Political Roundtable Part XI

[pineappleheadindc]

I never thought the electoral college was a good idea, but to try to get rid of it now just comes across as cheap politicking. If Boxer and her folks were really philosophically against it, she/they should have done something years ago.

I agree it is poor timing; although you have to start somewhere I suppose. The electoral college now makes votes only matter in a few states. Personally, I wish more people had reason to vote in non-swing states. Perhaps a good compromise is to make the electoral college proportional rather than winner take all. I also think there could be voter ranking systems.

Not taking a position here, but a good political way to solve the timing problem is this:

-- A vote today abolishes the Electoral College in 20 (or 50) years.

That way, nobody voting for it knows if it will benefit their party or not, so you can take the political calculus out of it.

[dckingsfan]

I never thought the electoral college was a good idea, but to try to get rid of it now just comes across as cheap politicking. If Boxer and her folks were really philosophically against it, she/they should have done something years ago.

I agree it is poor timing; although you have to start somewhere I suppose. The electoral college now makes votes only matter in a few states. Personally, I wish more people had reason to vote in non-swing states. Perhaps a good compromise is to make the electoral college proportional rather than winner take all. I also think there could be voter ranking systems.

Not taking a position here, but a good political way to solve the timing problem is this:

-- A vote today abolishes the Electoral College in 20 (or 50) years.

That way, nobody voting for it knows if it will benefit their party or not, so you can take the political calculus out of it.

I know you aren't taking a position but rhetorically speaking, didn't the electoral college do what it was supposed to do? It made sure that a couple of states didn't dominate the conversation?

[dckingsfan]

I would characterize that as the Bernie Sanders route.

Interesting... I see it a bit differently. Bernie did have some of that - but he was more about "free stuff". Free Education, Increase Entitlements, etc.

I didn't see him getting into the weeds on supporting unions and workers.

But again, my main point - the next Democrat just has to be an outsider and about change. Seems to have worked for Obama/Trump. I see no reason it won't work again.

Actually, Bernie Sanders has long been an outspoken supporter and advocate of unions and workers. It's just that his support for and from unions was swallowed up by the Clinton machine and it's tight relationship with most union leaders.

Here are three quotes from him on unions and working people.

"There are folks out there who say, 'it doesn't impact me, I'm not a union guy, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a civil servant.' Let me tell you how it does matter to you. Wages are going down in this country for everybody. When you destroy unions there will be no standard at all, nobody left to negotiate decent jobs for the middle class."

"...I want you to know that being out on a picket line and standing with workers is something that I have been doing for my entire life. I did it when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, did it in Congress, did it in the Senate. This is what I do. This is what I believe."

“Workers have the constitutional right to form unions, to collectively bargain and to participate in the political process. If we are going to rebuild the crumbling middle class we need a stronger trade union movement, not a weaker one.”

Yes - but. Where did Bernie talk about how to (realistically - not using government spending increases where the assumption is you have permanent effects on GDP Growth, implying highly inflated fiscal multipliers.) expand the economy? I think the next D has to do both.

[dckingsfan]

I find one thing most interesting about the Ds right now. They are the ones most vociferously defending our public education model. Our public education model still has yet to cross the 30% line for those with a college degree.

What was that breakdown of those voting for Hillary again?

The number one thing Ds should do is push for a larger college educated electorate - and yet they are the very blockers to that demographic (IMO).

[gtn130]

I find one thing most interesting about the Ds right now. They are the ones most vociferously defending our public education model. Our public education model still has yet to cross the 30% line for those with a college degree.

What was that breakdown of those voting for Hillary again?

The number one thing Ds should do is push for a larger college educated electorate - and yet they are the very blockers to that demographic (IMO).

Trump wanted to make Ben Carson Secretary of Education. I think any rational person would prefer our current imperfect system over Ben Carson instituting creationism and nap time into our core curriculum.

[gtn130]

I agree it is poor timing; although you have to start somewhere I suppose. The electoral college now makes votes only matter in a few states. Personally, I wish more people had reason to vote in non-swing states. Perhaps a good compromise is to make the electoral college proportional rather than winner take all. I also think there could be voter ranking systems.

Not taking a position here, but a good political way to solve the timing problem is this:

-- A vote today abolishes the Electoral College in 20 (or 50) years.

That way, nobody voting for it knows if it will benefit their party or not, so you can take the political calculus out of it.

I know you aren't taking a position but rhetorically speaking, didn't the electoral college do what it was supposed to do? It made sure that a couple of states didn't dominate the conversation?

Why do we care if a couple states dominate the conversation? It's where people live. They dominate the conversation because there are lots of people living there. Geography and surface area matter because?

[tontoz]

Cop charged in shooting:

A Minnesota police officer has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, an African-American cafeteria worker whose death this summer sparked protests after its immediate aftermath was live-streamed on Facebook.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/officer-charged-manslaughter-fatal-shooting-205331883.html

[dckingsfan]

Not taking a position here, but a good political way to solve the timing problem is this:

-- A vote today abolishes the Electoral College in 20 (or 50) years.

That way, nobody voting for it knows if it will benefit their party or not, so you can take the political calculus out of it.

I know you aren't taking a position but rhetorically speaking, didn't the electoral college do what it was supposed to do? It made sure that a couple of states didn't dominate the conversation?

Why do we care if a couple states dominate the conversation? It's where people live. They dominate the conversation because there are lots of people living there. Geography and surface area matter because?

Same conversation that was had when we became the United States of America. It wouldn't have happened then - I doubt it would happen now

[dckingsfan]

I find one thing most interesting about the Ds right now. They are the ones most vociferously defending our public education model. Our public education model still has yet to cross the 30% line for those with a college degree.

What was that breakdown of those voting for Hillary again?

The number one thing Ds should do is push for a larger college educated electorate - and yet they are the very blockers to that demographic (IMO).

Trump wanted to make Ben Carson Secretary of Education. I think any rational person would prefer our current imperfect system over Ben Carson instituting creationism and nap time into our core curriculum.

I will take the devils advocate position on this one. I would think that Carson would not be able to affect the teaching of creationism in schools but would be able to neutralize the NAACP on the use of charter schools. I would think he might do more good than bad in this example.

And you know I am not a Carson fan... but he might just have had a positive outcome on schools.

[gtn130]

I find one thing most interesting about the Ds right now. They are the ones most vociferously defending our public education model. Our public education model still has yet to cross the 30% line for those with a college degree.

What was that breakdown of those voting for Hillary again?

The number one thing Ds should do is push for a larger college educated electorate - and yet they are the very blockers to that demographic (IMO).

Trump wanted to make Ben Carson Secretary of Education. I think any rational person would prefer our current imperfect system over Ben Carson instituting creationism and nap time into our core curriculum.

I will take the devils advocate position on this one. I would think that Carson would not be able to affect the teaching of creationism in schools but would be able to neutralize the NAACP on the use of charter schools. I would think he might do more good than bad in this example.

And you know I am not a Carson fan... but he might just have had a positive outcome on schools.

I think we can find someone in this vast nation of ours who is capable of addressing the issue of charter schools while not being a crazy religious zealot

[AFM]

I find one thing most interesting about the Ds right now. They are the ones most vociferously defending our public education model. Our public education model still has yet to cross the 30% line for those with a college degree.

What was that breakdown of those voting for Hillary again?

The number one thing Ds should do is push for a larger college educated electorate - and yet they are the very blockers to that demographic (IMO).

Trump wanted to make Ben Carson Secretary of Education. I think any rational person would prefer our current imperfect system over Ben Carson instituting creationism and nap time into our core curriculum.

I will take the devils advocate position on this one. I would think that Carson would not be able to affect the teaching of creationism in schools but would be able to neutralize the NAACP on the use of charter schools. I would think he might do more good than bad in this example.

And you know I am not a Carson fan... but he might just have had a positive outcome on schools.

Ben Carson triggering errybody!

Watch on YouTube

"afghanistani"

[AFM]

This is that fire flame!

Watch on YouTube

Makes me want to shake my booty!!!

[AFM]

"Deplorably yours..."

[DCZards]

I will take the devils advocate position on this one. I would think that Carson would not be able to affect the teaching of creationism in schools but would be able to neutralize the NAACP on the use of charter schools. I would think he might do more good than bad in this example.

And you know I am not a Carson fan... but he might just have had a positive outcome on schools.

What makes you think that Carson would somehow "neutralize the NAACP on the use of charter schools?"

[Kanyewest]

I agree it is poor timing; although you have to start somewhere I suppose. The electoral college now makes votes only matter in a few states. Personally, I wish more people had reason to vote in non-swing states. Perhaps a good compromise is to make the electoral college proportional rather than winner take all. I also think there could be voter ranking systems.

Not taking a position here, but a good political way to solve the timing problem is this:

-- A vote today abolishes the Electoral College in 20 (or 50) years.

That way, nobody voting for it knows if it will benefit their party or not, so you can take the political calculus out of it.

I know you aren't taking a position but rhetorically speaking, didn't the electoral college do what it was supposed to do? It made sure that a couple of states didn't dominate the conversation?

Now the couple of states that dominate the conversation are still just a few- it just happens to be Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and PA. States like California and Texas don't really matter or even smaller ones like Alabama and Maryland.

[Kanyewest]

I agree it is poor timing; although you have to start somewhere I suppose. The electoral college now makes votes only matter in a few states. Personally, I wish more people had reason to vote in non-swing states. Perhaps a good compromise is to make the electoral college proportional rather than winner take all. I also think there could be voter ranking systems.

What do you mean by "voter ranking systems?"

By ranked choice voting recently (sorry I didn't get the exact wording right the first time) recently passed in Maine. Here is the explanation and reasoning of the law. http://www.rcvmaine.com/faq



It allows voters to vote for their preferred candidate (ie a 3rd party) without the fear that it would end up with the least preferred of all options.

[AFM]

Really good in depth article on Bannon, from 2015

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2015-steve-bannon/

[montestewart]

Really good in depth article on Bannon, from 2015

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2015-steve-bannon/

I saw this quote

Ordinarily, Bannon’s townhouse is crypt-quiet and feels like a museum, as it’s faithfully decorated down to its embroidered silk curtains and painted murals in authentic Lincoln-era detail.

and wondered where that modern leather sofa on the wall-to-wall carpet came from. Must be his Lincoln-era man cave.

[TGW]

I find one thing most interesting about the Ds right now. They are the ones most vociferously defending our public education model. Our public education model still has yet to cross the 30% line for those with a college degree.

What was that breakdown of those voting for Hillary again?

The number one thing Ds should do is push for a larger college educated electorate - and yet they are the very blockers to that demographic (IMO).

Trump wanted to make Ben Carson Secretary of Education. I think any rational person would prefer our current imperfect system over Ben Carson instituting creationism and nap time into our core curriculum.

[bsilver]

By not allowing a vote on Garland for the SC, and filibustering virtually everything Obama was trying to accomplish, the Rs have set a precedent for how a party should vote in the Senate. There is no good reason for the Ds not to filibuster everything put forward by Trump and the Rs, including Trump's SC appointment.
At this point there are several Rs that have gone on record as opposing doing away with the filibuster, so there's not 50 votes there to eliminate the filibuster.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out after a period when the Rs are stymied in all they want to do. There will be lots of pressure on opposing Rs to change their position and eliminate the filibuster.