It’s not supposed to, but hey, 2020 was a shitshow.
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Would that have been passed despite the Craven Caucus full of GOP flip-floppers who failed to convict 45 despite his being impeached twice?
Or would that have been addressed despite the obstruction of the Clown Caucus that followed?
I’d be surprised if either group managed it. It’s part of the deliberate pattern of delays from the legislative and judicial branches that puts us at risk of a second attempt from those who faced little to no consequences the first time. The GOP has been focused on widening gaps, creating/exploiting loopholes, and just straight-up ignoring any rules, regulations, or laws that prevent them from doing whatever they want.
We’ll see how much work beyond the bare minimum GOP pols put in before the election (other than enabling their ringmaster/ringleader). Aside from losing their seats, it would be great to see some of them wind up on an expedited version of the list below:
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The MAGA cult would scream bloody murder if President Biden did this, and the time frame is pretty short at this point, but President Biden could turn their argument around on them and say “You claim the election is going to be stolen? Then fine, let’s bring in independent outside observers to watch for any shenanigans by EITHER party.”
As stated on that page:
Requests for electoral assistance can be made by the head of government or the minister of foreign affairs of the UN Member State. In some circumstances, requests from other entities such as a ministry involved in the planning and implementation of the election or the electoral commission may also be considered as acceptable. Requests for electoral assistance made by groups within the legislature, political parties, civil society or other entities cannot be accepted. Requests for electoral assistance must be made by an organ of the Member State authorized to bind the state in agreements with the UN. National electoral management bodies do not normally have this authority, but their requests may be acceptable if we have Member State consent.
It would suck that it would send the signal that we need the same type of assistance to have a fair election as a third-world nation, but if that’s what it takes to avoid any fuckery with this election …
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These people distrust the UN more than the US government. They’re the “one-world” government they irrationally fear.
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Well, the problem is that they’re not just going to be violent, but do everything they can to undermine democracy in general (throwing spanners in the work of election boards being just one avenue of attack), and that’s going to be an ongoing problem. The other thing they’re trying to do right now is to pass laws allowing states to ignore election results entirely when assigning electoral votes, which is even more concerning.
Yeah - the attempt shouldn’t be to appease them, but to ruin their plans, either by having serious consequences for them, or preventing them from enacting them in the first place.
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This right there is what most of them really want. They don’t really want Trump back, they want to feel justified in bellyaching and nurse their feelings of anger. To stay in the warm cocoon of indignation.
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We know what to expect and they’ve helpfully provided the names of co-conspirators in advance. The Biden administration will still be in power at that point, and they’re done with assuming good faith on the part of the MAGAt Party. I think the groups that matter are prepared for chicanery like this.
The real failure will be with the Bothsidesist corporate media outlets, which continue to fail in their collective role as a liberal-democratic institution. If anyone impedes attempts to thwart these insurrectionists and cheats, it will be them (with the SCOTUS majority batting cleanup).
Per Gessen, institutions won’t save us. The people who are truly invested in democracy – including Harris, Walz and Biden – understand that we will have to fight to preserve it.
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That the USA elects (if I understand your comment correctly) - let alone elects on a political basis - people to positions that should only be occupied by neutral civil servants appointed for their qualifications, competence and experience, committed to public service, speaks volumes about how the US is only a wafer-thin sliver away from potential corruption and lawlessness that can undermine the rule of law and democracy in an instant. Judges and election officials are among those that should never be subject to the whims of the electorate.
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Possible new prog-rock, protest-song band name?
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They did pass something. Not sure if it fixes everything.
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The continuation of democracy during the handoff is likely going to be Biden’s last fight, at least where he’s in the thick of it. Hopefully he’s gamed out contingencies. Thanks to the Supreme Court, he has unlimited power, so that may be helpful.
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This is the billionth reason we need to just go with the popular vote. State officials have too much influence. Let the voters do the talking.
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Thanks for that. I’m still going to wait for the comments from POTUS in the CBS interview expected this weekend. Maybe Biden is trying to make sure that we remain vigilant and put the other side on alert that we’re not going to be caught by surprise this time, or it could be that he’s aware of some unexploited gaps.
Fixing the Electoral College is possible, as described in this approach:
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Yes.
But this voting is based on the very ideal of America that pretty much everyone gets taught growing up. You see it taken to it’s logical extreme end in the Trump fans - everyone deserves the best.
With voting, the idea originally set forth, say about 250 ish years ago, was that people would natually avoid voting in extremes and you’d end up running the middle. Now you have extremely noisy extremes and no middle, which means no compromise. We need the many party systems of most European countries, because then people can vote for the particular shade of red, white, or blue that aligns with their life. Ranked voting would help too, to allow those to be viable but also to avoid extremes.
America’s laws and rules run so much on the honor system, or that a person of bad moral character wouldn’t be voted into power, or that other groups would prevent them from going off the rails. Trump’s rise and rule shows that that doesn’t happen, with the rise of tribal nationalism.
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The interstate compact requires that a collection of states comprising a majority of the electoral college – 270 electoral votes – join it. Since the last two elections in which the electoral winner was not the popular vote winner went to Republicans, you won’t see Republican-controlled state legislatures voting to join the compact. Instead, you need a majority in the House and the Senate and a President all willing to do what it takes to increase the size of the House of Representatives enough to change the Electoral College balance, and also get the compact approved by enough states to make up an electoral majority with the new makeup of the Electoral College.
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From what I can tell, the US doesn’t have a noisy “extreme” of any kind on the left, and what gets called the middle would basically be the non-fascist right in a lot of countries.
Disclaimer: not an American, so 
.
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No, they really do. They want T**** back and they want him to be dictator for life. They want him to deport “illegals” but also political enemies. They want televised show trials and hangings for “traitors” from Liz Cheney to Mitt Romney, from AOC to you and me. They really, really want this shit.
Nailed it.
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citation needed. because i don’t see that
on one side we have violent white supremacists, and on the other - and broad spectrum from right of center to leftish.
( in fact, one of the big problems with democrats and “the left” in america has long been its desire to maintain the status quo. )
we don’t have many far left candidates. and we don’t have violent mobs of far left extremists seeking to seize government by force
there’s no “both sides” to maga.
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No complacency, this will suck if it happens and it should be prevented as much as possible and fought if it does.
And also, it seems to me most likely that this would at most aggravatingly delay things. We’ve had long periods before the formal conclusion of elections before.
Also as noted above by Elmer, Biden now has great presidential to enforce as long as he explicitly states his actions are an “official act”.
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Those fucks are so warped and twisted they wouldn’t know WTF to do or how TF to act if they ever felt joy. If not literal, they are the HA! ‘spiritual’ descendants of the puritans who’d name a child O Be Joyful, and beat them whenever they were.
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