US Election 2020

[Tero]

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

Trump will say, "Fake news, we demand a recount!"

[Tero]

Guy on Zappa.com. There are 273 firm Biden electors.

[Tero]

Map based on these polls.

[Seabass]

[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.

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.

Fair points. I'm not claiming any superiority for the UK's first-past-the-post, appointed-second-chamber, constitutional-monarchy-without-a-written-constitution system. Personally I think our executive should be elected proportionally, that single transferable vote for elections to the legislature should apply, that the second chamber should be populated by lot, and that the country should have a written constitution that defines the remit and responsibilities of the executive and the legislature and defines the relationship between government and the citizenry. I'm intensely ambivalent about the monarchy and quite happy for the head of state to retain their purely symbolic role by heredity - and that's mostly because, like you say, the monarchy is part of the UK's national identity (as stupid as I think that is).

The main problem with electoral and constitutional reforms is that the people with the power to bring them about are exactly the same people with a vested interest in keeping them the same.

[rainbow]

The main problem with electoral and constitutional reforms is that the people with the power to bring them about are exactly the same people with a vested interest in keeping them the same.

That is why I favour the idea of a Public Exploder.

[pErvinalia]

Is the rest of the world going to come together to condemn the US if Trump tries to steal the election?

[Brian Peacock]

They could, but I think mostly they'll say it's an internal matter for the US to resolve - which it is.

[pErvinalia]

Fuck that, when the US sneezes we all get a cold. We should slap sanctions on them.

[Brian Peacock]

As long he's not rounding up the gingers and putting them in camps then what's there to complain about? His personality?

[Scot Dutchy]

Nothing will change as the present situation suits the 1%. It is as simple as that. Greed and corruption are the main driving forces in American politics.

I wonder what exit plans Trump has made? A private jet to Saudi Arabia? The last thing he will do is stay in America.

[Sean Hayden]

Y'all ready for this?

[Hermit]

Nothing will change as the present situation suits the 1%.

The present situation suits the 1% somewhat more than a Biden win, so some things will change if Trump loses.

[Tero]

Stick it to the man!

[Tero]

45 year old learned nothing:

Jerry Brock, 45

How are you feeling?
I am feeling confident that on election night the correct person will be elected for four more years!

What is driving you to vote this year?
This is gonna be probably the most epic election ever. It seems like everything’s split right down the middle right now.

Who are you voting for?
Donald Trump . There’s so many reasons. This Democratic side right now to me is so far left, and Trump has done everything that he said he was gonna do from the moment he was elected till now. He produces results.

David Millar goes all laklak

David Millar, 31

How are you feeling?
It is absolutely absurd the we have to deal with what we’re currently dealing with.

What is driving you to vote this year?
It’s so easy for us to be manipulated by social media and that’s where our political climate actually comes from today. Now, I still don’t believe that either candidate, either primary candidate with the Republicans or Democrats, are viable candidates.

Who are you voting for?
Howie Hawkins.A lot of people will call me stupid, they’ll call me ignorant, ‘They’re never going to get elected.’ It’s that mentality that prevents us from actually getting some form of change. Do you know how dumb we look because we only have two primary parties and these primary parties are now so polarized and divided? We’re not gonna get anywhere when we’re so polarized that even if we do vote for a change you’re never gonna get anywhere.

more swingers and fat Americans at link
theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/03/swing-voters-swing-states-us-elections