Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee announced he is running for president on Wednesday, becoming the third Democrat to challenge Hillary Clinton.
“Today I am formally entering the race for the Democratic nomination for president,” Chafee said in a university auditorium just outside Washington, D.C.
His announcement speech focused on finding “a way to wage peace.” The former Republican highlighted his opposition to the Iraq war, called for an end to drone strikes, and said he would reinvigorate the United Nations and further engage Russia.
He also said Edward Snowden should be allowed to come home and the U.S. should rethink the war on drugs. And, in one of the more unique policy positions outlined in a campaign speech this year, Chafee proposed the U.S. switch to the metric system.
“Here’s a bold embrace of internationalism: let’s join the rest of the world and go metric,” he said. During a question and answer session the former senator said it would be “symbolic integration” and a good-faith gesture to the rest of the world.
I remember when the lunatics tried converting us to the metric system. It was right around the same time they started making kids play soccer. It’s another example of how the Cult’s self-loathing is not a symptom, but a core aspect of the faith. It’s been there all along.
The thing is, this guy deeply believes all this stuff. It’s not an act. The mistake the Professional Right has made for as long as I’ve been alive is in assuming that Progressives really don’t belief this stuff. If they do belief it, then it is just bad information. They just can’t wrap their mind’s around the idea that someone can be nice, funny, smart and batshit crazy.
I was in middle school in the 70’s and we were supposed to go metric in a year or two, so we were well-trained in it. I’m not sure exactly when they gave up on it, may with Reagan getting elected.
There was a concerted effort here in the UK to get us to go metric. We were promised all sorts of things would ‘benefit us’, like lots of new road signs. Despite some ‘kilometre per hour’ speed limit signs shown on Al-Beeb (I think they were at a colliery somewhere, so effectively on private land, and the mine shut down soon after anyway) the public here remained unconvinced. In any event, replacing the millions of road signs with slightly different numbers wasn’t likely even before we got even more of them (one of my gripes is the vast number of road signs, which aren’t cheap to make, we endure in the UK. It is not unusual to see a sign erected saying ‘road priorities changed 800 yards ahead’ when all they have done is paint a slightly different white line on the road. That’s right, someone would have to work out how far 800 yards is in kilometres. With our education system, that would be a reach)
Napoleon went to war against us here a long time ago and if he had won, we would have all the metric we can eat (as it happens food packing here is shown in metric measures with imperial measures printed smaller) but we won. Or we thought we did…
The withdrawal of Warren from the race has prompted Hilster backers to nudge Chaffee (who has the legendary showball’s chance… , no, wait, he doesn’t even have a snowball to work with) in to competing with Her Inevitableness. Why? The Hildebeast needs somebody visibly to her left, in order to make her appear more ‘centrist’. If it wasn’t Chaffee they’d pull some other stiff out of a time capsule.
For years I had to keep a spreadsheet open while writing environmental assessments so that I could convert feet to meters, miles to klicks, and acres to hectares. The narrative could be written using feet, miles, and acres, so that any normal American could understand what the hell was going on, but we were required to convert into metric equivalents and put those in parentheses after using the English measure. This was required to comply with rules of Federal agencies, who, I guess, were told to get behind metric. I still remember the numbers 3.28, 1.609, and 2.471 for some reason.
I’m proficient in both. When I was a kid, science was all taught in metric to make things easier for kids. Learning physics in a base-10 system was going to be easier than futzing about with feet and pounds. Even now I measure food in grams because it is simpler. That said, I prefer the American standards for traditional and tribal reasons.
The subject of ‘metrification’ always strikes me as over with. Most people aren’t aware that all US exportable manufacturing has been metric for over 30 years. When you buy a US car, it’s all metric underneath. All machine tools made to ANSI standards are metric at root, they just have translation programs built in. The same with electronics equipment. They still make tooling for ‘english’ fasteners, etc. ,but they are all made on metric equipment.
Then again, there are people out there still using old machinery because (a) it’s paid for and (b) it’s built like a battleship. One of my previous employers had an engine lathe that had a brass plaque on it that read “This machine conforms to the specifications of the wartime production board. 1916″
People like Lincoln Chafee are a bunch of goofs.
The fact is we already ARE on the metric system and have been for years. It’s just that we are not *exclusively* metric. We also use SAE for a lot of common stuff such as a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood and our distance measurements. And we still use them because it’s easier. (The only advantage metric has is that it’s easier to convert from one metric unit to another.) However, most machinery manufactured here is already metric, and of course nearly everything we import is metric.
Anyone who wants to go exclusively metric is free to do so and most manufacturers have done so already. Everybody who sells tools has both types in stock and nearly everybody who has a tool box has both types. You can buy paper in 8 ½ x 11 or A4 – your choice – the printer doesn’t care, it will do both.
The fact is, this is just another strike at the common American who refuses to change the way they have always done things just because our “betters” say so.