Jump to content

U.S. Politics 2017: Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus


Manhole Eunuchsbane

Recommended Posts

Excellent title!

Just got home from a night out organized quite some time ago.

We disappeared into a different reality, even our host, who, at the end of the night, I learned had been purged from the voter registration roll at his many years' polling place. He's a lawyer . . . it took an hour but he got to vote. Do I need to say he's a registered Dem? 

But when coffee was being brought, people checked in with their phones, which without even discussing it, were off the table the whole time.

The servers and guests stood and cheered for the transgender Danica Roem's victory as VA Rep-- and what looked like VA doing so well --  and and and. 

Not to mention two -- TWO elected African American Lt. Governors!

Damn though -- Cyrus Vance Jr. still won -- though the last minute write-in candidate did very strongly. The problem was that so few people knew there was a write-in candidate, including most of the people sitting at table with me. They feel AWFUL!

Yet -- well, still, one's head, neck, shoulders and back, bowed so low under the weight of the insanity, feel a bit of relief . . . .

Please, please, please USA . . . .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, now there is again nowhere else for the rethugs to go, except even MORE racist and crazy.

It's a long, long, long road ahead, sisters and brothers.  A hard road. Maybe even a bloody road, as our shoes shred and our feet are cut up, but ahead is only where we can go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Oh come on. Have some faith, true believer.

 

Can't.  Joe Cocker's dead.*

*Yes, aware the song was written by John Hiatt.  Even if, dude's from Indiana.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, r'hllor's redrum lobster said:

too bad thread changed over tonight of all nights, coulda been some really great rand paul titles out there

Having been personally involved with the aftermath of this, I don't take neighborly conflict by two old angry white guys lightly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, dmc515 said:

Then your issue is closed vs. open contests, not primaries vs. caucuses.

My issue is both. I want things as open and easy to vote as possible. Caucuses are a barrier. So are closed primaries. So are polling stations. We should endeavor to make voting as easy as possible.

1 minute ago, dmc515 said:

Well, so can primaries, but this would go into the "require more commitment" point.

Vote by mail solves this almost effortlessly. Every state should go to this as soon as they humanly can. 

1 minute ago, dmc515 said:

It's not a hard concept, it's a fundamentally flawed concept.  There are a lot of variables that go into cost of voting, and each individual contest varies to the point in which primaries can make it harder and caucuses can make it easier - such as having more precincts or holding the contest on a weekend. 

Again, vote by mail makes this argument completely irrelevant. 

I might be a bit stronger on this because Washington State does this so very right in most elections, but completely fucks it up in the caucus for POTUS. They have vote by mail for every election - primary and general. Voter turnout is high compared to everywhere else - it was 80% for the general in the major county of the state (the greater Seattle area) in 2016, and in an off year is projected to be 40% (which sadly is STILL higher than most places). The voting system is built to ensure that every vote is counted if there is any reasonable way it can be, so even if the votes can't be read, or there are write-in, or the ballot gets coffee on it they try their best to figure out what they mean. In 2016 King County had over 1 million ballots cast, and of those all of 13 were ballots that could not be interpreted by the normal system and had to be seen in a hearing.

Whereas the caucus required me to find my caucusing place, drive down at a specific time, label precisely what district of my county I was in, find my caucus representative, and hand in the vote - and that was streamlined, because before this it required you to stay there for 2 hours before casting your vote, after hearing arguments from everyone. It sucked and was lame.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

My issue is both. I want things as open and easy to vote as possible. Caucuses are a barrier. So are closed primaries. So are polling stations. We should endeavor to make voting as easy as possible.

I get it, you want all-mail voting.  Totally on board with that - and have emphasized this since I started posting around here frequently.  There's just much more nuance to caucuses vs. primaries than the generalized statements you were positing.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of these results will be a repeat from the last thread, but here are some thing from around the country I found to be among the most interesting results:

The new District Attorney for Philadelphia is Larry Casner, an attorney who has spent all his career as a defense attorney, suing law enforcement for misconduct, and who represented both Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. That potential fallout from that is going to be extremely interesting, both within the Sessions Justice Department and among local police, being as police departments from multiple cities have shown that they don't play well with others unless they get their way all the time. (See the spats between NYC police and DeBlasio, or Baltimore police essentially threatening the career of their DA when she decided to prosecute over Freddy Grey's death.)

Among the many races in Virginia's General Assembly was Lee Carter, a retired marine and self described socialist vs Jackson Miller, the GOP Whip. The socialist won.

Maine voted to expand Medicaid access, potentially giving health coverage to up to 80,000 people.

Danica Roehm became the first openly trans lawmakers in Virginia's equivalent of the House of Representatives, and a trans activist was elected to city government in Minneapolis.

Democrats made gains in a whole number of state positions, ranging from the expected, (county positions in counties surrounding NYC going from Republican to Democrat) to the unexpected, such as taking two seats in Georgia's state house that had previously been held by Republicans before becoming vacant.

It was a hell of a night for Democrats, with a few potential signs of genuine sea changes in the political arena. Especially with regards to Virginia's gerrymandered districts, which may be a thing of the past after this election regardless of whether SCOTUS does anything about them in a decision or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...