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Toby Buckle

@polphilpod.bsky.social

15K followers 1.9K following 4.7K posts

Host of the Political Philosophy Podcast & occasional writer. US & UK politics, philosophy, religion, & the odd food pics.

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 25d

the UK's new anti-trans rules are indefensible & will make global fascism stronger

my latest with @liberalcurrents.com

www.liberalcurrents.com/britains-bat...

Britain’s Bathroom Ban

The UK has gone from a bathroom ban being unthinkable to a Labour government implementing one without a vote

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 10m

& the UK version which, if nothing else, makes the dems look great in contrast

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 11m

addendum:

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1h

"why grade dems when the country is on fire?"

i get wanting to avoid friendly fire - i do, at the same time, i think there's some basic stuff we need the party to be unified on & they're not quite there yet

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

i made a model to assign scores for how robustly US politicians oppose fascism & graded 13 leading dems

criteria & method QTed, individual results in 🧵 below:

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 13m

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Reposted by Toby Buckle

Gluten-free Seitan @davidjorgonson.bsky.social · 5h

Grim results
(ranking UK pols on opposition or accomodation to fascism)

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 55m

naturally it's a first pass one guy did with a google search - i'm more just trying to demonstrate something i think would be useful to exist

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 56m

this is, in my view, what i think our side needs to unify on (& increasingly *are* unifying on, none of this is pie in the sky)

that's my judgement of course, but then i'm trying to specific & impartial - everyone gets points according to the same standard

bsky.app/profile/polp...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

i want a "resistance ranking" for dems that grades them on how seriously they're taking this

something like support for:

1. prosecuting gop criminality
2. court reform
3. procedural agressiveness
4. end ICE
5. trans rights
6. calling this fascism

+ points for having taken personal risks

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 58m

that's not a total evaluation of the man - if i were ranking him on issues agreement he'd probably be higher, nor is it to say he's a bad person, or a collaborator

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1h

i'm also saying exactly what i think dems need to sign up to - so if schumer wants to go up the rankings, he needs to call for court expansion, the arrest of administration officials, and ending ICE, for instance

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1h

progressives can often blame dems for things republicans do, or vaguely yell at them to 'Do Something', without really specifying what "something" is

i'm trying to avoid that, i'm asking people to aggressively back the side, not attacking the side myself

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1h

by need i don't mean "i would like" i mean "we need to have this clear for something resembling a free society to come out the other side

i don't think, for instance, we can get back to liberal democracy with the current supreme court, i think they've made that abundantly clear

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1h

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

i made a model to assign scores for how robustly US politicians oppose fascism & graded 13 leading dems

criteria & method QTed, individual results in 🧵 below:

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3h

update/ correction people have shown me some zarah sultana statements calling the protests fascists, that'll upgrade her a bit

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3h

no labour politician i did got as high as the lowest dem

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3h

tbf, schumer is much better than starmer on this front - the Fs shouldn't be taken as equal

Threshold for a D was 20, schumer was 19, starmer 4

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3h

same story as with the bathroom ban article - people would defend the policy, but not him

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3h

my mentions: some defences of schumer, no - zero, none - defences of starmer

man has no shooters, he's shooterless 😪😪

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

I missed that, will revise

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

obviously this is limited, doesn't cover everything, etc

& to address a criticism, yeah, i'm just looking at what people say - are they even *describing* the problem?

that's not everything, but it's not nothing either - &, as you've seen, a low bar most aren't clearing

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

share if you thought that was valuable/ interesting

bsky.app/profile/polp...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

here's the US version for contrast

bsky.app/profile/polp...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

i made a model to assign scores for how robustly US politicians oppose fascism & graded 13 leading dems

criteria & method QTed, individual results in 🧵 below:

1 1 1

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

but, more than that, they'll be *no one* stopping the slide, our centre left just don't get it, like really profoundly don't get it

the US dems came a long way in the last decade

the british left will have to come much further, in much less time

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

the UK isn't as far down the road of institutional collapse as the US, but i'm increasingly thinking we should be *even more* afraid here

for one thing, we don't have the same institutional constraints, checks & balances, once we start they'll be nothing stopping the slide

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

initial thoughts: that was grim, i knew it would be grim & i was still a bit shocked by the grimness

my methodological constraint of 'award points in the same way you would to a US dem was devastating

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i didn't mean that to end up as an advert for the greens (& obviously the model doesn't address issues such as tactical voting, vote distribution, etc)

but just being fair & applying the criteria evenly, he scores much higher than the others - or, to put it in perspective, he's an average US dem

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

10. lets end with our one passing grade

the green party leader has called trump a fascist, drawn clear values distinctions, & is pro trans rights

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