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Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

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Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#961

Post by s1artibartfast »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #947
duped wrote: post #913

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a built-in filter for this already, which are the primary and general elections. The problem is not politicians refusing to retire, but voters refusing to vote them out. The Democrat/Republican party system is what gives incumbents such a lead over challengers. I don't think term limits are the fix, I think we need to change how campaigns are financed - because right now, the parties pick who gets money in do…

>voters refusing to vote them out. US states are rapidly banning ranked-choice voting † , in efforts to prevent loss of their two-party systems. Campaign finance reform is definitely necessary, but so is the fundamental nature of how citizens choose representation. †: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting Just one example would be Tennessee, which recently banned the practice after a Memphis suburb atte…

Interesting, I view ranked Choice voting as diversifying the candidate pool. I expect this would increase third party voting not decrease it

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#962

Post by jjk166 »

duped wrote: post #913
PopePompus wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politicians who refuse to retire is a huge, bipartisan problem in the US affecting both genders. Putting an age limit on the president or members of congress would probably have to be done via a constitutional amendment, because the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that states cannot add eligibility requirements that are not in the constitution. One reform that would help in Congress would be to modify the seniori…

We have a built-in filter for this already, which are the primary and general elections. The problem is not politicians refusing to retire, but voters refusing to vote them out. The Democrat/Republican party system is what gives incumbents such a lead over challengers. I don't think term limits are the fix, I think we need to change how campaigns are financed - because right now, the parties pick who gets money in do…

> Since those committee chairs are very powerful, they get lots of campaign donations which help keep them in office

Incumbency is a huge thumb on the scales. A functional system needs to have certain checks on those in power that balance the playing field, otherwise democracy is a sham.

The two party system is a problem, but term limits are meant to solve a different issue.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#963

Post by jjk166 »

OldSchool wrote: post #859
jszymborski wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not even modulo but something like seniority increases monotonically for five terms but decreases monotonically for each subsequent term after the fifth term.

as lobbyists, you guys are going to lose most of them at modulo and the rest at monotonically

Hey congress people, do you want your time in office to be much more fun and exciting? Vote yes on the Congressional Rollercoaster Act!

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#964

Post by kernal »

kanbara wrote: post #577
kernal wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

i’ve been seeing this comment float around today, and assuming you aren’t a russian troll or bot account, here’s why it’s flawed: there’s no _coup_ (not coop) because primary processes are not part of the constitution. candidates can step down (as biden did for the good of the country, and LBJ had done before him). there was no real choice to not pick biden, either, as the incumbent. the party will now have an open n…

Your response sounds like it was written by KJP. But seriously, here's why your reply is flawed according to Politico.

>“Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” said one Democrat familiar with private conversations who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way.” [1]

This was not Joe Biden's decision to drop out. He was forced out by the people that pull the strings in the democrat party.

[1]https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/21/why-biden-dropped-o...

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#965

Post by jjk166 »

Suppafly wrote: post #951
tiffanyh wrote: post #533

Putting politics aside … Why don’t they have an age limit on the president (or any elected office)? E.g., you must be younger than the average life expectancy (currently men: 73yo / female: 79) - while in office. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

>E.g., you must be younger than the average life expectancy (currently men: 73yo / female: 79) - while in office. That'd be a good way to force the government into caring about improving health and extending life expectancy.

Or to inaccurately collect life expectancy data.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#967

Post by jjk166 »

troyvit wrote: post #932
tiffanyh wrote: post #533

Putting politics aside … Why don’t they have an age limit on the president (or any elected office)? E.g., you must be younger than the average life expectancy (currently men: 73yo / female: 79) - while in office. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

There's a constitutional requirement that the candidate must be at least 35[1], which seems arbitrary to me. That was decided in 1787. I wonder what age they would have picked as a maximum age back then. I say that because (at least these days) it seems almost impossible to change, and people live a lot longer. Like we might be stuck with "Any age between 35 and 57" because people died young in 1787 relative to now.…

It's worth noting that the age requirements selected then were less about wisdom and experience, and more about residency in the US. The chief fear at the time was a European power manipulating the country to put a puppet in charge, so to avoid this they wanted to limit power to those who had resided in the US for a long time, but they also didn't want to preclude themselves from holding offices in the future. These numbers (35 for president, 30 for senator, and 25 for house representative) represent a compromise - note that the constitution's primary authors were 36 and 31 at the time it was signed, and the youngest signer was 26.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#968

Post by seoulmetro »

ericfr11 wrote: post #958
seoulmetro wrote: post #652

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did Biden do to make America or the life of Americans better (or possibly worse for some)? Seems like America has been going backwards for a long time.

CHIPS act, IR act (infrastructure, jobs...), student loans effort, better social nets for seniors, millions of jobs, much better handling of inflation than the rest of the world, pushing for democracy and freedom. We can't go back to misogyny, racism, removing freedoms from women, teachers, different people, giving money only to the rich and connected, non-sense diplomacy...

The second sentence makes me not trust the first sentence btw.

The first sentence is basically just signing normal budget agreements? The chips decision sounds like the best decision that was actually pushed after Covid.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#969

Post by s1artibartfast »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #923
tombert wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was never any risk of me voting for Trump, but when I watched the debate it became abundantly clear that Biden could not win an election. He came off as an extremely frail old man and I had my doubts that he would survive the entire debate , let alone another four years in office. I'm a pretty left-leaning person and I find Trump to be an overwhelmingly unappealing idiot in general, but even I had to admit that…

I don't like to admit it. He has charisma and he's funny in a way that's very fitting to current internet culture.

not a fan of his totality, but he is an epic troll and memester in a way that has broad resonance.

It doesn't seem sophisticated, but it is perfectly engages one audience, and perfectly enrages a second target audience.

Examples that come to mind is mocking Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas" or rebuking the question of him as a dictator with "No, no, no, (other than day one)."

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#970

Post by dustinmr »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #318

Not going to happen, but I wonder how a mixed party ticket would do. Kamala (or whoever) + Mitt Romney as VP ? Has it ever been done? Would it work to attract the center/swing vote, or more likely to be a negative?

Here’s a good thought experiment: https://www.thebigquestions.com/2024/07/21/the-next-democrat...
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