Lets Storm the U.S. Capital!!!

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by LevelUP, Sep 30, 2022.

Loading...
  1. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    That's not the comment I was responding to. But this is a fair statement if we mean pure democracy, which is not something this country was ever meant to be.

    Minorities only have power when the system isn't winner take all, which is why states rights are important and also why the electoral college and the senate were set up the way they were. Things have changed since then, of course, but the principal still stands. If the state of Hatfield has a population of 10, and the state of McCoy has a population of 6, then the presidency is effectively a Hatfield dynasty.

    Other nations have addressed this well-known problem by having a parliamentary system. I've always found that idea attractive, but its not perfect either. I don't know what a perfect system is and I'm open-minded on what could be better than what we have.
     
    Helpful2013 likes this.
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That assumes, of course, that everyone in Hatfield votes the same way, which isn't anywhere near the case for any U.S. state. In fact, one of the side effects of the Electoral College is to effectively disenfranchise Democrats in Texas and Republicans in California.
     
    Rachel83az and Maniac Craniac like this.
  3. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Not that I disagree with most of your take, but you'd probably want to ament the "on the planet" part. Because I can think of a couple of things that are at least as un-democratic. Not even touching the obvious bogeys.
     
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  4. LevelUP

    LevelUP Active Member

    Another thing embedded in the constitution to protect state rights is the ability to call a convention of the states if 34 out of 50 states vote to call for a convention.

    In all, 19 states, including four in 2022, have passed resolutions for a convention under Convention of States' model.

    A legal scholar predicts a 50/50 chance that a convention of the states will be called within 5 years.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/constitutional-convention-conservative-scholar-states-2022-8
     
  5. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    To me minority power means things like freedom of speech or freedom from discrimination. But you seem to be using it in terms of counting votes. Of course, minorities deserve to cast their votes, one per voting adult. I don't understand why they deserve additional leverage when tallying the votes though? Why should my vote from California be worth only about third of the vote from someone from Wyoming, which is the way the electoral college works. It is not protecting any minority rights that I understand.

    My understanding of the history of the electoral college is that the founders were simply trying to come up with a practical means of electing the President within a fixed timeframe. This was before parties, modern transportation, and modern instant communication. They needed a way to guarantee that the voting process could be complete by a set date. Those considerations all ruled out the possibility that a slate of say 20 candidates could be efficiently whittled down to a single winner with direct voting. Hence the electoral college was invented. It had absolutely nothing to do with protecting minority rights.

    The senate is a slightly different issue but we can also discuss that as well if there's interest.
     
  6. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    In some cases, yes. This is what libel and fraud statutes do.

    I can think of many statements that have a form of statements of fact but in reality pretty f*#ing offensive. I'm OK with First Amendment model, but also do not have a major problem with governments that try to regulate this in some way. As long as they are reasonably good at this (Europe and Canada do a reasonably good job).
     
  7. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    What is it the "elites" say to these people, and what would you have them do differently? In general, it is not always possible to appease everyone eager to misinterpret something. Especially if there are high-paig, well-platformed people like #ucrek Carson whose whole job is to misinterpret the bejebus out of any darn little thing. I mean, the current cultural war issue is "Social-Emotional Learning", ff*s.
     
    nosborne48 likes this.
  8. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    True. I'm not talking about reality. I'm talking about perception.
     
  9. Greeneyedpea81

    Greeneyedpea81 New Member

    Has anyone seen the 2016 documentary called HyperNormalization?

    Here is a Putin clip:

    Here is the link to the entire film:

    I watched this when it first came out. First thing to come to mind was “engineered consent” by Edwards Bernays. Bernays often references Gustav leBon in his work. LeBon is a great read as well.

    These concepts are not new and we see it used all through out history. Changing perception via confusion, emotions, half truths, and sense of belonging are exploited.
     
  10. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    What happened on Jan 6th was totally wrong.
    I think and I can be wrong, that some of the rioters falsely assumed that since the rioters all the year in other cities attacking governmental and private property got away with the crime easily
    then some of the protesters thought they may get away with it since it appears the trend in 2020.
    You missed one more- satanism
     
  11. Flelmo

    Flelmo New Member

  12. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Since this is a distance education forum, I'd be happy to refer you to a MOOC about statistics and probability if you like.
     
    Johann and Rachel83az like this.
  13. Flelmo

    Flelmo New Member

    Sorry, I guess I wasn't obvious enough. That was a joke, and poking fun at the idea that you could put any sort of probability on something like this.

     
    Bill Huffman likes this.
  14. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    It's a rather old joke, too. I guess not everyone heard it...
     
  15. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Then the joke is on me. I can take it. :)
     
    Flelmo likes this.

Share This Page