Democracy after Trump

[Zombie]

@The Thriller, here you go...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/john-dingell-how-restore-faith-government/577222/

"The end of minority rule in our legislative and executive branches. The Great Compromise, as it was called when it was adopted by the Constitution’s Framers, required that all states, big and small, have two senators. The idea that Rhode Island needed two U.S. senators to protect itself from being bullied by Massachusetts emerged under a system that governed only 4 million Americans.

Today, in a nation of more than 325 million and 37 additional states, not only is that structure antiquated, it’s downright dangerous. California has almost 40 million people, while the 20 smallest states have a combined population totaling less than that. Yet because of an 18th-century political deal, those 20 states have 40 senators, while California has just two. These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of the American people. That’s just plain crazy....

....My friend Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, sees a demographic shift coming that will effectively transform us into two countries. He tells me that “in 2050, 70 percent of Americans will be living in just 15 states. That 70 percent will then have 30 senators, and the remaining 30 percent of the people, mainly those living in the smallest and poorest states, will have 70 senators.”

I can't imagine the political instability this will cause, especially if the GOP continues on their path of power at all costs.

 

[Red]

I can't imagine the political instability this will cause, especially if the GOP continues on their path of power at all costs.

Yeah, who can really imagine doing away with the Senate, as well. The GOP legislatures in Wisconsin and Michigan have acted to diminish the power of the newly elected Democratic governor, and other newly elected state officers. That's as blatant a power grab, contrary to how the electorate voted, as I have ever seen. Reinforces a "my vote doesn't count" mentality. Really, what the GOP did there is an "in your face" complete repudiation of democracy. Really cannot spin it any other way.

Here is an interesting accessment, that sees hopeful trends, but also recognizes the intense struggle ahead:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176503/tomgram:_ben_fountain,_"very_close_to_a_complete_victory"

"This thing Trump was selling, this white-nationalist-freak-out-throwback special, played well enough to the base to flip Senate seats in North Dakota, Indiana, and Missouri, all states Trump won by big margins in 2016, as well as Florida’s closely contested Senate seat. But here’s the real shocker, the development that made this midterm “transformational,” as reported by Stanley Greenberg in the New York Times, based on a Democracy Corpselection night survey: the Democrats’ biggest gains in 2018 came in rural America. Greenberg also relied on an Edison exit poll for CNN that showed the Republican margin in rural areas shrinking by double digits and a Catalist poll indicating a seven-point shrinkage.

“Exciting” the base seems to have come at a cost: a 13-point swing by white working-class women, a 14-point swing by white working-class men, and a 7-point swing among all men. While Trump’s Twitter account was acting like the social media equivalent of a spastic colon, Democrats were pushing a decidedly non-hysterical message focused on health care (coverage for preexisting conditions, preserving Obamacare, and protecting Medicare and Medicaid) and basic economic fairness. As for Trump’s manifest unfitness for office, smart Democrats assumed the president himself would pound home that message.....

......Trump lost in 2018, but he remains nearly as powerful as ever. He’s a sitting president with a ferociously loyal base, a Senate majority that’s about to get bigger, and a federal judiciary that hews further to the right with each new raft of appointments. In the days since the election he’s shown no moderating tendencies, instead threatening the incoming House Democratic majority with a “warlike posture,” firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, illegally“appointing” a sketchy acting attorney general, further defying the Refugee Act of 1980, banning a CNN reporter from the White House, and defending Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the state-sponsored murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump is still Trump, and America is still America. In the days after the election, wildfires raged through northern California, leaving scores dead and many thousands homeless, and in the country’s 307th mass shooting in the first 313 days of 2018, a gunman killed 13 people at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California.

Welcome to the struggle for the country’s soul. We haven’t seen anything yet".

 

[Red]

I can't imagine the political instability this will cause, especially if the GOP continues on their path of power at all costs.

This is absurd. Getting sick of this anti-democratic ****.

https://www.salon.com/2018/12/06/no...tions-amid-fraud-investigation-in-house-race/

North Carolina Republicans are trying to push through a bill that would give them control over every county’s election board in election years.

State Rep. David Lewis, a Republican who chairs the elections committee, introduced a bill Monday amid an ongoing fraud investigation into the U.S. House race in North Carolina’s 9th district.

The bill would require every county’s election board to be chaired by a member of the party with the highest number of registered voters in odd-numbered years, and by a member of the party with the second-highest number of registered voters in even-numbered years.


Since North Carolina has more registered Democrats than Republicans -- and since elections occur in even-numbered years -- Republicans would be in charge of every election board in every election year.

 

[str8line]

This is absurd. Getting sick of this anti-democratic ****.

https://www.salon.com/2018/12/06/no...tions-amid-fraud-investigation-in-house-race/

North Carolina Republicans are trying to push through a bill that would give them control over every county’s election board in election years.

State Rep. David Lewis, a Republican who chairs the elections committee, introduced a bill Monday amid an ongoing fraud investigation into the U.S. House race in North Carolina’s 9th district.

The bill would require every county’s election board to be chaired by a member of the party with the highest number of registered voters in odd-numbered years, and by a member of the party with the second-highest number of registered voters in even-numbered years.


Since North Carolina has more registered Democrats than Republicans -- and since elections occur in even-numbered years -- Republicans would be in charge of every election board in every election year.

A criminal element is emboldened in the age of Trump. Type A rich white dudes with no sense of decency. We're becoming a third-world country. I'm following local politics especially concerning Utah's growth and its developers and it is apparent that there's a ton of douchebags running things in a half-assed, rich-connected-growth-at-all-costs mentality. There have always been guys like this but as our population grows there are more of them and their selfish decisions have a huge impact on so many people... people who believe in them(immoral type-A dudes) as some sort of homage or aspiration to being "successful".

 

[Harambe]

Maybe it's just time for a divorce. We've been together a couple hundred years... we've had a good run.

 

[fishonjazz]

This is absurd. Getting sick of this anti-democratic ****.

https://www.salon.com/2018/12/06/no...tions-amid-fraud-investigation-in-house-race/

North Carolina Republicans are trying to push through a bill that would give them control over every county’s election board in election years.

State Rep. David Lewis, a Republican who chairs the elections committee, introduced a bill Monday amid an ongoing fraud investigation into the U.S. House race in North Carolina’s 9th district.

The bill would require every county’s election board to be chaired by a member of the party with the highest number of registered voters in odd-numbered years, and by a member of the party with the second-highest number of registered voters in even-numbered years.


Since North Carolina has more registered Democrats than Republicans -- and since elections occur in even-numbered years -- Republicans would be in charge of every election board in every election year.

Lol. That's some sneaky **** right there

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[DutchJazzer]

democracy sucks! republicans dont like democracy!

i also dont like democracy! a policy of democracy is ****

 

[Hotdog]

Maybe it's just time for a divorce. We've been together a couple hundred years... we've had a good run.

True. Democrats get the house and the unruly children since they are the bitches.

 

[Zombie]

This world keeps getting weirder.

 

[DutchJazzer]

I’ve been reflecting on a few books I’ve read lately:

Fascism (Madeline Albright)
blah blah blah hur dudur derp blah durp herp

if yu want to learn about fascism read the books of its actual founder giovani gentilli. not some stupid ***** 50-80 years later view on it. because those views are wrong



side note: why the f is bitch not censored. trying to get me banned again. had to self censor

 

[Red]

Just finished reading "How Democracies Die". I think it should be required reading for everyone.

Disturbing stuff really, as far as how fragile they paint American Democracy.

But what struck me is the discussion of the demographic change that is shaping our politics. As the Republican party represents, and courts, the shrinking white working class, it clings to power with ever more desperate tactics, gerrymandering, voter suppression, legislative overreach, court packing, executive fiat, etc. The recommendation from the authors was for the Democrats, representing a growing minority soon to be majority non white electorate, return to status quo ante norms of restraint and respect. They warn against reciprocal use of political hard ball, as being counter productive. I don't know what the answer might be, but I don't hold out much hope that a one sided call for decency and decorum will change the polity and save democracy. Addressing racism and wealth inequality will be more messy than the gentleman's game of civil politics when one side is entrenched and dedicated to winning at all costs.

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Thanks to you and @The Thriller for recommending this!

 

[Red]

@The Thriller gets a lot of flak at times for his focus on Republicans undermining our democratic institutions, and, in this instance suggesting we need worry about the Republican Party, in the long run, every bit as much as the rather singular mind**** that is Donald Trump. Well, in this instance, he's right, no matter how many times we hear the mantra "both parties are to blame". Well, yeah, neoliberalism is a b****, and both parties promote it, but if we keep up crap like this, then we'll just sleepwalk our way right into a single party state. This is what hyperpartisanship has wrought...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...sconsin-state-republican-power-grab-democracy