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Don’t worry Rocky. Trump will win again.
Even if he’s down about 8 or 9% in the polls, like he currently is in the RealClearPolitics average, I don’t think the Democrats can overcome the built in advantage Republicans have in the electoral college, plus voter suppression, plus Trump’s new crony at the US Postal Service who undoubtedly will do his best to interfere with absentee voting, plus purges from the voter rolls, polling place reductions that always seem to affect working class minorities resulting in insanely long lines, and closing of DMVs in strict voter ID states, among other things.
Republicans control most of the election apparatus in the swing states and I have a bridge to sell you if you don’t think they will pull out every dirty trick. They’re already doing their damndest (e.g., the poll tax in Florida to thwart the constitutional amendment that passed with overwhelming majority to let ex felons vote).
I predict Trump will be down by some statistically significant margin in every poll, but when the smoke clears he will magically be victorious to everyone’s surprise, and Republicans will just claim the polls were wrong.
NO MALARKEY
“Maybe a better discussion is this, Neo: what would be a better system? Are you arguing for direct democracy?”
Are you confusing me with Neodymium or Thomas Anderson from the Matrix?
A better system would be a parliamentary system like those that exist in most democracies. The two party system is too polarizing and seems to exacerbate some extreme views, IMHO.
NO MALARKEY
You are arguing the rules (my bad for mentioning them), whereas your original question simply asked if it was fair if one state made the rules for the rest of the country if they had 99% of the population. I simply took your extreme example to its logical conclusion — from 99% to 99.9+%.
I thought it was “we the people”. I am sure the states argument was meant to protect the rights of the people in those states, not some soil and minerals. When the imbalance becomes so extreme those folks end up as oligarchs for all practical purposes. If they were all communists and the other 99% were Breitbart conservatives, I’m going to guess there would suddenly be some new interpretations of the meaning of “states rights”.
NO MALARKEY
Even if they only had the Senate it seems absurd. The other 300M+ people effectively couldn’t pass any legislation, budgets, etc. without the consent of most of those 98 people. They could not appoint anyone to the courts either without the approval from the oligarchs.
NO MALARKEY
PL: A state isn’t its population? So to take your example to the extreme (it’s already quite extreme though), hypothetically if just two guys lived in the other 49 states you think all 98 of them should get Senate Seats and Congressional votes. And 98 people should be able to set the laws, budget, etc. for 300 million people in another state? They would win the electoral college too, I believe, and would be able to appoint a President and all the Supreme Court justices.
As you know, that would be an oligarchy under the guise of “democracy”.
NO MALARKEY
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Do you believe that, if California had 99 percent of the country’s population, that California should be able to make laws for the rest of the country?
Of course, because effectively there would be no “rest of the country”. Dirt doesn’t get a vote. All those maps showing some huge swath of red states are highly misleading.
NO MALARKEY
I Try not to criticize when a politician does the right thing,.. he also wore a mask this week end. Let’s give him shit about that.
When a child makes pee pee in the toilet for the first time everyone cheers. So yeah, I guess better late than never. But it would have been nice if he had done it before 135,000 Americans died.
And I’d bet money he will soon revert to his usual behavior. I suspect someone just finally told him he couldn’t come in without a mask. I guess we’ll find out at his next super-spreader event (rally).
NO MALARKEY
Roscoe, don’t you know you can’t appoint a Supreme Court justice during an election year? /s
NO MALARKEY
[quote quote=1174]Ironic. The anti-Catholic bias of the Democratic Party has become so intense that JFK could not be nominated these days.[/quote]
I don’t think that’s entirely true. Democrats tend to have some differing views on things like abortion, but I never got the sense they are anti-Catholic. Joe Biden is Catholic, Nancy Pelosi is Catholic, John Kerry is Catholic, and a recent poll suggested that Democrats are far more supportive of the current Pope than Republicans. I agree that Catholics aren’t one of the primary groups in the Democrats wheelhouse, so to speak, but I don’t see an anti-Catholic attitude. If you had said Evangelicals, on the other hand, I would probably agree with you.
NO MALARKEY
[quote quote=1079][quote quote=1076]I think a big partof it is reaction to Trump”s “what, me worry” bullshit. He won’t sound ANY alarm. Acts as if it’s just an annoyance that will go away.[/quote] lex, your prejudices are coloring your judgment.[/quote]
Trump literally said what Lex is suggesting. From an interview on Fox the other day:
“I think we’re going to be very good with the coronavirus,” Trump said. “I think that, at some point, that’s going to sort of disappear, I hope.”
“You still believe so?” replied Burman. “Disappear?”“Well, I do, I do,” Trump replied. “Yeah, sure.”
This is consistent with his initial claims about the virus back in the early days:
“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” (January 22nd)
“I think the virus is going to be—it’s going to be fine… Looks like by April, you know in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” (February 10th).
“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” (Feb 24th)
“The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
“It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” (Feb 27)
Source (with a much bigger summary): https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses
Trump has done a few reasonable things and some unreasonable things. But regardless of the specifics, he has shown zero leadership on exactly what Lex is saying. He refuses to wear a mask in public, projects that it’s no big deal, and allows masks to be optional at his rallies.
NO MALARKEY
Lex, I really didn’t follow too closely but it sounds like the mayor handled it badly and should pay in the next election.
NO MALARKEY
I don’t really follow the mainstream media much, but to the extent I heard anything about CHAZ (aka CHOP) it came across as a pretty insane and dangerous thing. I didn’t need CNN to explain that to me. No doubt it had some supporters, but I’m willing to bet most people on the left in Seattle thought it was crazy, as well.
NO MALARKEY
Polls are starting to look really bad for the President. Looks like he’ll have to start a war or major conflict to win. Don’t put it past him!
NO MALARKEY
paraphrasing
RJ: this is so normal and obvious that it would negligence if administrations weren’t aware and prepared.
Rocky: this is all such bs. I can’t believe anyone would believe it.
The bases are definitely covered between the two of you.
NO MALARKEY
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