US Election 2020

[Tero]

You say corruption, they say gerrymandering.

[Tero]

On Wednesday when networks announce Biden a winner, what will Trump's tweet say?

[Sean Hayden]

It's going to depend on whether or not he manages to remember that he doesn't actually leave just yet.

[Scot Dutchy]

You say corruption, they say gerrymandering.

Not much of a difference.

[Brian Peacock]

No, it should NOT be the same for every state, that's the entire reason behind States Rights and the whole of our system of Federalism. That's how we set it up because that's how we wanted it, and we want to keep it that way, at least until until a super majority decides to change it. I do not want to live under New York or California laws, that's why I live in Florida. Apparently a fuckton of people don't want to live under those laws either, because they're moving down here in fucking droves.

Y'all don't get it, and never will. We aren't a "nation" in the way that Germany or even the UK are. We're a federation of states with a limited Federal government. States make their own rules, for the most part. If you don't like it then move to a different state. SImples.

The erosion of State's Rights and the burgeoning power of the Federal Government is the reason for the shit we find ourselves in now. Fuck the Feds.

The argument might be that at least in the matter of the presidency there should be a level playing field. I know that technically nobody really votes for the president, they traditionally vote to send electoral college delegates to Washington by pony express, wagon train, tea clipper, or whatever, but effectively everybody operates under the assumption that it's a straight, national, beauty contest run-off between the fortuned and the favoured. The selection of the head of the executive at the Federal level could benefit from a clear, consistent, over-arching playbook, but there's no reason that that wouldn't still leave States to organise regional and local matters as they saw fit.

[Tero]

Fucking Onion is going conservative with their politics

[laklak]

No, it doesn't work that way, and it has nothing to do with corruption. You might want it to, but it doesn't. It is what it is.

[JimC]

No, it should NOT be the same for every state, that's the entire reason behind States Rights and the whole of our system of Federalism. That's how we set it up because that's how we wanted it, and we want to keep it that way, at least until until a super majority decides to change it. I do not want to live under New York or California laws, that's why I live in Florida. Apparently a fuckton of people don't want to live under those laws either, because they're moving down here in fucking droves.

Y'all don't get it, and never will. We aren't a "nation" in the way that Germany or even the UK are. We're a federation of states with a limited Federal government. States make their own rules, for the most part. If you don't like it then move to a different state. SImples.

The erosion of State's Rights and the burgeoning power of the Federal Government is the reason for the shit we find ourselves in now. Fuck the Feds.

The argument might be that at least in the matter of the presidency there should be a level playing field. I know that technically nobody really votes for the president, they traditionally vote to send electoral college delegates to Washington by pony express, wagon train, tea clipper, or whatever, but effectively everybody operates under the assumption that it's a straight, national, beauty contest run-off between the fortuned and the favoured. The selection of the head of the executive at the Federal level could benefit from a clear, consistent, over-arching playbook, but there's no reason that that wouldn't still leave States to organise regional and local matters as they saw fit.

[laklak]

It's not level, it's not supposed to be level, it's designed not to be. I keep coming back to "it is what it is", and the response is generally it should be this or that. "Should" means nothing, as my Ma used to say, "shoulda, woulda, coulda". There's a way to change it (actually at least two ways), but since 1788 nobody has seriously tried.

As I've said before, I'm fine with it, but I realize many people aren't. It's up to them to change the Constitution if they hate it that much, nobody is stopping them.

[Tero]

Nobody has ever elected a socialist Jew...

[laklak]

IT'S FUCKING OVER TOMORROW!

Well, probably not.

[Scot Dutchy]

IT'S FUCKING OVER TOMORROW!

Well, probably not.

It is going to take months especially when Trump wont except the result. It is such a corrupt mess. Of course Trump wants is to be decided by his Supreme Court.

[Joe]

No, it should NOT be the same for every state, that's the entire reason behind States Rights and the whole of our system of Federalism. That's how we set it up because that's how we wanted it, and we want to keep it that way, at least until until a super majority decides to change it. I do not want to live under New York or California laws, that's why I live in Florida. Apparently a fuckton of people don't want to live under those laws either, because they're moving down here in fucking droves.

Y'all don't get it, and never will. We aren't a "nation" in the way that Germany or even the UK are. We're a federation of states with a limited Federal government. States make their own rules, for the most part. If you don't like it then move to a different state. SImples.

The erosion of State's Rights and the burgeoning power of the Federal Government is the reason for the shit we find ourselves in now. Fuck the Feds.

The argument might be that at least in the matter of the presidency there should be a level playing field. I know that technically nobody really votes for the president, they traditionally vote to send electoral college delegates to Washington by pony express, wagon train, tea clipper, or whatever, but effectively everybody operates under the assumption that it's a straight, national, beauty contest run-off between the fortuned and the favoured. The selection of the head of the executive at the Federal level could benefit from a clear, consistent, over-arching playbook, but there's no reason that that wouldn't still leave States to organise regional and local matters as they saw fit.

Well, that seems perfectly reasonable Brian and if we were building the US from scratch today, the idea might find favor with us. However, we stumble along like the rest of the world's nations with our history and its decisions in tow.

We began as a loose confederation of autonomous states and our federal system was a grand bargain necessary for the Republic to even happen. It may not be the most efficient way to do things, but it was the only way that would get enough votes. The States retained sufficient control to resist domination by a powerful national government, though they gave up enough to make it sufficiently strong to function.

Ours is a system of checks and balances, and while the horizontal ones between the US Congress, President, and Supreme Court get most of the attention, the vertical ones between the Feds, States, and local governments are very real and important to us. They weren't intended to be efficient. They were meant to protect us from an overreaching national Legislature or Executive you know, because we'd had some small troubles with those in an earlier polity.

It worked quite well at the start, to the point that for our first hundred years of existence the correct grammatical usage of our name was plural, not singular as it is today. Even now, federalism has real punch. Witness the legalization of marijuana in many states in defiance of federal law.

Lak's right. You don't get it. We are vested in this arrangement, emotionally attached even. Sure our election procedures would benefit from standardization, but who at the federal level should we trust to do it? The Trump administration?

How about this? We'll get right on fixing our mess when you streamline your executive branch. After all, what's a high tone democracy like the UK need with a monarch?

God save the Queen!

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

We mean it man.

[laklak]

Things haven't changed much since then, except now that's Biden on the left and Floridaman on the right.

[laklak]

S'truth.