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Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

apologize.lol

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Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#71

Post by rsynnott »

api wrote: post #19
jedberg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk is running a similar program for people in swing states, paying them $47 to refer potential Trump voters. If he doesn't pay, or pays selectively, he's violating various campaign finance laws.

Isn’t it flat illegal to pay people to vote? Otherwise Trump or Harris could just… directly bribe people to vote for them through a cutout.

See, that’s the thing. Neither naughty ol’ mr car, nor the card game, are paying people to vote. Not technically. US election law is… not great. Note the digs at Citizens United in the FAQ.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#72

Post by rsynnott »

Apocryphon wrote: post #63
wakawaka28 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not a good argument. People have a right to self-determination. The same logic of populism can be applied on a trans-national scale, even. There is no limit because under your logic, any person's vote is as good as any other's. The fact is we have states to provide a level of autonomy and independence to geographically separate groups of people, so they can live with more freedom. I don't care if the entire s…

> The fact is we have states to provide a level of autonomy and independence to geographically separate groups of people, so they can live with more freedom. On this specific point- do you contend that unitary republics, such as France, are inherently less free than federal entities? How are provinces less free than states? Is Canada less free than the U.S.?

Did the EU get less free after Lisbon when it transferred power from the commission and council of ministers (each state has similar influence) to the parliament (each person has similar influence)? Like, that was about the least contentious part of Lisbon; it was broadly popular. Very few people would think they lost freedom through it.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#73

Post by rsynnott »

dullcrisp wrote: post #28

Couldn’t they pay out after the election to anyone who leans left and voted or anyone who leans right and didn’t vote? Just an idea I guess.

They’re not technically paying for votes. That’s illegal. They’re exploiting the same loophole as Musk to, for practical purposes, pay for votes.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#74

Post by addandsubtract »

throwaway14356 wrote: post #32
jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

There is really any mystery as to why half the voters don't vote? Unless you live in one of the half dozen "swing states", your vote is just a symbolic gesture with little chance of impacting the overall outcome.

The problem is brainwashing. The formula is this: YOU learn all by yourself what all electable candidates say they want to do. YOU figure out all by yourself which ones LIE. One lie is enough, if they do it they keep doing it. And then YOU chose which election program you want to vote for. Ideally you chose what is best for the country but this is rather challenging for people. We can forgive them for being stuck thi…

>There is not one journalist who knows anything.

This seems like a brazenly false statement. Also genuinely worrying, as you're discrediting all journalists based on... your feelings? Something that has been pushed for over the last 8 years by one party under the guise of labels such as "fake news" and "mainstream media".

Maybe you meant to say "everything", but parroting anti-news propaganda is only making everyone less informed and only benefits the side that isn't campaigning in good faith.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#75

Post by api »

paulcole wrote: post #43
api wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t it flat illegal to pay people to vote? Otherwise Trump or Harris could just… directly bribe people to vote for them through a cutout.

This has always been one of my favorite questions to think about. If votes could be legally sold how much would it cost to buy the US Presidential election?

With the lax finance laws we have I’m guessing China could install a regime that would actively help them take Taiwan for less than ten billion, to give one example. It would be cheaper to buy the whole US military than build one aircraft carrier.

It’s why this or anything like it should be very illegal and why Citizens United is a threat to US national security.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#76

Post by addandsubtract »

reverius42 wrote: post #54
grayfaced wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason CPAC would have a banner saying "We're all domestic terrorists". Dark satire. Whether you find it appropriate or funny is an exercise left for the reader.

Dark satire is perhaps more appropriate in a party game than at a supposedly-serious political conference.

Which is why we have popular subreddits such as /r/TheRightCantMeme

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#77

Post by wakawaka28 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #69
wakawaka28 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's different. In any case, you can imagine a scenario where different states have wildly different voter turnout. That could even happen due to a natural disaster such as the hurricanes we've seen in the past few weeks. How messed up would it be for a state ravaged by a hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, or whatever to have its influence diminished because people were unable to vote? It is already bad enough t…

> But imagine the whole state losing its actual representation because of power outages and stuff. What you are describing would be a problem regardless of the presence of the electoral college.

It is more of a problem without the electoral college, because as I said the popular vote is sensitive to voter turnout. No turnout means no representation. The electors can always step up to represent their state, and if even they can't then presumably the entire election would be delayed.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#78

Post by namaria »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #60
FactKnower69 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn imagine if everyone's vote was equally weighted, what a disaster for democracy that would be. Mob rule!!

I sense some sarcasm. But you ought to know that the founders, along with Aristotle and other Greeks (basically, the inventors of democracy), were afraid of mobs and sought to temper the whims of the people. States are given representation proportional to their populations, and also equal representation (in the Senate). The EC and House seats aren't just based on voter turnout, voter population, or even the actual nu…

> the founders, along with Aristotle and other Greeks

Slavers who designed and oversaw slaver states.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#79

Post by bitshiftfaced »

kibwen wrote: post #9
renewiltord wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's a federation of states so you can't quite do that unless you abandon that conceit.

No, devolving powers to the states is what makes it a federation. Having a state-representative legislative chamber makes it a federation. Electing a federal president via popular vote does not indicate defederation any more than the existence of the House of Representatives does.

The states negotiated terms before they agreed to join. Not having a popular vote is part of the reason why we have a federal system in the first place. People can argue pros and cons, but it's fairly meaningless since we're already in an established deal, and it's very unlikely that the many states will agree to undo that deal.

Re: Cards Against Humanity Launches a Super Pac to Match Elon Musk's Super Pac

#80

Post by Apocryphon »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #77
Apocryphon wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But imagine the whole state losing its actual representation because of power outages and stuff. What you are describing would be a problem regardless of the presence of the electoral college.

It is more of a problem without the electoral college, because as I said the popular vote is sensitive to voter turnout. No turnout means no representation. The electors can always step up to represent their state, and if even they can't then presumably the entire election would be delayed.

I’m not sure if the electors are legally allowed to decide in the absence of voter turnout. Besides, if you can suppress popular vote, you can also suppress the electors.
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