31–40 of 112 posts
> No one able to vote in the US should be sitting this one out I disagree. People who haven't taken the time to thoroughly research the candidates should not be encouraged to blindly push a button, especially this year. Most of them will probably be persuaded by fear mongering or partisan mud-slinging. That's not democracy, it's just mob rule.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this is undeniably a partisan endeavour.
I'm sorry are you saying that there are no student republicans? that's a very misinformed opinion if you believe that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this is undeniably a partisan endeavour.
I'm sorry are you saying that there are no student republicans? that's a very misinformed opinion if you believe that.
Obligatory. - Incentivizing to vote with cash prizes. Isn't that illegal?" - "Illegal? Sam(ir) this is America".
Not a lawyer, but as far as I know, the relevant statute would be 18 USC 597, which says: "Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate [...]" Which I strongly suspect is why the language around the offer universally refers to "check[ing] voter registration status". And I'm sure somebody or other's legal team has reviewed th…
Not really related to this but I think you would be surprised how often this is not the case. I've been involved in many big contracts where I've realized no actual lawyers have been involved at all.
A whopping 49% of Americans are registered as Independents, which leaves only half of Americans that truly feel like they're represented by the only two choices they're given every 2/4 years: the Democratic and Republican parties.
That almost seems criminal to me. How can the only two viable parties (with the current voting system) represent only half the country at any given point in time? And the number of people that are registered as Democrats and Republicans drops every election. This is a democracy crisis, and people need to start treating it like one.
If Sam Altman and the others in YCombinator really care about democracy, they should also support organizations such as FairVote.org and help them change the voting system city by city, and state by state, until it eventually happens everywhere.
Oh, and just one of the many benefits of switching to a proportional representation voting system[2], or at least a single-winner ranked-choice[3] one? It gets more people to vote because they now feel better represented by the available viable candidates.
Isn't that nice?
[1] http://www.fairvote.org/monopoly_politics
Besides the big name top of the ballot Presidential election there are many down ballot elections to consider. There are house elections, senate elections (in some states), local elections, as well as propositions, etc.
With the wall-to-wall coverage of the Presidential election, it is easy to forget that the wheels of our democratic American system turn at multiple levels.
E.g.: Your local school board matters. Your judges (if elected where you live) matter.
Here are two summaries of California's propositions:
https://ballotpedia.org/California_2016_ballot_propositions
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-november-ballot-pr...
Vote.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sorry are you saying that there are no student republicans? that's a very misinformed opinion if you believe that.
You know what they say, if you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you're not a conservative by 50, you have no brains.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sorry are you saying that there are no student republicans? that's a very misinformed opinion if you believe that.
Neither OP nor GP said that. They're pointing out the political distribution within the target demographic.
[1]http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/16/millennials-...
Not a criticism! Replace benefitting party as you wish. It is interesting when these initiatives present themselves as non-partisan. If you target a demographic that polling suggests will go for your preferred party, plough tons of money to encourage them to vote, can it truly be described as non-partisan? edit: And if so, should they be obligated to disclose their preference and intention?