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Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

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Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#271

Post by whimsicalism »

bombcar wrote: post #254
whimsicalism wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point of democracy is to have some say (or the illusion of it) in how the government acts. People from small states will have a say. They will oftentimes be crucial votes. The point of democracy is not that some people get 10x voting power than others. The point of democracy is not that you are entitled to the swinging vote or disproportionate voting power. I am from a place smaller than Wyoming that never got…

The big takeaway is that you are a location where you could increase your political power infinitely by moving to Wyoming, and let you remain. Very few people move based on where they would have voting influence.

Whether people do or do not move based on voting influence is irrelevant to my argument. In fact, if people did move based on where they have voting influence it would be much less of a problem.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#272

Post by cthalupa »

nxor wrote: post #241

[flagged]

> I have friends who smoke and have seen over the years how they've abandoned hobbies in favor of smoking more. Where's the outrage about that?

Why in the world would I or anyone else have any right to be outraged over someone trading one hobby for another?

> I take public transport and the people who smoke make the entire train smell.

Make and enforce laws about smoking on public transport.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#273

Post by maximilianburke »

whimsicalism wrote: post #4

The Senate is fundamentally a ridiculous way of representing 350 million people and we’re going to continue to get absurd unrepresentative outcomes for as long as it remains a relevant body. There’s no getting around this and it will structurally just get worse and worse. Simply no way something like it exists 200 years from now, it is probably the biggest flaw in the US political structure right now.

I don't think the senate is necessarily the _biggest_ flaw, but it's close.

A bigger flaw I think is the apportionment of house reps, and that the number of house reps hasn't changed in nearly 100 years.

Splitting the Dakota Territory into North and South to get two extra senators is pretty egregious and should be counteracted with DC and Puerto Rico being admitted as states.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#274

Post by kulahan »

tehjoker wrote: post #44
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Senate was absolutely one of the best features of government. Unicameral legislatures are uniformly godawful. In as much as it is imperfect, it is only so because Congress has become more unicameral-like... senators are little more than representatives that stay in office six years instead of two.

The senate was explicitly designed to provide a brake on the democratic aspirations of the lower classes by the founders. American government is a system of baffles designed to frustrate democratic will and preserve the property and political control of elites. The senate should be abolished along with the undemocratic supreme court (as currently constituted with lifetime appointments and the ability to overrule cong…

People that say this are only looking to ensure the repression of those at the bottom of the totem pole remain oppressed! It's a direct path to fascism, and it is designed entirely to massively accumulate wealth at the top of the pyramid while ensuring all others starve and suffer!

If you're going to make inane comments about how ahckchtually everything in the world is a creation of the man who just wants to keep us down, you'll need to qualify the statements.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#275

Post by macintux »

CalChris wrote: post #260
macintux wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take on some of the Senate's advantages: - No gerrymandering - Longer terms mean that senators can spend more time governing, less time running for election, and they can take a longer view on the impact of their decisions - Filibuster means that a tiny minority cannot force legislation through

The States are a gerrymandering. Five states have populations less than a million and three wouldn't even qualify for Member of Congress by census. Yet they get two Senators, a Member and three Electoral College votes. You've got filibuster backwards. Filibuster grants rights to a Senate minority.

> You've got filibuster backwards. Filibuster grants rights to a Senate minority.

Yeah, I meant that 50.1% can't force legislation through. I should have said tiny majority.

States aren't gerrymandering because the people decide for themselves where to live.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#277

Post by Razengan »

Aperocky wrote: post #240
mmoustafa wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do not live in a democracy, we live in a representative democracy. The founders simply had no option, you had to pick a person, put them in a carriage, and send them to the capitol to do your bidding (also why electoral college exists for reporting votes, but I digress). I always wonder what they would’ve created if everyone had a device in their pocket to send their preferences directly to the capitol at the spee…

Could it actually be worse?

You could have actual semi-immortal magic users claiming to be the Senate.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#278

Post by macintux »

cthalupa wrote: post #263
macintux wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take on some of the Senate's advantages: - No gerrymandering - Longer terms mean that senators can spend more time governing, less time running for election, and they can take a longer view on the impact of their decisions - Filibuster means that a tiny minority cannot force legislation through

The filibuster is not a feature inherent to the Senate and could be removed at any time with a simple majority, just like it has been done for the filibuster for several types of nominations, and was threatened during this past shutdown. I also assume you meant tiny majority, as the minority cannot force legislation through regardless of whether the filibuster exists or not.

Yes, I meant tiny majority.

I recognize that the filibuster isn't guaranteed, but it has served as a powerful tool for a very long time.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#279

Post by cthalupa »

ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #152
brightball wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

More than a decade later, the GOP has still yet to present an alternative healthcare plan to the ACA. Actual leftists have continued to push and argue for a true single payer system.

The ACA Is far from perfect but it was a significant step up from what we had before, and the party that spends all of their time trashing it has never made any sort of serious attempt at creating any sort of alternative.

Re: Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill

#280

Post by johnnyanmac »

Y-bar wrote: post #129
whimsicalism wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Senate and House - congress is both bodies. My point was merely the additive scheme you described is how electoral college votes are allocated.

What problem does the Congress solve in the democratic process which happens elsewhere where there is no such thing?

Congress as a whole? I don't know if there's anything unique it solves. It's merely the US's compromise to balance between a monarchy and a weak federal government with little control over the coalition of states.

The big issue is that our House of Representatives stopped being proportional to the population some 90 years ago. I believe analysts suggested that a House today would have over 1000 members, as to the 435 seats today. So that only increases representation of smaller states.

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