281–290 of 308 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The people who prefer not to confront the ugly parts of history directly. There are many.
When it comes to virtue signaling, everyone is onboard.
Some things are both virtuous, and worth signalling to others.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The people who prefer not to confront the ugly parts of history directly. There are many.
There are people who would not celebrate the emancipation of slavery?
And it is worth noting that it took more than 150 years for something so obviously correct and worthy to be commemorated. We don't even celebrate the end of the Civil War. Some people still earnestly call it the War of Northern Aggression. These things all mean something.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that it's frustrating that other efforts aren't being made, and this is easier, but I disagree it's an empty effort. Holidays, statues, rituals -- they're how we define ourselves as a society. They're important. Imagine how people would react if we tried to get rid of MLK day, or President's day, or the extreme negative reaction to proposals to cede Mt. Rushmore? They're symbols of the American national ident…
I dislike this holiday from a purely linguistic point of view. Having a national holiday be named after the portmanteau of June and nineteenth seems like juvenile naming. Was there really no better name for this day?
That said, "Emancipation Day" has also been historically used.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s pretty clear this isn’t the case. It was more true 20 years ago, but polarization has been increasing rapidly. How are they playing for the same team if they can’t agree on anything anymore?
You’re mistaking appearances for reality. The rhetoric is different today, but the substance isn’t much different from 20 or even 30 years ago.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Western cultures moved the date of Jesus's birth to late December for political reasons. So there's precedent. Besides, I don't think MLK's birthday is that significant anyway. Nobody celebrates his birth, do they? Sure, celebrate the date of one of the Selma marches, or of the I Have A Dream speech, or the date of his death.... But in my opinion, it's sufficient to set aside a day to remember him - it doesn't have t…
Given how much of US history already excludes and edits the experience of black Americans, this would be in bad taste.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The secret ballot and full chain of custody of ballots is a pretty important thing in democracy.
Could you not have both? I'm not certain how mail-in ballots are counted currently, but it is certainly possible to have the ballots be in a sleeve, and the ballot itself only be exposed to the machine reading it. Put the ballot 'inserters' under camera if needed. It seems like a simple problem to solve. Another commenter mentioned that a real issue is that the counting of ballots isn't transparent, which is true. Wh…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The secret ballot and full chain of custody of ballots is a pretty important thing in democracy.
Could you not have both? I'm not certain how mail-in ballots are counted currently, but it is certainly possible to have the ballots be in a sleeve, and the ballot itself only be exposed to the machine reading it. Put the ballot 'inserters' under camera if needed. It seems like a simple problem to solve. Another commenter mentioned that a real issue is that the counting of ballots isn't transparent, which is true. Wh…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that it's frustrating that other efforts aren't being made, and this is easier, but I disagree it's an empty effort. Holidays, statues, rituals -- they're how we define ourselves as a society. They're important. Imagine how people would react if we tried to get rid of MLK day, or President's day, or the extreme negative reaction to proposals to cede Mt. Rushmore? They're symbols of the American national ident…
I dislike this holiday from a purely linguistic point of view. Having a national holiday be named after the portmanteau of June and nineteenth seems like juvenile naming. Was there really no better name for this day?
Reflect on why you dislike this holiday and the difference between its name and "Christmas". Language is fluid and will survive. It's fine. This is a bad take.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I interpreted @umvi's comment to mean they took "many hours" of research [during the days/weeks before election day] to decide which candidate to vote for in the down-ballot races. They said this to support their proposition that it might be easier to sway voter's down-ballot votes with poll gifts because it takes a lot of personal time to research the policies of low-profile candidates (i.e., candidates who aren't T…
Oh, no, I actually took it to mean that time-consuming research was required before turning up to the polling station -- but acknowledging that 4 pages of ballots could be onerous, especially as one of the votes is clearly way more momentous than the others. I guess the argument is that because it's a weekday, you want to aggregate many into the one event.
An Act enabling the County to borrow money and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding $38,134,000 to finance the design, construction, reconstruction, extension, acquisition, improvement, enlargement, alteration, renovation, relocation, rehabilitation or repair of Public Safety Facilities (including Fire Department Facilities), as defined therein.
I think very few people actually bother to research such questions. They just either reflexively tick Yes or No.
Researching a better answer requires a lot of questions. Does the county actually need to repair its Public Safety Facilities? What new construction do they plan? Have they been spending their money well in the past?
Answering all that would take a fair bit of time. And there were a dozen items like that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
there are like 10 federal holidays. most of them are not door-buster sales. what's leading you to believe election day would definitely be one?
That's just it, though. The working class doesn't get Memorial Day off. Businesses don't close for Flag Day. The people who have the hardest time voting on election day are the same people whose employers would still be open for business that day. Things like early or mail in voting are far more effective ways to enable those people to vote.