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America - The Official Thread
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I'm triggered.
A perfectly insane defense of the electoral college courtesy of National Review.
Ok, that sounds great.
What?!
The notion that the electoral college exists as a bulwark against majoritarianism is ludicrous. It doesn't prevent majoritarianism as much as it promotes minority rule. How is that better? What reasonable argument can be made to support the idea that it is better for the minority of the population to govern? Sure, argue that minority rights should be respected. That's fine. But to enshrine a higher level of enfranchisement...just because? Also, how can the author possibly jump from the Post's position to claiming that the Post would support a majority of states having the ability to overturn the first amendment. There is a completely different and separate process for constitutional amendments - not to mention it being completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.
This is completely laughable. What the electoral college actually does is focus the entire presidential race on a handful of states that are not typically representative of the country as a whole. That fracking was such a huge part of the campaign speaks volumes to how broken our elective process is. We're in the middle a pandemic recession, we have incredible homelessness spreading throughout the country, we are not building enough housing. There is a massive amount of more pertinent issues to talk about than fracking.
So in practice, the fact that neither candidate spent any time in California or New York is somehow better? Again, please explain why. Maybe Donald Trump would have been a better ****ing President if he actually gave a **** about California or New York voters. The electoral college actively discourages a President from caring about California or New York, especially if that state doesn't vote favorably.
*waits for author to clarify why this is a rational process*
That sounds fantastic. Maybe without the electoral college, our entrenched 2-party system would have to compete for voters rather than just counting on massive, unwieldy, fat coalitions and lazy voters. Maybe the GOP wouldn't be the party of raging fringe ********.
Well then what the **** do we do every 4 years?
A perfectly insane defense of the electoral college courtesy of National Review.
Ok, that sounds great.
What?!
The notion that the electoral college exists as a bulwark against majoritarianism is ludicrous. It doesn't prevent majoritarianism as much as it promotes minority rule. How is that better? What reasonable argument can be made to support the idea that it is better for the minority of the population to govern? Sure, argue that minority rights should be respected. That's fine. But to enshrine a higher level of enfranchisement...just because? Also, how can the author possibly jump from the Post's position to claiming that the Post would support a majority of states having the ability to overturn the first amendment. There is a completely different and separate process for constitutional amendments - not to mention it being completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.
This is completely laughable. What the electoral college actually does is focus the entire presidential race on a handful of states that are not typically representative of the country as a whole. That fracking was such a huge part of the campaign speaks volumes to how broken our elective process is. We're in the middle a pandemic recession, we have incredible homelessness spreading throughout the country, we are not building enough housing. There is a massive amount of more pertinent issues to talk about than fracking.
So in practice, the fact that neither candidate spent any time in California or New York is somehow better? Again, please explain why. Maybe Donald Trump would have been a better ****ing President if he actually gave a **** about California or New York voters. The electoral college actively discourages a President from caring about California or New York, especially if that state doesn't vote favorably.
*waits for author to clarify why this is a rational process*
That sounds fantastic. Maybe without the electoral college, our entrenched 2-party system would have to compete for voters rather than just counting on massive, unwieldy, fat coalitions and lazy voters. Maybe the GOP wouldn't be the party of raging fringe ********.
Well then what the **** do we do every 4 years?
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- 6,051
- Simcoeace
Therein lies (among others) one of the hard things to reconcile about the conservative Right. In the past they have been pretty keen on supporting the right of people to be really rich ... except if they're Hollywood types or "coastal elites". In recent years there seems to have been a move by the Right to demonize Wall St. in general, large corporations who make stuff outside the US & - in particular - tech moguls (who are covertly campaigning against Donald Trump, America & God).
I guess what you are really saying is Americans don't have any legitimate claim to economic woes, & support for Trump just comes down to a really large percentage of Americans being bigots, racists & fools ... otherwise known as the basket of deplorables perspective.
ROAD_DOGG33J
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I think a part of it, though difficult to quantify how significant, is people struggling to adjust to the drop in manufacturing jobs, and the global economy.
Danoff
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Vox has another excellent article on conspiracy theories. This one suggests that there may be some self-correction to it, and that conspiracy theories crop up during times of uncertainty. This suggests that perhaps Trump is popular not because his supporters are deeply authoritarian in nature, but because they see authoritarianism as the answer to fragility and uncertainty. In otherwords, they may calm down in a few years if the world calms down around them.
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According to the, um... "article" you posted about, the electoral college is good because it prevents a President from ruling in a majority but eliminating the electoral college is bad because it would prevent a President from ruling in a majority.
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Keef
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As long as their previously closeted ideals continue to be called out by social progressives, these people will continue to publicly defend their closet doors. These fairness movements are not a fall of calm, they're a rise of reason. There is no "calming down" about it - either people will learn reality and change their minds or they won't. The people who refuse to learn will become more radicalized despite many others "calming down" or learning and changing their attitudes about social issues.
Danoff
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I think it's true that the world changing around them will continue to make them uneasy, which may make conspiracies attractive. But I also think it's possible that if COVID gets under control in 2021, and we have a calmer president, and calmer media because of the calmer president, it might take some of the edge off.
Maybe we'll look back on 2016-2020 as that one time that America became a cult. I still think, best case scenario, we have damage that won't get fixed for a long time.
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- 2,895
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So while everyone is distracted by Kind Donald's lame duck shenanigans, the federal government has just allowed debt collectors to harrass people through social media.
Happy 2020, everyone!
Happy 2020, everyone!
UKMikey
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UKMikey
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What?First I've heard about this.
MI, MN... it's an easy mistake to make
https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...a-counties-in-affidavit-about-michigan-report
McLaren
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Well, at least these lawsuits are the gift that keeps on giving the longer Trump refuses to concede.MI, MN... it's an easy mistake to make
https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...a-counties-in-affidavit-about-michigan-report
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That's hilarious.MI, MN... it's an easy mistake to make
https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...a-counties-in-affidavit-about-michigan-report
Also, I found this gem in the comments:
ROAD_DOGG33J
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Sometimes it's probably in the best interest NOT to interview politicians because they do their best work when they don't talk.
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Trump just pardoned 'Corn Cob' the turkey in a light-hearted Thanksgiving tradition... and yet he can't even do this without marring the entire proceedings with an ugly comment about the "China virus"...
He also said that this year has been "very unusual but in so many ways very, very good"... huh?? I guess he believes that the Dow Jones hitting 30k is more important than the plight of millions of Americans who are currently facing unemployment, eviction, bankruptcy and a looming healthcare crisis.
Trust Trump to turn an American tradition into an unholy mixture of shameless and shameful comments.
He also said that this year has been "very unusual but in so many ways very, very good"... huh?? I guess he believes that the Dow Jones hitting 30k is more important than the plight of millions of Americans who are currently facing unemployment, eviction, bankruptcy and a looming healthcare crisis.
Trust Trump to turn an American tradition into an unholy mixture of shameless and shameful comments.
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Joey D
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I like the fact the Dow only hit 30k after he allowed the transition team to do their thing for Biden. He's been trying to get the Dow to hit 30k for years now and the thing that sends it over the top is him finally kinda of, sort of admitting defeat. That's such a glorious instance of poetic justice.
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Well, this is the rub. To make it clear to everybody, Trump showed up twice. Once, during a "briefing" that lasted about 60 seconds.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-unexpectedly-held-63-second-180600141.html
And after patting himself on the back for this great deed...he walked out of the room.
The Turkey pardon was later in the day. So he came out of exile on the Golf course, more than two weeks after election night, for just the 2nd time, to show everybody how great he was, never acknowledging the market highs are at least partially due to his own quasi-clear announcement that he has finally let the transition of power begun.
And it's significant because Trump himself took credit for the market rise in November of 2016 during his transition period from the Obama administration. With many things, the irony is lost both on him and likely most of his supporters.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-unexpectedly-held-63-second-180600141.html
And after patting himself on the back for this great deed...he walked out of the room.
The Turkey pardon was later in the day. So he came out of exile on the Golf course, more than two weeks after election night, for just the 2nd time, to show everybody how great he was, never acknowledging the market highs are at least partially due to his own quasi-clear announcement that he has finally let the transition of power begun.
And it's significant because Trump himself took credit for the market rise in November of 2016 during his transition period from the Obama administration. With many things, the irony is lost both on him and likely most of his supporters.
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I'm pretty sure we'll start hear him talking about how irrational the stock market is and how it doesn't reflect the broader economy blah blah Trump circa 2015. I'm pretty sure he's smart enough to know that the market is responding well to his defeat and I'm sure that really grinds his gears.
