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[McTraveller]

As discussed before - Senators are specifically designed to have a power independent of population. The House is where you (are supposed to) get your proportional representation.

If you want a strict majority rule - well then lobby to change to that, and be willing to accept the consequences too.

A better approach, also as discussed before, is to limit the things for which Federal rule applies and let the states do their "own thing" so that people of different opinions and desires and interests are not beholden to a majority that is most likely in some far-off location.

[wierd]

A nice idea in theory, but does not work in practice.

Usually, the majority that wants to stomp on the local minority, does so because they "Oh so very strongly disagree" with the positions the local minority has taken.

Take for instance, hotbutton topics, like:

Gay marriage
Abortion
gun control
Immigration (See also Apraio's nonsense in Arizona)

you know, those things that "But without fed level control, people are denied essential rights!" or "Without fed level control, people can just cross state lines and get them!" (applies to all the first 3, amusingly)


The flipside of state autonomy, is that "the population of that state can vote WRONG!", which is something the majority wont tolerate.

What I see here, is wanting the cake and eating it too.  Either there is state autonomy, or there is harmonized state law.  Not both.

[Nirur Torir]

As discussed before - Senators are specifically designed to have a power independent of population. The House is where you (are supposed to) get your proportional representation.

If you want a strict majority rule - well then lobby to change to that, and be willing to accept the consequences too.

The states having equal Senate power is an antiquated compromise made in order to get every colony to sign on. It's not part of a grand design for a perfect democracy, and its limitations have been made painfully clear ever since the minority party decided that their opposition should be as crippled as possible. As it is, our government is barely capable of functioning, let alone thriving on the world stage, and it needs a major overhaul.

[McTraveller]

Oh yes, there will still be massive debates about what laws would be harmonized versus those that can be "states' preference."   I never said it would be practical, just perhaps preferable.  Less controversial examples that clearly make sense to be "local": requiring solar roofs, water rationing, type of material used in roads, earthquake or hurricane building codes.  Controversial example that should be location-based: minimum wage.

Also, some would say that the ineffectiveness of the US government is a feature - we get enough (supposed) oppression when the government can barely function. It's not hard to know what we'd get if the government could just "do what it wants"; we have examples of that across the world.

[Bumber]

They're actively working to lock in permanent minority rule, they stole 2 supreme court seats and filled the one between with a bitchbaby who ranted about beer at his confirmation hearing while dismissing the absurd idea that a boozy white dude fratbro might have gotten a bit rapey in the past and promising retribution.

Or maybe Ford made up her allegation to protect Roe v. Wade, considering she couldn't remember key facts and the friend who was supposedly there with her didn't know Kavanaugh and is skeptical she would have just ditched Ford at a party where she was the only other girl. Dems doing another Bork.

Remember how Amy Coney Barrett was going to overturn Obamacare? Yeah, that ended up not happening.

Many right-wing talking heads refuse to say that Trump lost.

I wonder why they'd think that?

No reason, I'm sure. Any allegation of fraud in the 2020 election is right-wing nuttery.

[Nirur Torir]

Also, some would say that the ineffectiveness of the US government is a feature - we get enough (supposed) oppression when the government can barely function. It's not hard to know what we'd get if the government could just "do what it wants"; we have examples of that across the world.

I'd say the people who would say that this level of government uselessness is good, have spent too much time listening to the oligarchs who would be thrilled to return to the era of robber barons.
We also have current examples, here, of what how many people die when government is so gridlocked that corporations can just "do whatever they want." $600 epi-pens, the Texas power plants to failures during the winter storm, college kids dying by trying to ration their heavily overpriced insulin, and a middle class that shrinks every regularly scheduled boom-bust economic cycle. All while we charge gleefully into a looming climate disaster.

There must be better ways to ensure government accountability to the people than whatever this is.

[Micro102]

Just because the supreme court seats haven't doomed us all yet doesn't mean they didn't lie under oath, weren't installed under fake rules, or by a malicious group of people. They shouldn't be there and they are an ever present threat to helping the GOP with their election fuckery.

And any allegation of fraud by right-wingers, is indeed now nuttery. They spent months of time and dozens of frivolous lawsuits making baseless claims about everything they could think of. They are doing a month long "audit" under a group called "cyber ninjas" where they look for bamboo as evidence of Chinese tampering, and are likely destroying the ballots. It's just constant abject nonsense and anyone sane is going to need more than an article going "there may have been an insignificant number of duplicate votes" to think there was even an attempt at stealing an election. And lo' and behold, a google search shows that snopes already debunked this Trump supporting group's claims.

[Max™]

Uh... Bumber, you know Bork is literally responsible for fucking over everyone except the very richest ceos for the last 40 years right?

This is a chicago school "antitrust should only concern consumer welfare being harmed due to high prices" moron we're talking about.

https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox#_ftnref37

That stupid cunt Bork is responsible for the Reagan era and later undoing of trustbusting laws which have left us with ever fewer companies owning everything and getting to do whatever they want to their customers because there literally is no alternative, no competition, nothing but maximum profits stuffed into a few pockets.

Stopping Bork wasn't a politically motivated hit or some stupid bullshit, they were trying to forestall the capitalist dystopia we're LIVING IN RIGHT NOW FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

Since he couldn't enact his hateful fucked up ass policy ideas through the court he got put in a position to manipulate which cases were brought before the court and how they were investigasted in the first place, setting in motion the current regime where it has gotten so bad that the public is looking around going "hey, weren't monopolies a bad thing after all?"

[McTraveller]

We also have current examples, here, of what how many people die when government is so gridlocked that corporations can just "do whatever they want." $600 epi-pens, the Texas power plants to failures during the winter storm, college kids dying by trying to ration their heavily overpriced insulin, and a middle class that shrinks every regularly scheduled boom-bust economic cycle. All while we charge gleefully into a looming climate disaster.

Those aren't examples of gridlock though - these are all actual policy decisions that were made by the government.  Several years ago there were changes to antitrust regulation and/or enforcement.  Climate issues are somewhat a direct result of lack of government funding of basic research and an intentional choice to favor economic incentive to "go green" instead of basically banning things.

Government action also gave us DMCA, it gave us PATRIOT act, it gave us Real ID, it gave us NCLB, etc. etc. (Seriously, why the F does a social security number and residence have to be associated with Real ID? Those things weren't associated with passports...)

[Naturegirl1999]

What’s Real ID?

[Lord Shonus]

RealID is the new Federal standard for drivers licensees and state IDs. You have to provide a bunch of extra documentation to prove your identity, and without one you won't be able to fly or enter any government buildings. There's no real evidence it serves any purpose, and it is the very definition of security theatre.



EDIT:

I wonder why they'd think that?

No reason, I'm sure. Any allegation of fraud in the 2020 election is right-wing nuttery.

The first link is of little importance. Pollworkers in an area known for sloppiness had errors due to sloppiness and the system caught it.

The second link is from an organization repeating myths that have already been conclusively debunked and is an obvious right-wing grift. Despite loud claims, everyone alleging the vote was fradulent has refused to display any evidence in court, and the groups "auditing" the Arizona election were caught red-handed altering ballots to make it look like Trump one.

Any allegation of fraud in the 2020 election IS right-wing nuttery, because every allegation has been soundly disproved. Only somebody unabashedly worshipping at Trump's porcelain throne could possibly be dumb enough to believe them.

[anewaname]

REAL ID Act... Because driver's licenses are obtained at the state level and those driver's licenses were being used for identification outside of those states, (and false driver's licenses have always been a problem), the federal government forced the REAL ID Act on the states to ensure the states required more documentation for driver's licenses.

 (A quote from that wikipedia article, After 2011, "a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a state to any person unless the state is meeting the requirements" specified in the Real ID Act. ).

One problem with the REAL ID is, if you don't have your name on billing addresses, because you are transient or effectively homeless, it is difficult to get the documentation needed. There are similar requirements for opening of bank accounts.

[Random_Dragon]

Only somebody unabashedly worshipping at Trump's porcelain throne could possibly be dumb enough to believe them.

And this is why we're probably going down the same path with Bumber that we did with Damiac if we assume the argument is being made in good faith.

Because it's not, we've been through this with someone else, and I suspect feeding the trolls again will end the same way it did last time. :/

[Magistrum]

Or maybe Ford made up her allegation to protect Roe v. Wade, considering she couldn't remember key facts and the friend who was supposedly there with her didn't know Kavanaugh and is skeptical she would have just ditched Ford at a party where she was the only other girl. Dems doing another Bork.

Watched the video? She was very clear stating that even if Kavanaugh's nomination wasn't thrown out, now everyone is aware of his past. It is not a statement about her objectives, but rather a commenting on how his character was exposed by the testimonies.
Goddamn Newsweek. Do you believe that Trump was coloring the US Flag with random colors also? They are trying to play you americans into visiting their shitty site to cash in a few bucks in controversy.

Dammit bumber, we just went through this, if you get nuked the thread numbering will go out of wack again.

[TamerVirus]

inb4 'Trolling' & 'Bigoted remarks'