Lawrence O'Donnel said something that shocked me to the core last night: 7 million registered voters in CA and NY who aren't voting. Let that sink in. Later, someone said TX had about the same number. So if we want to lay some blame, I think we can start there.
Lawrence O'Donnel said something that shocked me to the core last night: 7 million registered voters in CA and NY who aren't voting. Let that sink in. Later, someone said TX had about the same number. So if we want to lay some blame, I think we can start there.
If someone lives in a state that they feel is going to give the electoral college votes one way or the other, they may feel their vote doesnтАЩt matter. The electoral college is screwing us in more ways than we realize.
This was his point, yes. WeтАЩd need a direct popular-vote democracy to answer low-info votersтАЩ constant whine of тАЬwhatтАЩs in it for meeeeeee?тАЭ (I paraphrase)
Because their votes would not have changed the outcome of the election one iota.
Not in CA, not on the federal level.
Their votes DONT change anything because of the structure of our presidential elections.. specifically the Electoral College. California would go blue for Kamala with or without those votes. Their votes add up to nothing changes in the outcome
I've voted on the west coast and gotten home from the polls as they were announcing the winner. It'll be a long time before all of California's votes are counted so you can be assured her popular vote numbers will rise. All of a Dakota or Wyoming has fewer people than San Diego (let alone Los Angeles) but our votes are basically useless. (I stood in line for 2 solid hours to vote.)
I'm guessing it's a big mix of things that varies from person to person. Some more benign and some more malignant. I am also wondering how many people who queued for hours without food or water actually even got to vote given the long delays and the bomb threats tho that doesn't explain that huge gap at all.
Tbh just like people deciding to do a protest vote and elect Trump which is also multifactorial.
For example some people may have been complacent (in the context of a country with historically poor voter turnout) while others may have been suffering from despair
I actually think there was a lot of despair before the election. I think there has been an undercurrent of despair for decades. I also believe that unresolved trauma -- childhood abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence -- plays a huge role in many people's lives -- much more prevalent than we have acknowledged. These people lack empathy and compassion as well as the ability to think critically. What are the factors that have combined to make them this way? What are the factors that have combined to prevent us from being this way? After WW2 there was much psychological analysis of how/why so many "decent" Germans could have followed Hitler and committed such crimes. We need to do some of that same kind of analysis.
I would urge you to read the Authoritarian Personality by Theodore Adorno, et al. And I agree about the racism and misogyny. I have worked with women who are abused. It takes 8 attempts before they leave for good? Seven times they go back before they leave for good. I believe it is combination of factors, but voting for you abuser is not out of the question at all.
We often use a saying in our house that my husband learned at work, "Sometimes the only way to kill a bad idea is to implement it." I think that may be where we are now. The psychological mechanisms of why a woman stays with her abuser are complex. And of course, there are others who are affected by her decision to stay -- notably her children.
You are correct about implementing it. So basically we need to hope that trump follows through on his worst ideas. That will swing the next midterm and the next presidential.
The problem is that fixing what he broke is going to take time and money and the voters are not patient. (Some voted for trump because of stimmie checks from Congress...)
Yeah, that's funny. I remember after bush-2 I kept thinking it's gonna take so many years to clean up all his damage, and we didn't get those years, we had eight years of Obama who catered to the rich people and the Insurance lobby but Biden was better for regular people, they just don't know it yet. Phenomenally, profoundly ignorant.
Not sure what you mean, that we have already tried it. Do you mean his first administration? I believe that they think he did not go far enough; that the so-called "deep state" prevented him from really doing what he wanted. That there were too many guard rails. Now, he is really going to go full fascist.
Lawrence O'Donnel said something that shocked me to the core last night: 7 million registered voters in CA and NY who aren't voting. Let that sink in. Later, someone said TX had about the same number. So if we want to lay some blame, I think we can start there.
Apathy is deadly.
Especially when one's voters believe empathy is a sign of weakness and have none.
Yes, this is an important part of this tragedy. Why did they stay home?
If someone lives in a state that they feel is going to give the electoral college votes one way or the other, they may feel their vote doesnтАЩt matter. The electoral college is screwing us in more ways than we realize.
This was his point, yes. WeтАЩd need a direct popular-vote democracy to answer low-info votersтАЩ constant whine of тАЬwhatтАЩs in it for meeeeeee?тАЭ (I paraphrase)
Very true. But I don't think there is going to be any effort to change it.
Because their votes would not have changed the outcome of the election one iota.
Not in CA, not on the federal level.
Their votes DONT change anything because of the structure of our presidential elections.. specifically the Electoral College. California would go blue for Kamala with or without those votes. Their votes add up to nothing changes in the outcome
I've voted on the west coast and gotten home from the polls as they were announcing the winner. It'll be a long time before all of California's votes are counted so you can be assured her popular vote numbers will rise. All of a Dakota or Wyoming has fewer people than San Diego (let alone Los Angeles) but our votes are basically useless. (I stood in line for 2 solid hours to vote.)
Their votes or lack there of could very well make a difference down ballot.
I'm guessing it's a big mix of things that varies from person to person. Some more benign and some more malignant. I am also wondering how many people who queued for hours without food or water actually even got to vote given the long delays and the bomb threats tho that doesn't explain that huge gap at all.
Tbh just like people deciding to do a protest vote and elect Trump which is also multifactorial.
For example some people may have been complacent (in the context of a country with historically poor voter turnout) while others may have been suffering from despair
There wasn't despair before the election. That a nonsensical argument.
I actually think there was a lot of despair before the election. I think there has been an undercurrent of despair for decades. I also believe that unresolved trauma -- childhood abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence -- plays a huge role in many people's lives -- much more prevalent than we have acknowledged. These people lack empathy and compassion as well as the ability to think critically. What are the factors that have combined to make them this way? What are the factors that have combined to prevent us from being this way? After WW2 there was much psychological analysis of how/why so many "decent" Germans could have followed Hitler and committed such crimes. We need to do some of that same kind of analysis.
And that is all a reason to vote for a fascist? How does that make sense?
Get over yourself and do what is best for the country and it wasn't trump.
But I think there was more racism and misogyny at play than someone being abused in their life. Why would you vote for your abuser?
I would urge you to read the Authoritarian Personality by Theodore Adorno, et al. And I agree about the racism and misogyny. I have worked with women who are abused. It takes 8 attempts before they leave for good? Seven times they go back before they leave for good. I believe it is combination of factors, but voting for you abuser is not out of the question at all.
So does this mean we have to go through 5 more wannabe autocrats before we ditch the idiots?
Again, why would you vote for your abuser. You can stay with him if you like, but the rest of us don't want to .
We often use a saying in our house that my husband learned at work, "Sometimes the only way to kill a bad idea is to implement it." I think that may be where we are now. The psychological mechanisms of why a woman stays with her abuser are complex. And of course, there are others who are affected by her decision to stay -- notably her children.
You are correct about implementing it. So basically we need to hope that trump follows through on his worst ideas. That will swing the next midterm and the next presidential.
The problem is that fixing what he broke is going to take time and money and the voters are not patient. (Some voted for trump because of stimmie checks from Congress...)
Yeah, that's funny. I remember after bush-2 I kept thinking it's gonna take so many years to clean up all his damage, and we didn't get those years, we had eight years of Obama who catered to the rich people and the Insurance lobby but Biden was better for regular people, they just don't know it yet. Phenomenally, profoundly ignorant.
Seems to me we have already tried it. Why on earth go back again?
Not sure what you mean, that we have already tried it. Do you mean his first administration? I believe that they think he did not go far enough; that the so-called "deep state" prevented him from really doing what he wanted. That there were too many guard rails. Now, he is really going to go full fascist.
Anytime someone says, "Let that sink in," I am done with their argument.
For residents of Earth 2, it doesn't sink in.
LetтАЩs not blame the two states that voted blue. Sorry. But no.
There were more than two states that voted blue.
Yes. I should have phrased better. TY