The Biden Administration and All Things Politics

[Al-O-Meter]

It's a completely one-sided affair led by a group of Pro-Trump counterparts with no experience in conducting audits and we all know it.

Yes, and that is a healthy way to operate. Having reporters who hated the previous administration covering the previous administration made us safer. The press pool shouldn’t have been limited to only friendly reporters. Having a committed hostile entity double and triple checking every tiny detail makes us safer. Audits should be antagonistic and carried out by those with a motivation to challenge events. That is how malfeasance is uncovered. I’m not saying there was any malfeasance but I’d have a higher level of confidence if hostile auditors failed to come up with anything significant after being given access than if BS reasons were given to block access or only friends were allowed to affirm how uncorrupt their supported official was.

 

[fishonjazz]

Yes, and that is a healthy way to operate. Having reporters who hated the previous administration covering the previous administration made us safer. The press pool shouldn’t have been limited to only friendly reporters. Having a committed hostile entity double and triple checking every tiny detail makes us safer. Audits should be antagonistic and carried out by those with a motivation to challenge events. That is how malfeasance is uncovered. I’m not saying there was any malfeasance but I’d have a higher level of confidence if hostile auditors failed to come up with anything significant after being given access than if BS reasons were given to block access or only friends were allowed to affirm how uncorrupt their supported official was.

And if this extremely partisan audit comes up with BS malfeasance that they literally invented out of thin air and that causes people to no longer trust elections would that be awesome?

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[fishonjazz]

The whole idea is dangerous because it fosters the idea that the United States is a democracy. The whole point of the vote is the same as the First Amendment, to allow people to have a say. There is no requirement that anyone has to listen to what you have to say, and there shouldn't be. The moment the population collectively believes they have a right to have their every opinion acknowledged and that right is being denied we're over as a country. People who believe their rights are being unfairly taken become resentful and that is what leads to revolution.

The United States is a constitutional republic. The people don't elect the President, the Electoral College does. It is not unusual for the Electoral College to elect a President that didn't win the popular vote. We are a republic. We are not a democracy. It is the reason we've survived as a country as long as we have. Democracies never last and the end is usually bloody.

The Big Lie is going to get a boost in a few weeks when the Arizona election audit presents their findings. They've already found some legitimate issues with ballot scanning alignment and the use of substandard paper that facilitates bleed-through with real proof. They presented the findings on this small section of their investigation to the Arizona state government, and all of social media immediately removed the official government video feed for violations of their terms of service.

The bigger finding come out in a few weeks. I don't know what they'll show but I do know that everyone claiming "our democracy is under attack" is making this worse. It isn't under attack because we don't have a democracy. It doesn't matter what Arizona finds because the people of Arizona don't elect the President. This constant democracy gaslighting is so dangerous even if the intention is the opposite of contesting the last election. We. Are. A. Republic.

Ah great, now Trumpers are trying to turn democracy into a bad word. Awesome

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[Deleted member 365]

Ah great, now Trumpers are trying to turn democracy into a bad word. Awesome

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Yeah… that’s uhhh alarming. I thought by 2024 they’d be touting Russian style kleptocracy. But now I think it’s probably going to happen by the midterms.

What’s sad is the misunderstanding about what the founders actually meant when they talked about terms like “democracy” and “republic.” A democracy at that time meant what we understand today as a “direct democracy.” Clearly, a direct democracy (like in Athens) where everyone gets to vote and decide things would be stupid. But no country today has a direct democracy. Democracies today have some form of electing representatives, presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, etc. Today’s “representative democracy” is no different than yesterday’s “republic.” They mean the same thing.

Republicans are claiming that we aren’t a democracy but a republic are doing this because:
A) they fundamentally misunderstand the difference between a direct democracy, representative democracy, and republic.
B) they’re trying to conflate democracy to being a direct democracy in order to justify minority rule, like what we had in the 1800s or what South Africa had until apartheid failed or like Russia today. Who are becoming minorities? White conservative Christian men. They want to rule over the majority of multiethnic people. That’s all there is to it.

Sen. Mike Lee’s tweets against “democracy,” explained

A prominent Republican senator set off a controversy by tweeting that “we’re not a democracy.” Here’s what he actually meant — and why the seemingly minor controversy actually matters.

www.vox.com

 

[Deleted member 365]

And if this extremely partisan audit comes up with BS malfeasance that they literally invented out of thin air and that causes people to no longer trust elections would that be awesome?

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Republican election reps in Arizona are even bashing the “audit.” I mean, how legit to you think this will be?

Arizona GOP Audit Director Barred After Sharing Data Backing Trump Loss

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann reportedly made the decision to block Ken Bennett from the building.

www.newsweek.com

For ****s sakes, they’re looking for bamboo ballots that they think were shipped in from China?



Anyone who believes this audit is anything other than a sad joke is either inexcusably brainwashed by right wing media or simply being a troll.

 

[Deleted member 365]

Btw, most of the crap we’re seeing done by the GOP in refusing to adopt a more popular platform and run candidates to appeal to more Americans, is the fault of gerrymandering, the senate filibuster, and the electoral college. Let’s be clear, without these 3 mechanisms, Republicans would be forced to change, become moderate, and they’d have to compete for black and white and urban and rural voters.

1. But because they can gerrymander, they can retake the house without winning the popular vote.
2. But because of the filibuster, they just need to hold 41 seats to block anything. The House can pass legislation, the population could overwhelmingly support it, the president could support it, it could have 59 to 41 votes in support, and it’ll still die because of the filibuster. And Republicans don’t need to win many states outside of their deep red south to even win 41 senate seats.
3. But because of the electoral college, they don’t need a popular presidential candidate to win.

Change these 3 things? American democracy stabilizes and both parties then must compete for middle America.

 

[Deleted member 365]

I think Al is @babe’s alt account.

 

[Al-O-Meter]

Ah great, now Trumpers are trying to turn democracy into a bad word. Awesome

The guy I supported wore a boot on his head and ran on a campaign promise of “I am going to take your guns and give you better ones!!!!!” It also isn’t me turning democracy into a bad word. You can blame history and human nature for that.

Three of the founders collaborated to write a series of documents that detailed the thinking that went into why the United States government was set up the way it was. That collection is called the Federalist Papers, and speaking directly to this issue is Fed #10 written by James Madison. That is the same James Madison who wrote the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What he wrote was:

… democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.

The United States was set up as a republic for good reason. It wasn't because no one thought of doing it. History shows this populist 'power-to-the-people' rhetoric to be seriously dangerous stuff that inexorably leads to an authoritarian strong man taking over.

 

[fishonjazz]

The guy I supported wore a boot on his head and ran on a campaign promise of “I am going to take your guns and give you better ones!!!!!” It also isn’t me turning democracy into a bad word. You can blame history and human nature for that.

Three of the founders collaborated to write a series of documents that detailed the thinking that went into why the United States government was set up the way it was. That collection is called the Federalist Papers, and speaking directly to this issue is Fed #10 written by James Madison. That is the same James Madison who wrote the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What he wrote was:


The United States was set up as a republic for good reason. It wasn't because no one thought of doing it. History shows this populist 'power-to-the-people' rhetoric to be seriously dangerous stuff that inexorably leads to an authoritarian strong man taking over.

How do you think those electoral votes are tallied? I heard it was by a democratic process of people voting and then using the votes of people in a state (counties in the state) to determine the electoral votes for the states.

Sorry to burst your bubble but humans still vote to determine our president. Even if it isn't determined by popular vote. The voters are still what decides it all. Democracy at work holmes. As much as you hate it.

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[Deleted member 365]

How do you think those electoral votes are tallied? I heard it was by a democratic process of people voting and then using the votes of people in a state (counties in the state) to determine the electoral votes for the states.

Sorry to burst your bubble but humans still vote to determine our president. Even if it isn't determined by popular vote. The voters are still what decides it all. Democracy at work holmes. As much as you hate it.

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Good post

 

[fishonjazz]

Good post

I mean we have used the word democracy for many decades. We have used that word in a good way. Suddenly trump comes along and his people do what they can to make it seem like a bad word that has no place in our country lol. Wonder why? Maybe because the root word of one of our main political parties, that just so happens to be the party that Trump hates, is democracy.

So lame.

The United States, under its Constitution, is a federal, representative, democratic republic, an indivisible union of 50 sovereign States.

We are a country where some decisions (often local) are made by direct democratic processes, while others (often federal) are made by democratically elected representatives.

Trumpers want that word "democratic" removed from any description of our system.
I'm gonna go ahead and continue to use it like Americans have for as long as I have been alive.

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[Deleted member 365]

I mean we have used the word democracy for many decades. We have used that word in a good way. Suddenly trump comes along and his people do what they can to make it seem like a bad word that has no place in our country lol. Wonder why? Maybe because the root word of one of our main political parties, that just so happens to be the party that Trump hates, is democracy.

So lame.

The United States, under its Constitution, is a federal, representative, democratic republic, an indivisible union of 50 sovereign States.

We are a country where some decisions (often local) are made by direct democratic processes, while others (often federal) are made by democratically elected representatives.

Trumpers want that word "democratic" removed from any description of our system.
I'm gonna go ahead and continue to use it like Americans have for as long as I have been alive.

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Amen. Well stated.