Five would be good. I’m not accustomed to the coffee?!? Had considered snarking while centrist (or at least having political options) not harmful?
Secondly, was the simple option:
arranging candidates to dine with their constituency
candidate debates with agency compliance…agents, I guess
debate by watson and/or solvers plus congressional cost-measure tracking
judge swearing in president to be drug tested
or
raise up high
drop down low
tea with Thiel
yerba mate with Nate Silver
kombucha with a seated foreign secretary
or
it’s the diseconomies, stupid
electoral vote recount
’natural born’ to exclude slime molds, operating groups
coalitions endorsing to endorse 3 exemplary candidate actions; e.g. evangelicals for gambling permits
intramural ocean rowing?
The idea that the North was fighting the civil war because the people were abolitionists who believed in the fundamental equality of African-Americans is JUST as big retroactive falsehood as the idea that the South was fighting for state’s rights and low tariffs. More Northerners were worried about having to compete against cheaper slave labor than were concerned with the suffering of slaves. In pretty much exactly the same way that Trump supporters aren’t worried about the abuse of undocumented workers by their bosses except to the extant that it tends to lower the wages that THEY get. .
The main thing we have going for us is that we’ll still be the ones actually bringing money into the economy while the rest just suckle off Texas.
You can have all the tanks you want, but if they can’t get past the Mississippi, well, huh. Too bad about that.
Plus, we have Seattle, New York and Connecticut ensuring air superiority. Not to mention history. What do we remember the Alamo for? What do we remember the South for during the Civil War? Losing.
The shift in the 80s from the party of Kennedy and McCarthy to the party of Clinton and Gore was very fast, just 3 or 4 years. It starts by getting states where change has enthusiastic support, states like mine, to put progressives on the state ticket and the state party leadership.
I understand that, but most people don’t. There was so much confusion over hanging chads and what was or wasn’t happening that “the court had to figure it out” was a reasonable explanation for most people.
“Look- I understand you’re worried about abortion and gay rights and racial issues, and I am too- But if we don’t make the environment our number one priority, none of us will be alive to be concerned those things.”
“Well, it’s easy for you to write off all those issues because they don’t affect you.”
“What part of EVERYBODY DIES do you not understand?”
I know a few otherwise intelligent conservatives who insist that any environmental concern is merely “a scam to make money” and refuse to even consider that there might be actual ecological problems.
People will say anything to rationalize a compulsive behavior. “How many thousands of cigarettes have I smoked? And I haven’t died once! The statistics are the work of rascals who are trying to change my lifestyle!”
So what you’re saying is that the bullshit claim that Obama wouldn’t have won unless he’d been voted in by blacks, is totally accurate? I’m focusing on Obama for a reason here.
Now, here’s the thing: 67% of 12% is 8% of the US population. Voter turnout was 54%. Obama took 51% of the popular vote. There’s some pretty simple math in play here, even if you concede that progressive gerrymandering gives more weight to black voters.
EDIT: Sorry, I accidentally left out my point. The point being, right-wingers got their panties in a twist about trying to disenfranchise black voters, because they were sure that the only reason Obama won was because black folks voted him in, because he’s black. And of course, that’s a ridiculous, racist accusation.
And if that makes you feel disenfranchised, well, believe it or not, despite being a straight white guy, I feel (a little of) your pain; I live in a state where 67% of the state lives in a small corner of the state. The entire rest of the state can vote one way, and it mostly doesn’t matter. It sucks.
But claiming that white people don’t vote for liberal causes is revisionist history at best. Please, don’t.
I’m convinced that the backbone of his support is white middle aged, small business owning, petite bourgeoisie men (the very same demographic that made up the KKK in the 20s and in the 50s/60s) and some contingent younger white male internet trolley types (Milo Yinnapoulis types) who just want to watch the world burn for the lulz. The working poor and working classes (of whatever race) tend to be a bit more grounded and understand they system, since they tend to view it from the bottom up. I do think Trump has attempted to connect with the traditional working class and I’m not sure it’s gone over well, at least with whatever is left of the rank and file labor movement.
I think it depends on where you are. There are plenty of places in America where that is indeed affluent - as you say.
Plenty of people don’t make ends meet and they certainly don’t have any sort of emergency fund. It always boggles my mind how many people in this country are one paycheck, one disaster (a car wreck, an illness, a loss of a job, etc) away from pretty much being on the street. It scares me how true this is among far too many people I know.
There is definitely a lot of that. When I moved to seattle nigh 20+ years ago I was making $10/hr and could afford a one bedroom apartment just outside the city and save for things. Now even at the new $15/hr minimum wage I would have to have be sharing a place with someone and still be struggling to make end meet.
I just did a recent peek at rent prices, it can be up to $400 more than the mortgage payment on the house for a 2 bedroom apartment if I want to be reasonably close to work anyway.
I know… and of course, being able to own a house is way harder now than it was a decade ago. This shit is going to bring us down and turn us into a true banana republic. It hurts me to see people, working hard, still unable to make ends meet. I know far too many of them, sadly and I can’t help them all, as much as I’d like to.
[quote=“Mal_Tosevite, post:134, topic:82021”]
I’m really seriously trying to understand here. According to Pew Research, 64% of eligible white voters cast a ballot in 2012, and 67% of eligible black voters cast a ballot… If you have different stats, I’d love to see them.
Now, here’s the thing: 67% of 12% is 8% of the US population. Voter turnout was 54%. Obama took 51% of the popular vote. There’s some pretty simple math in play here, even if you concede that progressive gerrymandering gives more weight to black voters.
[/quote]We’re talking about the Democratic party, and what it’s electorate looks like. Black people aren’t voting Republican, and the GOP has nothing to do with liberalism or Shirky’s point about Black people and how we’ve carried liberalism forward the last half century. The Democratic party is the liberal party. Using stats about the entire electorate, not the Dem electorate doesn’t make any sense.
[quote=“Mal_Tosevite, post:134, topic:82021”]But claiming that white people don’t vote for liberal causes is revisionist history at best.[/quote]That’s not what either of us said.
[quote=“anon61221983, post:137, topic:82021”]
I’m convinced that the backbone of his support is white middle aged, small business owning, petite bourgeoisie men…
[/quote]Pretty much. They, their wives, and people who aspire to that, are the GOP base. There’s nothing particularly different about Trump’s supporters. They’re just regular old republicans. His support look exactly like Romney’s, the only real difference is that he’s missing some of the better educated women.
