Giving away all that money is nice, but if you have the means, the aptitude, and the optimism, why not get into politics? Voting is only half of democracy, the other half is having good people to vote for.
Stay Gold, America
171–180 of 239 posts
Re: Stay Gold, America
#172I don't know how you can want to improve democracy, and be in favour of universal mail-in voting, the most open to abuse form of voting there is.
May be the tech equivalent resonates better.
Everyone should use telnet and there is no evidence that anyone is looking at your packets.
As a divided country, we keep squabbling over the metaphorical telnet when we could be making ssh more accessible. Or building the next generation with key rotation.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Compulsory voting removes an important signal where participation indicates the legitimacy. Which is why very few democracies have compulsory voting. Having 70-80-90% participation with non-compulsory voting should be the goal of any self respecting democracy and politicians who reject measures to increase voter turnout should be viewed with extreme suspicion.
> Compulsory voting removes an important signal where participation indicates the legitimacy. Not really: Voters can still choose to "not participate" (whether as protest or laziness) simply by casting a ballot that is functionally empty of choices. If anything, the signal you're talking about becomes stronger , since a compulsory-voting system removes or reduces certain practical impediments which have nothing to do…
The most important option is effectively removed (for poor people) if you reject the whole system, which is to not participate.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#174> We are at an unprecedented point in American history, and I'm concerned we may lose sight of the American Dream The understatement of the year. From all I read, hasn't it been dead and burried for decades? (Of course not for some founder who hit the jackpot like Jeff). "Evidence indicates that in recent decades social mobility in the United States has declined, and income inequality has risen.[7][8] Social mobility…
I mean, also
> Our family made eight $1 million donations to nonprofit groups working to support those most currently in need
Color me cynical but he's quite literally part of the problem, writing about the problem in abstracts.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#175>> Whatever the reasons, 42% of adults living in America had no say in the 2024 election. The vote failed to represent everyone. The 2024 election had a turnout of about 59% of the voting age population. Since 1972, only one presidential election had higher turnout than that (it was 2020). If the 2024 vote didn’t represent everyone, then most every election for the last half century has been even worse at representin…
Right, this system of government is obviously not working very well at representing the will of the people currently, nor has it ever.
You can debate why turnout is so low in this country for something so high stakes. The obvious things to reach for are the electoral college (where votes simply don't matter unless you live in a swing state) and the two party "system" (where you have to vote for an omnibus which will definitely have things you disagree with).
But it's just plain rotten. The only people this seems to work for consistently are the wealthy.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
In France, vote by mail was used between 1946 and 1975. It was stopped due to too much fraud (even if less than 2% of the population used it). Just the fact requiring a valid ID is a contentious idea in the US is baffling when seen from here. I think more people in the US should check how elections are done in other countries (and not just 3rd world ones).
The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust looked into it in the UK as well in the early 2000's and from their Exec Summary: - There have been at least 42 convictions for electoral fraud in the UK in the period 2000–2007. - Greater use of postal voting has made UK elections far more vulnerable to fraud and resulted in several instances of large-scale fraud. - The benefits of postal and electronic voting have been exaggerated,…
Direct quote from the source you linked:
>>It is unlikely that there has been a significant increase in electoral malpractice since the introduction of postal voting on demand in 2000; available figures suggest that 32 convictions were made from 1994–99. In both periods, the offences arose almost exclusively from local elections, and related to a tiny proportion of all elections contested.
Again, the facts are clear, but that doesn't stop the baseless fearmongering. A direct quote from your source:
>>There is no evidence to date suggesting that electoral malpractice has occurred as a result of pilots of various forms of electronic voting. However, serious questions about the security of electronic voting from organised fraud remain unanswered.
It flatly concedes that no evidence of voter fraud from electronic voting exists, but then somehow concludes that serious questions remain unanswered. Simply absurd.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an extremely poor analogy, and it doesn't change the objective fact that mail-in voting is provably, measurably secure.
In France, vote by mail was used between 1946 and 1975. It was stopped due to too much fraud (even if less than 2% of the population used it). Just the fact requiring a valid ID is a contentious idea in the US is baffling when seen from here. I think more people in the US should check how elections are done in other countries (and not just 3rd world ones).
None of this changes the fact that mail-in voting in the United States is objectively and measurably secure, and that instances of fraud are so miniscule that claims of it having an impact on election outcomes are provably false.
Those are simply the facts.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#178>> Whatever the reasons, 42% of adults living in America had no say in the 2024 election. The vote failed to represent everyone. The 2024 election had a turnout of about 59% of the voting age population. Since 1972, only one presidential election had higher turnout than that (it was 2020). If the 2024 vote didn’t represent everyone, then most every election for the last half century has been even worse at representin…
Right, this system of government is obviously not working very well at representing the will of the people currently, nor has it ever. You can debate why turnout is so low in this country for something so high stakes. The obvious things to reach for are the electoral college (where votes simply don't matter unless you live in a swing state) and the two party "system" (where you have to vote for an omnibus which will…
> The only people this seems to work for consistently are the wealthy.
Well, that's because they know how to invest wisely in lawmakers. Fabulous ROI.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
The rich care as much as much about how the price of groceries leads to social unrest as you do, maybe more. There are jerks everywhere. Most very wealthy people I know fund science and hospitals.
That's the third time you've posted this exact line. You're starting to sound like a shill, and an uncreative one at that.
Ad hominem attacks are the last recourse of the rhetorically defeated.
I accept your surrender. Better luck next time.
Re: Stay Gold, America
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a big lie promoted by the republicans who don't like mail-in voting because democrats use it more [1]. There is still absolutely no evidence that any fraud ever happened with that system. [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/13/politics/trump-mail-in-vo...
No evidence yet . I guess we might find out more in the next 4 years when it is investigated properly. If you want to put elections beyond doubt and make everyone accept the result you should have voter ID and paper ballots. The public holiday idea is probably not a bad one.
Yeah, let’s trust a deeply narcissistic felon and insurrectionist — who pressured at least one Secretary of State to “find him votes”[1] and even prepared a slate of false electors[2] to subvert the Electoral College — to investigate his own lost election. That will surely be fair and just!
[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump%E2%80%93Raffensperger_...
[2]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_fake_electors_plot