You say,I'm way off, so that makes me really wonder about the actual division.

Don't dare to ask, but a poll on this forum would be interesting.
Though it would be totally wrong. (Politics, but also religion and everything regarding sex are touchy subjects).

I'm quite sure that at least regarding these last matters, there is a difference in openness between the Netherlands and the US.

Agree with Rick, this is a very right leaning forum. The demographic here is old, white and male, not much diversity, old white guys tend be very republican or whatever Trump is.

That's kinda hard to assess though, isn't it? The right tends to shout a lot louder, with a good bit more anger, and it makes them seem like there are more of them.

And Trump? Authoritarian. I've been reading a good bit of political science research on how Authoritarianism has been on the rise in the US. Historically speaking, when you bring together a series of social changes (health care, LBGT rights, etc.) and physical threats (terrorism) you see a rise in authoritarianism. The physical threat aspect can make people that don't naturally lean toward authoritarian to trend strongly in that direction. There are several examples of it in history around the world. Since the democratic party redefined itself as a party of social change back in the 70's, most of the authoritarianist shuffled toward the republican side and they're starting to define that group now that they've been ignited by the recent factors I listed above. The fear mongering trend has also given rise to that group as well. There's a bit of irony in that when Cruz and Rubio (and Fox News) do anything like fear mongering, they're actually inciting people toward an authoritarian figure like Trump.

Agree point one! Point two, I'm going sailing, this potential reality is making me anxious.

Where have you been Todd? Wandering the Walmart tunnels? Did you get a t-shirt for your troubles?

Groan.

The republican party is on the right? When did that happen? Last I knew they loved wasting money.

THey all do

Best line I ever heard, "A Republican is just a Democrat....with a JOB!"

Once you start paying taxes, in ever increasing amounts, and see a whole bunch of -non- tax payers sitting around getting free stuff, while you bust your butt to pay for it, all of a sudden, free stuff isn't so free. Why are people who do not pay any income tax, allowed to vote for someone who promises them more free stuff? Back in the beginning, you had to be a land owner to vote. Now over 50% of voters don't even pay income tax!

A long time ago I read a really funny (in a sad way) book called Parliament of Whores, by PJ O'Rourke. Very good look at how American politicians are 'paid' by the lobbies. And another good book about American politics, by Lou Dobbs, "Independents Day", goes deep into how much money is flying around in DC, paying our politicians millions from the 42,000 registered lobby groups. And that's just the registered groups.

This may be the first year I don't bother wasting my time to vote. I can't support either Trump or Hillary. It's pretty sad that in this great country, those two are the 'Best we can do'.

Why do some people open a position intended to persuade/inform with an insult? Is to make sure only like minded individuals read your post?

+1 maybe 12 ft seas.. At 50kt winds, it's more of a white squall, no?

Looks like reaching with a deep reef main and rolled up jib... Maybe 25 kts?

To Ronald's point I don't hear much "talk on the street" about politics.

Sure, there are some folk who love to talk about it to anyone who will listen, but some decorum still lingers in society that limits this for the most part.

The media tends toward the sensational, thereby forcing those who wish to gain media attention to become "sensational". Those pragmatic, collaborative, and open-minded candidates quickly get marginalized because it just doesn't make for good TV.

Very similar to the developments in "reality" TV. Take "the Bachelor" as an extreme example. Originally this show paid counselors and psychologists to evaluate the candidates prior to their appearance as contestants to determine their ability to deal with the various challenges (notoriety ,failure on the national scene, etc). They actually weeded out those with mental conditions that were deemed too extreme.

Now, those same TV producers actually review the evaluations and SELECT those candidates the professionals deemed unacceptable (violent tempers, vindictive behavior, binge personalities, OCD types) because it draws way more viewers.

In a final opinion of the irony, most realistic citizens choose NOT to run for political office for the very reasons they complain is wrong with the current system... We all want an "outsider" who won't pander to the rich... Well, the rich are putting an "insider" in the mix who is going to bury that outsider...

That's like asking for a PRO who's never judged your fleet and seen the (legal) tricks that some use to gain... We all shun the "snake in the grass" but we want one on our side when it comes to getting stuff done.

Watch that Netflix "House of Cards" series. It really looks believable.

Butthurt, table for one?

I have Hillary sailing a Submarine. Torpedoing anything in her way and hiding from the consequences.

Trump on the Maltese Falcon because it's "Huge".

Bernie will be on what ever boat he could borrow for the weekend.

Wait, if we're socialist, then isn't every boat for everyone? So he technically won't have to "borrow" one?