It’s pretty much common knowledge. School board, city council, and kind of local office, are considered good starting points because they help you begin to mobilize your constituents and get to know local issues, and how they depend and interact on the state and federal government.  

Well, I’ll disagree that it’s not an important factor. Government is actually kind of a complicated thing and people who work in it do well to come in knowing something about it. You can come in with good ideas shooting out your ass, and it won’t do you any good if you don’t understand who to go to get it done, what…

I never said “she needs executive experience.” I think she lacks the experience necessary to take on the role of governor, especially in a state as big as NY. I feel like I pretty clearly and directly explained how being a legislator would allow her to develop those skills - and yes, you do understand issues on a…

This is always my takeaway too when people say experience doesn’t matter. Yeah? Put your money where your mouth is, go hire someone with no experience but great ideas to babysit your kids, do your taxes, represent you in court. Let me know how that turns out. Why do we treat civil servants like it’s not a real job…

Agreed, but I am still getting tired of celebrities saying or hinting that they’d like to give politics a whirl and maybe they should be President or Governor. If Nixon had even served a term as a state Senator or something, I’d say maybe she’s interested in being part of a solution but this whole “start me off as…

Why the fuck are people pretending that Cynthia Nixon is a viable candidate for Governor? Just because you’re famous and have political opinions doesn’t mean you should run for office.

I doubt a Hillary nomination is damaging in New York, especially among Democrats. She did win the New York primary by 16 points after all.

Correction: if Mad is anything like me, she is simply opposed to Cuomo less. If the best you can say about Nixon (who seems nice and has some nice ideas, but has zero experience with executive governance) is that you she’s the brick you want to throw at The Establishment, well, I guess you haven’t learned much from…

I didn’t say it was necessary. I said it was useful. And frankly, there were places where Obama failed and probably having some executive experience would have benefited him. Being a corporate executive is entirely different, so yes, I think Trump is bad in part because he has zero experience in anything related to…

Political experience isn’t really the issue, it’s the lack of extensive management experience. Governor in particular is a management heavy position. I’d feel way better about her even running for senator or the House. Personal values don’t get you anywhere if you don’t have a good understanding how the government and…

Is there an inverse to the ‘Why not both?’ meme. Like, ‘why either?’ or ‘preferably not Cuomo but also not an actor with no governing experience?’

Hey, I’m far from the most informed or articulate person on this topic, but that’s the image associated with her. Such as related to AIDS, for example. I don’t have any understanding of her influence as negative regarding such things. I guess I’d explain it as a manifestation of our need to have positive focal points,…

What’s the upside to abolishing the monarchy supposed to be? The Royal Family would have the same wealth as before (being independently wealthy) and the same political power (virtually none). Britain would risk losing the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, which are Crown dependencies and not part of the United…

Why? They are mostly a philanthropic organization now, and the most visible symbol of the country that still pulls in tens of millions of dollars in revenue due to tourism. They are the best goodwill ambassadors a country could have.

Anyway, interesting to see supposed ‘left-wingers’ and great hopes of the Democratic Party, including George Clooney and Oprah, reveal their true stripes as royalists, and de facto upholders of privilege and the status-quo.

I don’t have an opinion about whether or not the British monarchy should be abolished. But I do, as an American, think that there are some upsides to separating the emotional/ceremonial role of the head of state from the practical/political role of the head of government. Constitutional monarchies where the head of…

Also, a solid majority of Brits support keeping the monarchy around. They see it as part of their national identity, I guess, and given that it seems essentially harmless at this point, there’s not much chance it’s going away any time soon.

The royals still technically own the Crown Estate but by terms of the legislation, the royals don’t administer the properties and have very little control over what’s done with them. It’s sort of a weird gray area, but my understanding is that absent the legislation, the holdings would all revert to the Windsors’…

So the gist is “Yeah, all those tourists come here for a glimpse of royalty, but like, maybe they would anyway?”

At least it was a good casting choice all that nepotism for all those years was weird.