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Vaniver comments on Open thread, Sep. 21 - Sep. 27, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: MrMind 21 September 2015 07:19AM

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Comment author: James_Miller 21 September 2015 03:23:09PM 6 points [-]

Democrats...are more likely to favor nuclear non-proliferation

Strongly disagree. Both parties verbally oppose nuclear proliferation, but Republicans are willing to go to war to stop it (the last President Bush reasonably thought Iraq was developing nuclear weapons) whereas Democrats are not. (Clinton let North Korea get nuclear weapons and Obama has been unwilling to attack Iran's nuclear program.)

Which party is better comes down to if you most fear a WWI (where everyone acting tough caused war) or WWII (where the failure of the good guys to act tough caused war) type failure.

Comment author: Vaniver 21 September 2015 04:24:03PM 9 points [-]

I would also add the Cuban Missile Crisis to the list of things to fear, where (as I perceive it) the Soviets thought the Americans would fold, and then the Americans escalated. Being tough but not being perceived as tough is a serious failure mode!

Comment author: James_Miller 21 September 2015 05:23:09PM 4 points [-]

Yes, and it's a common failure mode because people who are not tough often try to convince others that they are tough.