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   Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 07:32:29 JST Evan Prodromou

   "What caused the Civil War?" is kind of an wild thing to ask a presidential candidate, though.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 10:14:17 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Philip Mallegol-Hansen

     @philip I dunno. If I got a chance to ask a question to a presidential candidate, I'd ask them their position on a policy I care about.

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     Philip Mallegol-Hansen (philip@mastodon.mallegolhansen.com)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 10:14:18 JST Philip Mallegol-Hansen

     in reply to

     @evan It’s on the immigration test. Doesn’t strike me as wild to ask potential presidents the same questions as potential citizens to gauge their competence.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 10:24:19 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Jay 🗳️
     • Tim Bray

     @jsit @timbray the weird part is that there are literally elected Republican officials calling for secession again.

     It feels like a really great opportunity for her to differentiate herself from Trump and appeal to moderate voters. "What caused the Civil War was a deep social injustice, slavery, but also extremists unwilling to correct that injustice peacefully."

     https://www.businessinsider.com/mtg-defends-call-split-up-us-says-civil-war-looming-2023-2

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     Jay 🗳️ (jsit@social.coop)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 10:24:21 JST Jay 🗳️

     in reply to

     • Tim Bray

     @timbray @evan Yeah, it worked.

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     Tim Bray (timbray@cosocial.ca)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 10:24:22 JST Tim Bray

     in reply to

     • Jay 🗳️

     @jsit @evan I think it was effective journalism, revealing something important about a candidate for high office.

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     Jay 🗳️ (jsit@social.coop)'s status on Saturday, 30-Dec-2023 10:24:24 JST Jay 🗳️

     in reply to

     @evan It was very obviously not asked in good faith, and designed to generate a viral moment.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 31-Dec-2023 02:33:52 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Philip Mallegol-Hansen

     @philip I mean, I get it. It's uncovering something important about the candidate. But on the surface it sounds weird, like when they ask candidates how much a quart of milk costs. Important but strange-sounding.

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     Philip Mallegol-Hansen (philip@mastodon.mallegolhansen.com)'s status on Sunday, 31-Dec-2023 02:33:53 JST Philip Mallegol-Hansen

     in reply to

     @evan Point taken. The question itself isn’t wild, but prioritizing it as the *one* you ask might be.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:34:07 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     The full question was apparently "What was the cause of the United States Civil War?"

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:35:39 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     I agree that "slavery" is the closest thing to a single answer you can give. "Racism" and "colonialism" are probably distant seconds, which you could argue are the root causes of slavery.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:37:23 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     I would ask two follow-up questions, since I think they're harder:

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:39:34 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     Many countries abolished slavery without a war. Why did the United States need a war to end slavery?

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:40:46 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     And: slavery existed in what is now the United States for almost 250 years before the Civil War. Why did it take so long to end slavery? Why did it happen just then?

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:52:18 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Michael Santaly

     @wonkothesane not rhetorical! I am actually interested in the answer. I agree that federalism probably played a role in necessitating a war to end slavery.

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     Michael Santaly (wonkothesane@mstdn.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:52:19 JST Michael Santaly

     in reply to

     @evan I know this is probably rhetorical, but it’s because of the way our government is set-up to give the minority party (or states) a disproportionate amount of power. We see this all the time in 2023-24. It doesn’t actually matter what the majority of citizens want when Wyoming gets the same amount of senators as California

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:55:47 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • tisbruce

     @tisbruce I didn't say it "just happened". I asked, why did it happen just then? As in, why was there a war to end slavery in the 1860s and not the 1660s or the 1760s?

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     tisbruce (tisbruce@functional.cafe)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:55:48 JST tisbruce

     in reply to

     @evan Well, it didn't *just* happen. Southern politicians had been threatening secession for decades because of the trends they could see developing.