I was looking at voting trends over the past few years, and I find it interesting that so many people are choosing not to vote. Pew Research has a lot of information about voter turnout and flip flop on their site, and while they aren’t perfect, they do tend to do a pretty good job of reporting.
This got me to wondering… How do we fix the voting system? How do we fix the campaigning system? How do we encourage GOOD third party candidates to bring their best and enter the interview process (being President is a job, and We the People interview for that job)? There are so many questions, and way too many answers that only make sense in a single-use scenario. We desperately need results that help the country as a whole.
Right now, I’m fairly sure that Trump is going to win the election. Harris is a twit, honestly, and while she’s currently riding on a blue wave thanks to Biden, I suspect that it will bottom out pretty soon. She simply isn’t that popular, and she just hasn’t done anything with her four years. Trump has a proven track record, and even if there’s nose holding going on, I think a majority of people are going to vote for him. Of course, winning the popular vote isn’t enough. We’ll see what happens.
The problem that I have is that, if Trump wins, the country is going to burn. I fully expect there to be gnashing of teeth, false reports of racist/sexist/homophobic attacks happening, etc. Basically I expect what happened during his first election to be tripled or more, with false accusations across the country. And then the Dems and their violent machine are going to literally begin burning down the cities.
I don’t live in a city, partly because I don’t want to be part of watching the burning and looting happen. In my area, if someone starts looting or burning, they’re likely to get shot. People around here hang guns on their walls and proudly display loaded firearms in their family room. It’s a relatively safe area, because of that. There are Dems here, though, and they are likely to revolt. It will be messy, and I expect the “mostly peaceful” protests to be extremely violent.
If Harris wins, the country’s death will be a lingering, painful thing happening under a clueless “leader” who won’t be able to stop it. In fact, I suspect Harris will go through with many of her campaign promises, illegal though they be. Sure, the Right will challenge them, and they might even win. In the meantime, havoc will be spread. It’s going to be terrifying.
No matter who wins this election, our world is going to suffer. I hate that. This is not what our country is supposed to be. This is not how our Founding Fathers envisioned America. The checks and balances they put in place to keep the entire country safe are failing.
The worst thing, for me, is that we have an entire generation or three of people who simply cannot determine facts from opinions, or reality from fantasy. How did we end up with children so removed from the realities of the world around them? How did Americans get so damn dumb?
Comments
17 responses to “Voting”
There are plenty of reasons why third party candidates don’t get very far. The biggest reason is the “first past the post” system. In many other countries, a party with 10% support gets into Parliament; in some of them less than one percent may suffice. History shows that is not usually a good thing; consider the chaotic politics of Italy or Holland or Israel. I would be seriously scared of a proportional representation system here.
So in the USA, you need to be the top vote getter in your district to be elected to the House; top in the state to win Senate, etc. For President the picture is even more difficult, because you need to get the plurality of the vote in enough states to get the majority (not just plurality) of the Electoral College. Even a very strong third party candidate is unlikely to win any state; if he does, he certainly is not likely to win a majority of the Electoral College. If no one does the election goes to the House (for President) and Senate (for VP), and the rules in the House are quite pecular. Check out the details in the Constitution (12th Amendment).
It’s been a very long time since a new party emerged (Republican, with Frémont and then Lincoln) and not quite so long since a third party candidate made a serious attempt at doing so (TR might qualify). All the more recent ones have been very much fringe efforts, however much that may pain my libertarian sympathies. (I actually ran from NH House once, got 11% with 0 campaign spending and just a conversation or two with a reporter and an NRA endorsement.)
Related observation: for decades SF writer L. Neil Smith was a very vocal and very rigorous and consistent libertarian, including running for office as a libertarian on several occasions and being quite active in the libertarian party. (Read his excellent collection of essays in “Lever Action”.) Later in life he realized (a) the libertarian party was drifting into the swamp, and (b) actual political change comes not so much from the consistency of your principles but from being elected so you can nudge policy into the direction you want. So while he didn’t change his principles he shifted his support to the vehicle that could move things into the right direction (the Republican party).
the only thing Ive seen third party races do is allow the democrat to win with less than half the votes…. the BIGGEST problem with voting is getting non democrats to GO VOTE. IF We the People would get off our collective ass and go vote we would overwhelm anything democrats pulled. as discouraging as politics may be, THIS election is it. if Trump wins and democrats want to start thier usual shiite, I don’t think America will put up with it.
I think a third party would change things up, but it would have to be done right. On the other hand, the last time we had at least a chance of a third party winning (however minuscule), it was the Republicans that won. So there ya go.
But yes, we need to get people out to vote. I always tell people, I don’t care who you’re voting for, or why you’re voting, or where. Just go vote!
One reason is some states have become so ‘one party’ that there’s no point if you’re on the opposite side. I moved from IL after reading the writing on the wall when the Dems got a supermajority in both houses and the Gov. Any re-adjustment of the census costs another R seat or two due to gerrymanderering. Yes, I know Repubs do it too.
and ‘well run as a (X) and change it from the inside’. Can’t do that w/o permission from the party or they’ll destroy you.
The fix? No idea.
I have no idea either, but I hear what you’re saying. I just wish there was something better we could do.
I tossed around the idea of making voting mandatory (for a lot of reasons), but I always shirk away from things that are mandatory. Think about it, though… If not enough people vote, we know that something is wrong. Votes couldn’t be suppressed because if they were lost, that district would have to re-do all their voting, at the city’s expense. On top of it all, you make people invested in voting. Make it a day off, for heaven’s sake.
There’s the idea put up by Heinlein, where the only people with franchise (ie the right to vote) are those who’ve served their country. While serving doesn’t guarantee you’re smarter than the average citizen, it does help give people a bigger view of the world.
1. The checks and balances are not failing. They are being deliberately bypassed.
2. We are raising these snowflakes, and now they are raising their own snowflakes.
When self esteem is more important than logic or reason, the court ends up as an idiot.
I’m not sure we can say they aren’t failing. The checks and balances were put into place to help us *avoid* them being bypassed. The fact that it’s happening basically *means* they’re failing. IMO, of course.
Valid point.
Then again, no system is foolproof. Build the perfect system, and someone will find a way to bypass it.
Mobile phone typo, voters, not courts…
The worst thing, for me, is that we have an entire generation or three of people who simply cannot determine facts from opinions, or reality from fantasy. How did we end up with children so removed from the realities of the world around them? How did Americans get so damn dumb?
Read John Taylor Gatto’s excellent (albeit long) essay on how the American public education system was taken over by socialists/communists/Leftists. Or head on over to The Smallest Minority blog and read Kevin’s uberposts on the subject (he also cites Mr. Gatto).
The TL;DR: The “dumbing down” is a deliberate effort by Leftist unions and activists in government (i.e. the Dept of Education), designed and intended to produce low-information voters (read: reliable useful-idiot Democrats), who are playing a VERY long game; it’s been going on for generations.
As an anecdotal piece of evidence, look up the Yale University entrance exams from the beginning of the 20th century and see what college applicants were expected to know, and then compare that with some of the graduates these universities are churning out today (let alone the applicants they now accept).
I was going to say I disagree, but instead I’ll say, I don’t want to believe you about the dumbing down being deliberate. Do I think that some people are mighty glad of it? Sure. But I still don’t think that there’s a special cadre of evil agents plotting to make America stupid. I just don’t.
I know entrance exams and expectations of people are going down; I don’t need to look it up. It’s sad. And I don’t know what to do about it.
I have a small collection of late 19th/early 20th cent. grade school textbooks (DON”T JUDGE ME!!!!!!) . You are entirely correct. The level for that was beyond what most high school students are taught.
When I was in college (a non-traditional, started in my mid-20’s), the English prof. in one class had to go down to sit, sat, set level because a large percentage of the class didn’t know the difference. I’m not exaggerating. Literally sit/sat/set, lie/lay/lain.
when I was in the 8th grade my parents got the bright idea to move to England. my mom is from there. I ended up going to school there. I felt like an idiot.. the school had for my grade so many classes there was week one then week two. quick run down of classes- english- literature, language, writing, creative writing, poetry ?. Spanish AND french?, acting, math- geometry, TRIGONOMETRY!, algebra, chemistry,science, history both english and USA, social studies, ancient history, shop class wood, shop class metal, pt- week one 3 days a week, week two 2 days a week. and Im sure a few I missed( long time ago). the usa school i left had 5 classes a day same all week.. the dumbing down of America worked
“The problem that I have is that, if Trump wins, the country is going to burn.”
I think that’s gonna happen no matter who wins. If RED MAN DEFIANT (formerly known as ORANGE MAN) loses — for real or thru theft — our side (any-and every-one who isn’t a commie or commie dupe) won’t stand for it. Personally, I think there should be a national tar & feather day where every elected and appointed person from the federal level clear down to the local gets hauled out onto the streets and tarred & feathered. And when I say everyone, I mean ‘everyone’, including all the elected and appointed folks you (the person reading this lil rant) like. They’ve all failed. They all deserve an ass- whupping. But it won’t be tar & feathers. It’s gonna be bullets. I don’t want that. You don’t want that. The commies don’t want that. But things have gone about as far as they can while keeping the peace. The first three boxes are exhausted. And both sides are standing around with hands on the latch of the 4th sayin’ ‘I don’t wanna but, brother, you’re not givin’ me a lot of options’. -Henry
I’m not sure I understand, Henry. Are you saying that you feel that the only answer, if Trump loses, is to shoot up the country? I’m genuinely asking, because that’s what I read in your message here.
I see lots of things to do. First and foremost, we treat the Left the same way we treat deadbeat dads who are abusing the system and their ex’s. We keep notes, videos, messages, all of them. We make lots of very neat, easy to follow lists explaining everything that was done, and every prediction that we have about how bad it’s going to get. When it happens, we point back to the neat list, and say see? I know the Left as a whole isn’t great with logic, but they DO eventually get there when you can line it up neatly enough.
If my move to the Right has told me anything, it’s that people are moving… either because they have moved, or because the Left has continued to move SO far Left that a lot of us are left standing amongst y’all in the Right, wondering how we got here. The tide is turning, or as Chris often says, the pendulum is swinging.
Now we need to be prepared to stop it from swinging worse after it hits right of middle. There needs to be an actual effort to slow the swing.
The pendulum may be swinging one way, but the electorate is being swung the other. During the last four years we’ve had entire states worth of new immigrants, the New York Times just put out an article discussing the presently ongoing effort to naturalize as many new foreigners as American Citizens as possible in the lead up to the election, and there are plenty of very concerning reports about non citizen voters, ballot harvesting, and all the worries that the 2020 election fraud fiasco will be repeated.
This is not a fight to improve the country by one means or a different means, it is a fight for whether America is run by Americans, or overrun by foreign aliens with foreign allegiances and an entirely incompatible view of what the country should be.
The left is making a deal with the devil by betraying the country on immigration, in exchange for the present allegiance of foreign voters. It does not take much to upset the balance; even major elections can be won by very small margins, and every month there are tens of thousands of new arrivals. In the last four years more people have been naturalized than live in Iowa, I know some of these are like you, Hagar, but a very large number are not integrated into, nor loyal to, the country, and will probably just vote for whomever will help their cousins move in and give them more free money, or maybe won’t vote at all but just hand their ballot away to the first person who speaks their language that asks for it to fill it out for them.
“Are you saying that you feel that the only answer, if Trump loses, is to shoot up the country?”
Not at all (and I’m not seein’ how you’d come to such a conclusion…I thought my *post was clear).
No, my point is: we, as a country, are too far down a particular road, and have built up too much inertia, to change direction.
Now, I’m not bein’ a pessimist here. I’m fully convinced ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ will win out. But we’ve got shit to get thru first, and — as I say — the first 3 boxes are depleted. No one’s listening, no one trusts the process, and no one trusts the arbiters. We’re sitting, right now, in the space between the 3rd and 4th boxes.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope the locomotive can break in time. But: I’m not countin’ on it. -Henry
*”It’s gonna be bullets. I don’t want that. You don’t want that. The commies don’t want that.” Truth is, though: some folks, on both sides, do want it.