The table above has these entries. Post entries with just one line for Reach were not boosted. Boosted posts have two lines for Reach and several other items. The upper line reflects all interactions, the bottom line just those resulting from paid ads.
For the emoticon table only, Love Haha Wow Sad Angry are listed separately.
========== Making an issue of voter suppression https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/opinion/wisconsin-michigan-democrats-hardball.html == topic democracy ===== impact 5 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 0 posted 2018-12-30 ratio 7 react 5 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 3 title Making an issue of voter suppression topic democracy wordrate 0 words 9 ID 779327685745086 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/779327685745086 audclicks 3 audreach 2 engaged 2 impress 64 likeclickusers 2 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 40 likeusers 1 likeuusers 32 matchedotherclicks 3 oimpress 64 oreach 39 posted "12/30/2018 04:20:31 PM" postotherclicks 2 reach 39 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== It's not just Putin who enjoys social media https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/climate/cafe-emissions-rollback-oil-industry.html == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 7 impactrate 0 likeimpress 4 negative 0 posted 2018-12-30 priority 1 ratio 10 react 6 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title It's not just Putin who enjoys social media topic democracy wordrate 0 words 12 ID 779304492414072 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/779304492414072 audclicks 1 audreach 1 engaged 5 impress 94 likeclickusers 5 likeimpress 4 likeuimpress 53 likeusers 4 likeuusers 39 matchedotherclicks 1 oimpress 94 oreach 62 posted "12/30/2018 03:11:34 PM" postotherclicks 1 reach 62 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== The end game of a do-nothing Congress If Congress can't act, then the executive over-reaches and the judiciary over-activates. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/us/politics/congress-trump-government-shutdown.html And with this executive and judiciary, that's bad news for everybody - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/upshot/the-economy-is-still-strong-the-risk-for-2019-is-that-leadership-turns-a-mild-shock-into-a-crisis.html == topic democracy ===== comments 1 impact 27 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-12-30 ratio 6 react 8 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 5 title The end game of a do-nothing Congress topic democracy wordrate 0 words 34 ID 779295519081636 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/779295519081636 audclicks 5 audreach 5 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 7 impress 78 likeclickusers 7 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 62 likeusers 2 likeuusers 50 matchedotherclicks 5 oimpress 78 oreach 52 posted "12/30/2018 02:42:55 PM" postotherclicks 5 reach 52 type Link ========== The new social media battleground https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/29/neighbor-wars-how-nextdoor-is-changing-the-bay-areas-housing-debate/ == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 6 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 0 posted 2018-12-30 priority 1 ratio 8 react 7 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 5 title The new social media battleground topic democracy wordrate 0 words 9 ID 779076065770248 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/779076065770248 audclicks 5 audreach 5 engaged 5 impress 86 likeclickusers 5 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 67 likeusers 1 likeuusers 52 matchedlinkclicks 5 oimpress 86 oreach 58 posted "12/30/2018 06:28:59 AM" postlinkclicks 5 reach 58 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Ranked-choice voting in the news https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-meyerson-primary-ranking-20181129-story.html https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/419533-a-simple-fix-for-gerrymandering == topic democracy ===== comments 1 impact 18 impactrate 0 likeimpress 8 negative 0 posted 2018-12-07 ratio 3 react 23 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 13 title Ranked-choice voting in the news topic democracy wordrate 0 words 8 ID 765135583830963 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/765135583830963 audclicks 13 audreach 6 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 11 impress 98 likeclickusers 10 likeimpress 8 likeuimpress 68 likeusers 8 likeuusers 61 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 11 oimpress 98 oreach 73 posted "12/07/2018 10:02:15 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 5 reach 73 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== What happens with a do-nothing Congress? Do-nothing Congresses lead to over-reaching executives and activist judiciaries. Partisan gridlock kept Obama and Trump from making progress on their legislative priorities even when they had narrow margins in Congress. Issues with bipartisan centrist support can't make headway against uncompromising extremes. Not everybody is in favor of centrist bipartisan politics, but that's the way things get done. There's an intellectual disconnect - most voters favor European-style social safety nets but don't favor European-style tax structures to support it. So there's a learning curve. Social security and medicare were once considered extreme. Obamacare is gaining acceptance too - perhaps more voters are beginning to understand that it has to be paid for somehow. Nolabels has been advocating for structural reforms that permit bipartisan centrist solutions to at least be considered and voted up or down. And they've been resisted by those determined to deny any victory to the other party. You can read the back and forth - https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/420055-setting-the-record-straight-sbout-no-labels https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-no-labels-mark-pocan_us_5c06b110e4b0cd916fb0b042 https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/12/07/the_truth_about_no_labels_138856.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-labels-response-wisconsin-michigan-republican-power-grabs_us_5c096827e4b04046345a21a0 Like just many other poltiical advocacy organizations, Nolabels should be more forthcoming about its funding sources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Labels But its critics should be more forthcoming about how they plan to get Congress functional again. == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 40 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-12-07 priority 1 ratio 9 react 2 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title What happens with a do-nothing Congress? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 199 ID 765134367164418 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/765134367164418 audclicks 2 audreach 1 engaged 1 impress 34 likeclickusers 1 likeuimpress 17 likeuusers 16 matchedotherclicks 2 oimpress 34 oreach 18 posted "12/07/2018 09:58:49 PM" postotherclicks 1 reach 18 type Link ========== Paul Ryan doesn't understand California election practices https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/07/opinion-berman-election-integrity/ Evidently Wisconsin Republicans don't think much of the idea of making it easier for every eligible voter to vote. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/paul-ryan-questions-californias-vote-counting-process-as-bizarre == topic democracy ===== comments 4 hide 1 impact 70 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 1 posted 2018-12-07 ratio 4 react 24 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 12 title Paul Ryan doesn't understand California election practices topic democracy wordrate 0 words 29 ID 765126363831885 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/765126363831885 audclicks 12 audreach 10 commentsimpress 4 commentsusers 4 engaged 15 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 149 likeclickusers 12 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 89 likeusers 5 likeuusers 73 matchedotherclicks 12 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 149 oreach 107 posted "12/07/2018 09:31:40 PM" postotherclicks 10 reach 107 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link ========== Want to make a tax-deductible donation toward democracy? Getting ready for tax season? Political contributions are not tax deductible. But if a tax deductible donation is important to you, consider these research and education organizations - * http://www.fairvote.org/ retire winner-take-all Congressional representation in favor of ranked-choice multi-district voting * https://itep.org/ Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy - ensure that policy makers, media, and advocates know the impact that tax changes have on people of different income levels * http://www.democracy21.org/ Democracy 21 Education Fund retire "one-dollar-one-vote" by legislation and judicial action * http://www.equalrightsnow.org/ Equally American - voting rights for residents of Federal territories * https://www.lwv.org/ League of Women Voters Education Fund == If a tax deduction is not important to you, consider these as well: * https://www.ctj.org/ Citizens for Tax Justice, affiliated with Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy * http://www.americanpromise.net/ retire "one-dollar-one-vote" and "human rights for corporations" by constitutional amendment * https://www.nolabels.org/ support centrist bipartisanship * http://www.uniteamerica.org/ support independent candidates * https://www.lwv.org/ League of Women Voters, not the Education Fund == topic democracy ===== impact 441 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-12-05 ratio 1 react 38 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 36 title Want to make a tax-deductible donation toward democracy? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 116 ID 763720777305777 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/763720777305777 audclicks 36 audreach 4 engaged 4 impress 71 likeclickusers 4 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 53 likeusers 2 likeuusers 42 matchedotherclicks 36 oimpress 71 oreach 44 posted "12/05/2018 01:53:50 PM" postotherclicks 4 reach 44 type Link ========== No Labels Unity Campaign https://www.unionleader.com/no-labels-group-unveils-its-unity-campaign/article_70a21801-5207-59a4-920d-ef2157a68057.html == More on these topics - https://www.nolabels.org/ http://www.political-scrapbook.net/theory.html#conservative http://www.liberty-and-justice.net/ == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 1 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-12-04 priority 1 ratio 24 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title No Labels Unity Campaign topic democracy wordrate 0 words 14 ID 763156550695533 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/763156550695533 audclicks 1 audreach 1 engaged 1 impress 45 likeclickusers 1 likeuimpress 30 likeuusers 22 matchedlinkclicks 1 oimpress 45 oreach 24 posted "12/04/2018 05:13:04 PM" postlinkclicks 1 reach 24 type Link ========== The art of gerrymandering https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/29/us/politics/north-carolina-gerrymandering.html Want to do something about it? https://democraticredistricting.com/ More - http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#redistricting == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 42 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-11-29 priority 1 ratio 5 react 26 reactrate 0 shares 6 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 17 title The art of gerrymandering topic democracy wordrate 0 words 16 ID 760311160980072 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/760311160980072 audclicks 17 audreach 9 engaged 11 impress 175 likeclickusers 9 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 77 likeusers 3 likeuusers 68 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 16 oimpress 175 oreach 144 posted "11/29/2018 08:24:24 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 8 reach 144 sharesimpress 6 sharesusers 5 type Link ========== Deep dark money https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-donors-gave-large-sums-to-conservative-nonprofit-that-funded-pro-trump-allies/2018/11/27/07667840-f266-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html Another forgotten Trump promise. Instead, he relies on the Federalist Society for reactionary judicial nominees. Who's going to do something about it? http://www.americanpromise.net/ More - http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations == topic democracy 1 ===== hideall 1 impact 81 impactrate 0 likeimpress 7 negative 1 posted 2018-11-27 priority 1 ratio 3 react 26 reactrate 0 shares 5 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 13 title Deep dark money topic democracy wordrate 0 words 31 ID 758951334449388 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/758951334449388 audclicks 13 audreach 9 engaged 15 hideallclicks 1 hideallclicksusers 1 impress 117 likeclickusers 13 likeimpress 7 likeuimpress 88 likeusers 7 likeuusers 72 matchedotherclicks 13 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 117 oreach 91 posted "11/27/2018 03:23:01 PM" postotherclicks 9 reach 91 sharesimpress 5 sharesusers 5 type Link ========== Executive v Judicial - the inevitable result of a gridlocked do-nothing Congress. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opinion/sunday/john-roberts-donald-trump.html == topic democracy 1 ===== hide 1 impact 22 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 1 posted 2018-11-25 priority 1 ratio 4 react 14 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 9 title Executive v Judicial - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 16 ID 757552374589284 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/757552374589284 audclicks 9 audreach 7 engaged 7 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 84 likeclickusers 5 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 54 likeusers 1 likeuusers 44 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 7 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 84 oreach 56 posted "11/25/2018 12:40:08 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 5 reach 56 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== Looking toward the middle for abundance and hope https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/opinion/politics-race-white-tribalism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/22/opinion/populism-establishment-working-class.html http://opportunityamericaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/WCG-final_web.pdf == Who else is working toward these ends? https://www.nolabels.org/ https://www.uniteamerica.org/ == topic democracy 1 ===== comments 1 hide 1 impact 50 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 1 posted 2018-11-23 priority 1 ratio 8 react 25 reactrate 0 shares 7 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 13 title Looking toward the middle for abundance and hope topic democracy wordrate 0 words 20 ID 756204574724064 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/756204574724064 audclicks 13 audreach 12 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 15 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 274 likeclickusers 8 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 90 likeusers 3 likeuusers 78 matchedlinkclicks 9 matchedotherclicks 4 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 274 oreach 218 posted "11/23/2018 12:33:09 PM" postlinkclicks 8 postotherclicks 4 reach 218 sharesimpress 7 sharesusers 4 type Link ========== The first conspiracy party and the first third party https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/10/21/how-an-abduction-by-mysterious-freemasons-led-third-political-party-nations-first All the men on your paper money - except possibly Jefferson - were Masons or intended to become Masons. But the anti-Masons held the first presidential nominating convention. Unfounded conspiracies eventually wear out their welcome in the mainstream, and third parties don't do much better. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Some people argue thatthe two major parties are too strong https://www.hbs.edu/competitiveness/Documents/why-competition-in-the-politics-industry-is-failing-america.pdf but others respond - not strong enough. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-political-parties-arent-too-powerful-theyre-not-powerful-enough/2018/10/02/fac1f36c-c673-11e8-9b1c-a90f1daae309_story.html == topic democracy ===== hide 1 impact 33 impactrate 0 negative 1 posted 2018-11-23 ratio 8 react 4 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 3 title The first conspiracy party and the first third party topic democracy wordrate 0 words 83 ID 756159401395248 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/756159401395248 audclicks 3 audreach 3 engaged 3 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 46 likeclickusers 3 likeuimpress 38 likeuusers 31 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 2 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 46 oreach 32 posted "11/23/2018 11:16:26 AM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 2 reach 32 type Link ========== In every thing give thanks https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/20/we-celebrate-thanksgiving-because-this-poignant-proclamation-abraham-lincoln/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/thanksgiving-is-not-just-about-gratitude-its-about-setting-a-moral-example/2018/11/21/ebc58d12-ec32-11e8-baac-2a674e91502b_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-lessons-my-father-charles-krauthammer-taught-me-about-being-thankful/2018/11/21/c314bf34-ecee-11e8-8679-934a2b33be52_story.html == topic democracy ===== impact 18 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 0 posted 2018-11-21 ratio 3 react 22 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 14 title In every thing give thanks topic democracy wordrate 0 words 8 ID 755016911509497 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/755016911509497 audclicks 14 audreach 8 engaged 11 impress 112 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 62 likeusers 5 likeuusers 50 matchedlinkclicks 7 matchedotherclicks 7 oimpress 112 oreach 82 posted "11/21/2018 06:11:07 PM" postlinkclicks 6 postotherclicks 5 reach 82 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== Big money in politics What it's done http://www.americanpromise.net/big_wins_for_big_money What should be done http://www.americanpromise.net/winning_back_our_democracy_a_q_a_with_hedrick_smith == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 6 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-11-20 priority 1 ratio 8 react 4 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 3 title Big money in politics topic democracy wordrate 0 words 15 ID 754471264897395 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/754471264897395 audclicks 3 audreach 1 engaged 1 impress 46 likeclickusers 1 likeuimpress 32 likeuusers 30 matchedotherclicks 3 oimpress 46 oreach 35 posted "11/20/2018 09:44:53 PM" postotherclicks 1 reach 35 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Ranked-choice-voting - a win for democracy in Maine https://bangordailynews.com/2018/11/15/politics/golden-defeats-poliquin-in-contested-2nd-district-ranked-choice-count/ Ranked-choice voting is unpopular with some career politicians because they count on vote splitting. Sometimes it's accidental, as with Jesse Ventura, https://archive.siam.org/news/news.php?id=674 and other times not - perhaps in this Maine case. Consider a common enough scenario - A Trumpist is polling at 48% and a Democrat at 49% - and a Green at 3%. (You can think of Bush-Gore-Nader if you prefer.) The Trumpist can see that no amount of clean or dirty campaigning will get him any Democrat or Green votes. So instead he surreptitiously donates his campaign money to the Green candidates in the hope of getting 2% to switch from Democrat to Green so the Trumpist wins. Plays like that have been detected, more so in primaries than in general elections. With ranked-choice voting, as many Democrats can vote for Greens as they like, as long as Democrats put the Green candidate as second choice, and Greens put the Democrat candidate as second choice. When the candidate comes in third, whether Democrat or Green, those votes go to the second choice and so the other one will be elected, not the Trumpist. And Greens and Libertarians and independents and others wondering whether to run in the first place don't have to worry about whether they are splitting the progressive or moderate or reactionary vote. == Fairvote is advocating for ranked-choice voting https://www.fairvote.org There's additional commentary here - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/10/opinion/house-representatives-size-multi-member.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/09/opinion/expanded-house-representatives-size.html == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 506 impactrate 0 likeimpress 7 negative 0 posted 2018-11-16 priority 1 ratio 4 react 21 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 14 title Ranked-choice-voting - a win for democracy in Maine topic democracy wordrate 0 words 241 ID 751823328495522 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/751823328495522 audclicks 14 audreach 8 engaged 14 impress 112 likeclickusers 14 likeimpress 7 likeuimpress 93 likeusers 7 likeuusers 80 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 13 oimpress 112 oreach 84 posted "11/16/2018 09:44:25 AM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 7 reach 84 type Link ========== What to do about the Electoral College? https://www.fairvote.org/why-james-madison-wanted-to-change-the-way-we-vote-for-president A study of projected electoral college results in 2020 based on 2018 Congressional results indicates a Democratic victory in the electoral college with 289-324 Democratic votes and 249-214 Republican votes. https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/746494049028450 That sounds good for Democrats, but a closer look at the daily variations as the last 2018 votes are counted and recounted is disturbing - very small variations in popular votes create very large changes in the electoral vote. Technically speaking, it's an unstable algorithm. Clinton would have won in 2016 if the right 40000 votes had switched from Trump to her, 22600 in Pennsylvania for 20 electoral votes, 5400 in Michigan for 16 electoral votes, 11400 in Wisconsin for 10 electoral votes. The final electoral vote tally 306-232 doesn't reflect that closeness very well, nor the lopsided popular vote. Is that really the best we can do? There are lots of ideas - https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/307359-the-electoral-college-has-to-go-heres-how-we-do-it https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/385525-think-we-should-do-away-with-the-electoral-college-think-again https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/james-wilson-popular-sovereignty-and-the-electoral-college George Will explains how the Electoral College was intended to protect political minorities by insuring that presidents have to gain support across the whole country - https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/02/george-will-why-trump-wants-to-replace-the-electoral-college-with-popular-vote-in-presidential-elections/ After all, the essence of democracy is observing that minorities have rights and protecting them; simple majority rule is the essence of the mob, which the Founders rightly feared based on ancient and recent precedents. Will observes that the winner-take-all outcome prescribed in 48 of the 50 states is a critical part of the method even though it's not in the Federal Constitution or any Federal statute. This is the basis for our two-party system which has mostly provided an uncommon degree of political stability compared to most other countries. The necessity of gaining broad national majorities tends to push the parties toward the center, but this tendency has become undone in recent years by dark big money in politics and single-issue narrow-casting media. Popular election of the president is popular in some circles, starting with James Madison. But while popular wisdom generally gets things right in the long run, it can be fooled in the short run. And think about the task of recounting a very close national popular election, an enormous labor if we go back to paper ballots, or an enormous opportunity for fiddling the results if we don't. This task is increased if ranked-choice voting were adopted, which would otherwise be a big improvement. So let's consider some ideas that might be better than the current electoral college and might be more stable than direct election. == no constitutional amendment required These ideas can be implemented by state or Federal statutes - 1) Use the Maine/Nebraska method of allocating electoral votes rather than winner-take-all. This could be accomplished entirely at the state level. The Maine/Nebraska method elects one elector according to the results in each congressional district, and elects two electors according to the results for the whole state at large. How this would have affected - 2016 as reported - D 232 R 306 2016 by Maine - D 250 R 288 2020 as projected - D 324 R 214 2020 as projected by Maine - D 285 R 253 The ultimate result is the same, but the spread in votes is closer to the popular vote. 2) Allocate fractional votes to each district to avoid at-large - in a state with N congressional districts, each district gets 1+2/N electoral votes - so state totals per candidate might not be whole numbers. Assumes Congress would accept fractional votes. 3) To avoid fractional votes, add up a candidate's fractional district votes and discard the fractional parts of the sum ; if there are any discarded fractional parts, they will add up to 1. If so, decide the 1 vote by the at-large winner. No need to get Congress to deal with fractions. 4) Instead of voting by districts, consider the statewide vote. Each candidate gets a proportionate number of the state's total vote, rounded down to a whole number. The resulting deficit votes (might be more than 1 if there are lots of third parties) is decided by the at-large winner. == constitutional amendment required Constitutional amendments are almost impossible. 1) Get rid of the physical electors. There is no reason to have a bunch of party hacks gather in state capitols on a given date since they have no free will - as established by the RNC last time - https://www.salon.com/2016/12/13/report-donald-trumps-campaign-is-threatening-political-reprisal-for-defecting-republican-electors/ Nothing changes as far as the results. The secretarys of state report the final results to Congress anyway. 2) Get rid of the two extra votes. Each state has electoral votes equal to number of House representatives. There is plenty of rural bias in the Congress because all states get one representative regardless of population. No need to perpetuate additional rural bias originally inserted to favor slave states. How this would have affected - 2016 as reported - D 232 R 306 2016 no at large - D 190 R 246 2020 as projected - D 324 R 214 2020 no at large - D 270 R 166 The ultimate result is unchanged, but the margins better reflect the popular vote. 3) Eliminate by-state voting in the House. Currently if no candidate gets a majority of electoral votes, the decision goes to the House which decides by voting by state delegations. https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Electoral-College/ That is to say, if a state has 10 representatives, then it casts 1 vote for president. That vote is determined within the state delegation; if it follows partisan lines, the majority party in that delegation determines the vote; if the delegation is evenly split, it doesn't get a vote. This might be more important if states abandon winner-take-all and so electoral votes might be closer and third parties might be more likely to prevent a majority. So this is important to fix because it's an overwhelming rural bias. Note DC doesn't participate in the House. Compare electoral votes to state delegations (third column is tied delegations) 2016 electoral - D 232 R 306 ; D 14 R 32 T 3 2020 projected - D 324 R 214 ; D 20 R 26 T 4 4) Just replace the electoral college with the House. Let each new House, in January of odd years, elect the president by simple majority and ranked-choice voting; let the new president nominate a vice-president for confirmation by House and Senate. There would still be party conventions and presidential nominees and campaigns, and House candidates might make promises about how they'd vote. 5) And go one step further and allow the House to nominate a new president at any time by a 2/3 vote subject to veto in the Senate by majority vote within 72 hours. The difficulties surrounding impeachment and 25th amendment are replaced by the somewhat simpler problem of getting a 2/3 vote in the House; that's hard enough that it will be more of a threat than a routine occurrence. It's a way of getting rid of an incompetent president, without a specific finding of criminality or mental defect, and without automatically promoting a vice-president who might be no better. It could be called the Trump clause. == other reform ideas Before too much presidential power is bestowed on the House, it should become worthy of the honor, by mandating ranked-choice voting and multi-member districts, as advocated by Fairvote - https://www.fairvote.org/ and eliminating gerrymandering https://www.fairvote.org/how_proportional_representation_would_finally and unlimited dark money http://www.americanpromise.net/ The NY Times explores some of these ideas, and another one - increasing the size of the House - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/10/opinion/house-representatives-size-multi-member.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/09/opinion/expanded-house-representatives-size.html Expanding the House reduces rural bias and might diversify the overall expertise. But there's no point without rules changes that empower members and disempower the leadership - https://www.nolabels.org/ And while we are at it, how about biennial approve-or-expel votes for presidents and senators - it's a good way to increase voter participation in midterms, too. http://www.approve-or-expel.net == http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#electoral%20college http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#amendments == topic democracy 1 ===== impact 1554 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-11-13 priority 1 ratio 4 react 12 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 7 title What to do about the Electoral College? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 1295 ID 750107845333737 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/750107845333737 audclicks 7 audreach 3 engaged 4 impress 88 likeclickusers 2 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 45 likeusers 2 likeuusers 34 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 6 oimpress 88 oreach 57 posted "11/13/2018 04:09:21 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 2 reach 57 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== Ranked choice voting and multimember districts for better democracy https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/10/opinion/house-representatives-size-multi-member.html As advocated by Fairvote - https://www.fairvote.org/ Maybe a larger House would help too - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/09/opinion/expanded-house-representatives-size.html == topic democracy 1 ===== comments 3 impact 133 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-11-12 priority 1 ratio 6 react 51 reactrate 0 shares 4 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 41 title Ranked choice voting and multimember districts for better topic democracy wordrate 0 words 26 ID 749645785379943 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/749645785379943 audclicks 41 audreach 20 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 2 engaged 20 impress 407 likeclickusers 9 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 71 likeusers 3 likeuusers 60 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 39 oimpress 407 oreach 307 posted "11/12/2018 09:42:32 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 19 reach 307 sharesimpress 4 sharesusers 4 type Link ========== Can the people's House rule by the power of the purse? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/opinion/sunday/nancy-pelosi-congress-midterms.html Part of the problem for Congress is that modern society has become too complicated and technical. In 1787 most legislators had some understanding of most of the issues before them. Now it's a rare member of Congress who can do his own taxes, repair his own car, or re-install his own operating system. Much less manage money supply or get people to Mars and back safely. So all the real decisions get outsourced and the real test of a legislator is who he asks for technical advice. == topic democracy ===== impact 40 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-11-09 ratio 8 react 4 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Can the people's House rule by the power of the purse? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 101 ID 747899965554525 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/747899965554525 audclicks 2 audreach 2 engaged 3 impress 50 likeclickusers 3 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 38 likeusers 2 likeuusers 32 matchedotherclicks 2 oimpress 50 oreach 35 posted "11/09/2018 05:12:56 PM" postotherclicks 2 reach 35 type Link ========== Don't be like the Trumpists! Elections are decided by the persuadable people in the middle, not by zealots on the edges. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/midterm-results-2020-democrats.html But here's another point of view - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opinion/democrats-midterms-progressives.html == topic democracy ===== comments 1 impact 65 impactrate 0 likeimpress 4 negative 0 posted 2018-11-08 ratio 4 react 21 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 16 title Don't be like the Trumpists! topic democracy wordrate 0 words 31 ID 747343242276864 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/747343242276864 audclicks 16 audreach 10 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 12 impress 111 likeclickusers 11 likeimpress 4 likeuimpress 93 likeusers 4 likeuusers 78 matchedlinkclicks 7 matchedotherclicks 9 oimpress 111 oreach 85 posted "11/08/2018 07:40:30 PM" postlinkclicks 7 postotherclicks 6 reach 85 type Link ========== Russians showed the way, and Americans followed, and social media can't keep up https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/11/06/forget-russians-this-election-day-its-americans-peddling-disinformation-hate-speech/ or maybe the Russians have just gotten harder to detect - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/opinion/midterm-elections-russia.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/live-updates/midterms/midterm-election-updates/facebook-ties-newly-suspended-accounts-to-the-kremlin-a-timely-reminder-of-election-meddling-threat/ and then there's Fox https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/06/why-trumps-unpopularity-may-not-be-handicap-youd-expect/ John Dean says Nixon might have survived if Fox had been there to protect him. == topic democracy ===== impact 115 impactrate 0 likeimpress 11 negative 0 posted 2018-11-06 priority 1 ratio 3 react 25 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 11 title Russians showed the way, and Americans followed, and social topic democracy wordrate 0 words 46 ID 745969835747538 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/745969835747538 audclicks 11 audreach 4 engaged 12 impress 149 likeclickusers 9 likeimpress 11 likeuimpress 91 likeusers 10 likeuusers 59 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 10 oimpress 149 oreach 88 posted "11/06/2018 12:22:55 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 3 reach 88 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== How Congress evolved from do-nothing-much to do-nothing-at-all There's plenty of blame to go around - https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/laws-and-disorder/ topic democracy ===== impact 87 impactrate 0 likeimpress 7 negative 0 posted 2018-11-05 ratio 2 react 51 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 41 title How Congress evolved from do-nothing-much to topic democracy wordrate 0 words 17 ID 745478572463331 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/745478572463331 audclicks 41 audreach 6 engaged 11 impress 171 likeclickusers 10 likeimpress 7 likeuimpress 118 likeusers 7 likeuusers 85 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 40 oimpress 171 oreach 120 posted "11/05/2018 03:46:37 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 5 reach 120 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== Dark money is a national security issue https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/10/25/22375/russian-money-and-influence-have-poured-through-cracks-us-legal-wall A few Democratic candidates have decided to decline PAC money - that's a start. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/us/money-politics-dean-phillips.html There are several efforts to raise consciousness about unlimited dark money - http://www.americanpromise.net/ https://democracy21.org/ https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/money-politics http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations == democracy 1 ===== comments 10 hide 1 impact 306 impactrate 0 likeimpress 22 negative 1 posted 2018-11-02 ratio 2 react 85 reactrate 0 shares 10 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 42 title Dark money is a national security issue topic democracy wordrate 0 words 36 ID 743859639291891 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/743859639291891 audclicks 42 audreach 25 commentsimpress 10 commentsusers 8 engaged 37 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 265 likeclickusers 31 likeimpress 22 likeuimpress 136 likeusers 20 likeuusers 108 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 40 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 265 oreach 193 posted "11/02/2018 09:19:59 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 23 reach 193 sharesimpress 10 sharesusers 10 type Link ========== Gerrymandering is big business - it's critical for Republican power in several states. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/30/michigan-gerrymandering-redistricting-voters-not-politicians Much better to get rid of it forever. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#redistricting https://democraticredistricting.com/ California got past it several years ago - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Citizens_Redistricting_Commission democracy ===== comments 3 impact 126 impactrate 0 likeimpress 8 negative 0 posted 2018-11-02 ratio 3 react 42 reactrate 0 shares 6 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 25 title Gerrymandering is big business - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 30 ID 743851322626056 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/743851322626056 audclicks 25 audreach 12 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 2 engaged 18 impress 192 likeclickusers 13 likeimpress 8 likeuimpress 74 likeusers 8 likeuusers 56 matchedlinkclicks 3 matchedotherclicks 22 oimpress 192 oreach 136 posted "11/02/2018 08:56:14 PM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 11 reach 136 sharesimpress 6 sharesusers 5 type Link ========== From Washington's Farewell Address - It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Washington%27s_Farewell_Address Compare: https://www.axios.com/trump-birthright-citizenship-executive-order-0cf4285a-16c6-48f2-a933-bd71fd72ea82.html == There's more at https://www.facebook.com/pg/politicalscrapbooknet/posts http://www.political-scrapbook.net/facebook.html http://www.political-theses.net/ http://www.political-scrapbook.net == topic democracy 2 ===== comments 10 impact 6281 impactrate 1 likeimpress 58 negative 0 posted 2018-10-30 priority 2 ratio 37 react 237 reactrate 0 shares 48 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 121 title From Washington's Farewell Address - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 265 ID 742131286131393 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/742131286131393 audclicks 124 audreach 113 bimpress 8471 blikeimpress 14 blikeusers 13 breach 8094 commentsimpress 10 commentsusers 7 engaged 185 impress 9657 likeclickusers 2 likeimpress 58 likeuimpress 36 likeusers 58 likeuusers 29 matchedlinkclicks 82 matchedotherclicks 39 oimpress 1186 oreach 866 posted "10/30/2018 10:05:43 PM" postlinkclicks 80 postotherclicks 32 reach 8823 sharesimpress 48 sharesusers 47 type Link budget 100 budgettype Lifetime cadname "Post: ""From Washington's Farewell Address -""" ccleantitle From Washington's Farewell Address - cclicksall 625 cclickslink 82 ccpcall 0.16 ccpclink 1.2195122 cdelivery not_delivering cend 2018-12-31 cimpressions 8471 clicksunique 81 conversionrank - cost 1.219512195122 cpm 11.8049817 creach 8052 cstart 2018-10-01 ctrall 7.37811356 ctrlink 0.96800849958683 ecomments 6 ecpclink 1.2195122 ends 2018-11-06 engagedrank - ereact 40 eshares 37 frequency 1.0520367610532 indicator actions:link_click qualityrank - results 82 spent 100 ========== Washington's Letter to Newport https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135 ===== impact 1 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-10-30 ratio 13 react 3 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title Washington's Letter to Newport topic democracy wordrate 0 words 4 ID 742127022798486 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/742127022798486 audclicks 1 audreach 1 engaged 2 impress 70 likeclickusers 2 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 42 likeusers 2 likeuusers 35 matchedlinkclicks 1 oimpress 70 oreach 39 posted "10/30/2018 09:45:16 PM" postlinkclicks 1 reach 39 type Link ========== What if everybody voted? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/upshot/what-if-everyone-voted.html And what if everybody in the Federal territories could vote? http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#Federal%20territories Overcoming voter suppression has been difficult and will become more so if the Supreme Court starts acting as protector of the Republican power structure that put it there. Constitutional amendments might be required and they will encounter the same problems from gerrymandered and rural legislatures. It seems a better goal, if it's going to require that much effort, is to give the states tangible incentives for promoting voter registration and voter turnout - * allocate Congressional seats among states on the basis of voter turnout rather than population * allocate Federal aid to states on the basis of voter turnout rather than population * restrict political donations to registered voters Each of these changes would have other beneficial aspects. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html ===== comments 1 impact 186 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-10-29 ratio 3 react 14 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 11 title What if everybody voted? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 133 ID 741629076181614 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/741629076181614 audclicks 11 audreach 4 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 4 impress 79 likeclickusers 4 likeuimpress 53 likeuusers 39 matchedotherclicks 11 oimpress 79 oreach 43 posted "10/29/2018 10:06:42 PM" postotherclicks 4 reach 43 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link ========== Ever been glad you had a street address? It can be used for conscription and taxation and - voting rights. And lack of one can be used to deny voting rights - another tool in the Republican voter suppression kit, now blessed by the Supreme Court. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/north-dakota-addresses-voting-id.html If November 6 goes unexpectedly well for Trump, we can expect a lot more of that - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/midterm-elections-republican-party-trump-senate-house.html ===== comments 11 hide 1 impact 1002 impactrate 0 likeimpress 43 negative 1 posted 2018-10-20 priority 1 ratio 3 react 159 reactrate 0 shares 26 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 78 title Ever been glad you had a street address? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 63 ID 736277606716761 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/736277606716761 audclicks 78 audreach 34 commentsimpress 11 commentsusers 6 engaged 64 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 753 likeclickusers 52 likeimpress 43 likeuimpress 208 likeusers 42 likeuusers 163 matchedlinkclicks 5 matchedotherclicks 73 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 753 oreach 575 posted "10/20/2018 07:19:04 AM" postlinkclicks 5 postotherclicks 33 reach 575 sharesimpress 26 sharesusers 24 type Link ========== Voter suppression - one of the pillars of Republican power https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article220117195.html When voter suppression fails, the next tool in their kit is gerrymandering to minimize the strength of the opposition. And unlimited dark money is the first pillar that makes everything else possible. ===== comments 4 impact 399 impactrate 0 likeimpress 31 negative 0 posted 2018-10-19 priority 1 ratio 2 react 95 reactrate 0 shares 15 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 45 title Voter suppression - one of the pillars of Republican power topic democracy wordrate 0 words 42 ID 735785603432628 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/735785603432628 audclicks 45 audreach 23 commentsimpress 4 commentsusers 4 engaged 40 impress 344 likeclickusers 34 likeimpress 31 likeuimpress 173 likeusers 29 likeuusers 139 matchedlinkclicks 3 matchedotherclicks 42 oimpress 344 oreach 255 posted "10/19/2018 10:46:53 AM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 21 reach 255 sharesimpress 15 sharesusers 14 type Link ========== Who needs good teachers if we are going to cede world leadership to other countries? https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/10/10/why-are-teachers-europe-paid-so-much-better-than-united-states/ But no problem - the billionaires can afford to send their kids to good schools. It's all relative anyway! https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-presidency-is-one-giant-act-of-trolling/2018/10/10/d6aa4632-cbe6-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html ===== comments 3 impact 177 impactrate 0 likeimpress 11 negative 0 posted 2018-10-10 ratio 4 react 52 reactrate 0 shares 8 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 30 title Who needs good teachers if we are going to cede world topic democracy wordrate 0 words 34 ID 731268843884304 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/731268843884304 audclicks 30 audreach 20 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 3 engaged 27 impress 329 likeclickusers 19 likeimpress 11 likeuimpress 121 likeusers 11 likeuusers 88 matchedlinkclicks 5 matchedotherclicks 25 oimpress 329 oreach 241 posted "10/10/2018 09:20:45 PM" postlinkclicks 4 postotherclicks 17 reach 241 sharesimpress 8 sharesusers 8 type Link ========== Centrist Democrats endorse rules changes to break gridlock https://thehill.com/homenews/house/409611-moderate-blue-dogs-endorse-house-rules-overhaul-to-break-gridlock ===== impact 5 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 0 posted 2018-10-10 ratio 5 react 6 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 4 title Centrist Democrats endorse rules changes to break gridlock topic democracy wordrate 0 words 8 ID 731166937227828 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/731166937227828 audclicks 4 audreach 3 engaged 4 impress 45 likeclickusers 4 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 27 likeusers 1 likeuusers 25 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 2 oimpress 45 oreach 30 posted "10/10/2018 04:07:10 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 1 reach 30 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== How can we increase voter turnout in midterm elections? Midterm elections are all about turnout. https://www.fairvote.org/voter_turnout#voter_turnout_101 https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2018/09/25/how-voter-turnout-could-affect-the-2018-midterm-elections/ https://www.brookings.edu/topic/2018-midterms/ Presidential elections get more turnout because more people are interested in and have opinions about the president. So why not have the president on the ballot of every Federal election - along with either or both senators in years when they are not up for re-election. If the president fails to gain at least 1/3 approval, demand Congress impeach him. If Senators fail to gain at least 1/3 approval, demand Congress expel them. Congress might not act - but it's a powerful incentive to behave - and even more important, it increases voter turnout in non-presidential election years. http://www.approve-or-expel.net/ And while we're at it, why not make Election Day a holiday? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-americans-to-vote-give-them-the-day-off/2018/10/10/5bde4b1a-ccae-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html == By the way, it will be interesting to add up the Republican vs Democrat votes in all the House races on Nov 6, and see if Trump would have gotten a majority of the popular vote. He says the election is all about him, after all. And likewise, based on the sum of all House votes in each state, allocate that state's electoral votes accordingly, and see if Trump would have won the Electoral College vote again. ===== impact 122 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-10-09 ratio 5 react 6 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 5 title How can we increase voter turnout in midterm elections? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 203 ID 730793230598532 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/730793230598532 audclicks 5 audreach 4 engaged 4 impress 58 likeclickusers 3 likeuimpress 33 likeuusers 27 matchedlinkclicks 3 matchedotherclicks 2 oimpress 58 oreach 33 posted "10/09/2018 11:16:07 PM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 1 reach 33 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== What makes a perfect Supreme Court Justice? https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/07/politics/mcconnell-scotus-2020-nominee-trump-senate/index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/mcconnell-signals-he-would-push-to-fill-a-supreme-court-vacancy-in-2020-despite-2016-example/2018/10/08/75ee6fce-cb2a-11e8-a360-85875bac0b1f_story.html The twin pillars of Republican political power are unlimited secret political contributions and voter suppression, including gerrymandering. So the ideal Supreme Court justice will be - STRONG on the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." Here "freedom of speech" necessarily encompasses "unlimited secret political contributions" and if you have trouble seeing how that follows, just ask any member of the Federalist Society to explain it to you. WEAK on the Fourteenth Amendment, "nor shall any State deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This was the basis for the one-man-one-vote Supreme Court decisions of the 1960's, but any member of the Federalist Society can explain how this was an unconstitutional infringement of states' rights. Or, to put it more succinctly, an ideal Supreme Court justice will be aligned with Republican political goals. Thus the Federalist Society, the Republican Party, the NRA, and a wide swath of fundamentalist Christians, who formerly professed lofty abstract ideals, have taken scripture to heart about serving two masters, and have dedicated themselves to serving just one master, Trump. ===== comments 5 impact 1100 impactrate 0 likeimpress 13 negative 0 posted 2018-10-09 priority 1 ratio 2 react 57 reactrate 0 shares 4 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 35 title What makes a perfect Supreme Court Justice? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 193 ID 730548860622969 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/730548860622969 audclicks 35 audreach 23 commentsimpress 5 commentsusers 5 engaged 31 impress 249 likeclickusers 21 likeimpress 13 likeuimpress 141 likeusers 13 likeuusers 93 matchedlinkclicks 13 matchedotherclicks 22 oimpress 249 oreach 162 posted "10/09/2018 10:21:06 AM" postlinkclicks 13 postotherclicks 13 reach 162 sharesimpress 4 sharesusers 4 type Link ========== More than 80 percent of Americans with college degrees vote compared with about 40 percent of Americans without high school degrees https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/us/non-voters-midterm-elections.html This has got to change. Don't be part of the problem! No matter what you believe, your vote will make a difference. When have so many Senate, House, and governor's races been so close and undecidable in polls this close to the election? Perhaps Federal aid should be distributed on the basis of voter turnout rather than population. That should get states interested again in increasing voter registration and participation instead of stifling it. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#redistricting ===== comments 1 impact 1026 impactrate 0 likeimpress 14 negative 0 posted 2018-10-03 ratio 2 react 108 reactrate 0 shares 10 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 83 title More than 80 percent of Americans with college degrees topic democracy wordrate 0 words 95 ID 727397294271459 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/727397294271459 audclicks 83 audreach 29 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 35 impress 429 likeclickusers 29 likeimpress 14 likeuimpress 161 likeusers 14 likeuusers 118 matchedlinkclicks 6 matchedotherclicks 77 oimpress 429 oreach 307 posted "10/03/2018 07:53:38 PM" postlinkclicks 6 postotherclicks 23 reach 307 sharesimpress 10 sharesusers 10 type Link ========== Can crowdlaw save democracy in Europe and America? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/10/02/participatory-democracy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/10/01/eu/ https://crowd.law/ ===== impact 4 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-10-02 ratio 7 react 5 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Can crowdlaw save democracy in Europe and America? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 8 ID 726690084342180 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/726690084342180 audclicks 2 audreach 1 engaged 3 impress 55 likeclickusers 3 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 34 likeusers 3 likeuusers 33 matchedlinkclicks 2 oimpress 55 oreach 35 posted "10/02/2018 03:15:21 PM" postlinkclicks 1 reach 35 type Link ========== Should the Speaker of the House represent the majority party or the whole House? The Problem Solvers Caucus and NoLabels are trying to change the rules. https://www.nolabels.org/ Separately some Democrats would like to replace Nancy Pelosi. That might or might not be the best thing, and certainly is not the best thing to talk about right now, but nobody should have any illusions that it will change Republican behavior. Republicans are still running against Hillary Clinton, Obama, and even Bill Clinton - primarily to deflect attention from the Republicans' own real accomplishments and real intentions and real campaign funders. So they'll continue to run against Nancy Pelosi and her "San Francisco values" for years after she retires. It works for the Trump base. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/nancy-pelosi-house-democrats/570781/ ===== impact 756 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-09-30 priority 1 ratio 1 react 62 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 58 title Should the Speaker of the House represent the majority topic democracy wordrate 0 words 122 ID 725617231116132 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/725617231116132 audclicks 58 audreach 6 engaged 7 impress 141 likeclickusers 7 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 78 likeusers 3 likeuusers 62 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 57 oimpress 141 oreach 97 posted "09/30/2018 11:21:01 AM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 5 reach 97 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Sorry PR's, your complexion is too dark for statehood https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-an-absolute-no-on-puerto-rico-statehood-because-of-san-juans-horror-show-of-a-mayor/2018/09/24/897ec214-c021-11e8-9005-5104e9616c21_story.html If incompetent politicians are the criterion, New York should be ceded back to England. Maybe a better criterion would be how many and how well Puerto Ricans served in the armed forces of the US. It's time to end the racist imperialist tradition - and make the Federal territories fully part of the United States or set them free. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/14/trumps-false-claims-about-puerto-rico-are-insulting-they-reveal-deeper-truth/ http://www.equalrightsnow.org/ https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/660784194266103 http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#Federal%20territories ===== comments 7 hide 1 hideall 1 impact 775 impactrate 0 likeimpress 21 negative 2 posted 2018-09-26 priority 1 ratio 2 react 114 reactrate 0 shares 4 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 80 title Sorry PR's, your complexion is too dark for statehood topic democracy wordrate 0 words 68 ID 723988127945709 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/723988127945709 audclicks 80 audreach 37 commentsimpress 7 commentsusers 6 engaged 52 hideallclicks 1 hideallclicksusers 1 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 440 likeclickusers 37 likeimpress 21 likeuimpress 187 likeusers 20 likeuusers 147 matchedlinkclicks 7 matchedotherclicks 73 negclicks 2 negusers 1 oimpress 440 oreach 310 posted "09/26/2018 06:42:02 PM" postlinkclicks 7 postotherclicks 30 reach 310 sharesimpress 4 sharesusers 4 type Link ========== There needs to be a way to get rid of an incompetent President Trump has proved the necessity of having a way of getting rid of a President who is simply incompetent and unequal to the job. Even most Republicans facing difficult re-elections in November would probably prefer that somebody steady like Pence was leading their charge, instead of somebody who might truthfully be toasted (as was John Quincy Adams and many others no doubt) "May he cast confusion on his enemies, as he has already done on his friends." The incompetence clause could go like this: at any time the House of Representatives may nominate a new President by a 2/3 vote conducted with ranked-choice voting. The Senate then has 72 hours to confirm the nomination by a simple 2/3 yea/nay vote. If confirmed, the new President is immediately sworn in. This mechanism avoids the necessity of a criminal charge and trial, or a finding of mental or medical incapacity, or the necessity of elevating the current Vice President if there were better choices. One can be incompetent to be President while mentally and medically competent for normal life and free of provable criminal conduct. This, or any, constitutional amendment is very hard to pass. But maybe the motivation will be sufficient soon. This mechanism would not be invoked successfully very often. It is very hard to imagine getting 2/3 agreement on ANY issue with the current Congress. It might be successfully invoked about as often as impeachment, which is never so far (Andrew Johnson was impeached but not convicted by the Senate - read about it in Kennedy's Profiles in Courage). The purpose of the incompetence clause is to get future Presidents to consider their actions more carefully and to seek and to act upon better advice. Or, as with the impeachment process, encourage a President who's in the wrong job to resign and seek employment better matched to his skills. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-un-trumps-foreign-policy-agenda-takes-back-seat-to-controversy-at-home/2018/09/26/8690399a-c1a5-11e8-a1f0-a4051b6ad114_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/27/trump-becomes-punchline-un/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/people-actually-laughed-at-a-president-at-un-speech-trump-suffers-the-fate-he-always-feared/2018/09/25/990b1d52-c0eb-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/26/yes-world-leaders-laughed-trump-theres-another-less-obvious-sign-diminishing-us-influence/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/give-it-to-me-trump-lets-loose-with-81-minutes-of-bluster-falsehoods-and-insults/2018/09/26/29dee98a-c1d7-11e8-97a5-ab1e46bb3bc7_story.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/opinion/yemen-united-states-united-nations.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/world/united-nations-united-states-trump-isolationism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/opinion/trump-susan-rice-united-nations-reckless-alone-ridiculed.html http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#electoral%20college https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/712755542402301 ===== comments 8 impact 2746 impactrate 0 likeimpress 15 negative 0 posted 2018-09-26 priority 1 ratio 1 react 85 reactrate 0 shares 5 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 57 title There needs to be a way to get rid of an incompetent topic democracy wordrate 0 words 323 ID 723958887948633 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/723958887948633 audclicks 57 audreach 29 commentsimpress 8 commentsusers 6 engaged 38 impress 226 likeclickusers 35 likeimpress 15 likeuimpress 143 likeusers 14 likeuusers 104 matchedlinkclicks 5 matchedotherclicks 52 oimpress 226 oreach 156 posted "09/26/2018 05:17:55 PM" postlinkclicks 5 postotherclicks 27 reach 156 sharesimpress 5 sharesusers 4 type Link ========== The Vast Wasteland May 9, 1961 - Newton Minnow described television as a vast wasteland. His opinion probably hasn't changed much. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-minow-2020-bipartisan-presidential-ticket-0902-story.html September 2, 2018 - Newton Minnow didn't use the same words to describe our current partisan political gridlock, but he might as well have. He dreamed up a solution - Biden and Kasich running in 2020 as a bipartisan team of problem solvers. Is this a crazy idea? Yes. Do you have a better idea? Maybe not. nolabels is thinking about the implications. For starters, they compiled a quick historical summary of previous attempts - https://www.nolabels.org/blog/five-facts-on-a-potential-bipartisan-presidential-ticket/ And you'd have to say that history is not particularly supportive of the idea, but it hasn't been tried in our current gridlocked context. The same thought at the time of the Hamilton Electors didn't gain any traction - http://www.political-scrapbook.net/archive/electors.html Maybe some of that was due to the RNC threatening electors - http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/rnc-trump-electoral-college-232537 === More on nolabels - https://www.nolabels.org/ ==== Millenials might not remember Newton Minnow as clearly as Boomers do. Here's his speech - https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newtonminow.htm ===== impact 101 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-09-20 ratio 6 react 6 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 4 title The Vast Wasteland topic democracy wordrate 0 words 168 ID 720818001596055 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/720818001596055 audclicks 4 audreach 2 engaged 3 impress 64 likeclickusers 3 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 48 likeusers 2 likeuusers 38 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 3 oimpress 64 oreach 40 posted "09/20/2018 04:31:13 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 1 reach 40 type Link ========== At last, some good news about dark money https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/political-nonprofits-must-now-name-many-of-their-donors-under-federal-court-ruling-after-supreme-court-declines-to-intervene/2018/09/18/851ea210-bb72-11e8-9812-a389be6690af_story.html It's a step on a long road - http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations ===== comments 2 hide 1 impact 66 impactrate 0 likeimpress 14 negative 1 posted 2018-09-18 ratio 2 react 41 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 22 title At last, some good news about dark money topic democracy wordrate 0 words 16 ID 719581485053040 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/719581485053040 audclicks 22 audreach 12 commentsimpress 2 commentsusers 2 engaged 18 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 127 likeclickusers 17 likeimpress 14 likeuimpress 92 likeusers 13 likeuusers 66 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 21 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 127 oreach 88 posted "09/18/2018 04:09:47 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 11 reach 88 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link ========== Problem Solvers committing to House rules changes to Break the Gridlock http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/15-members-pledge-to-withhold-speaker-vote-without-rule-changes Can you get your House member on board? https://www.nolabels.org/ ===== hide 1 impact 21 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 1 posted 2018-09-18 ratio 4 react 11 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 7 title Problem Solvers committing to House rules changes to Break topic democracy wordrate 0 words 19 ID 719521148392407 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/719521148392407 audclicks 7 audreach 6 engaged 7 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 69 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 43 likeusers 2 likeuusers 35 matchedlinkclicks 3 matchedotherclicks 4 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 69 oreach 47 posted "09/18/2018 02:43:06 PM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 3 reach 47 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Massachusetts needs ranked-choice voting https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/us/politics/massachusetts-voting-lori-trahan.html as advocated by Fairvote - https://www.fairvote.org/ http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential ===== impact 5 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-09-18 ratio 2 react 5 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 5 title Massachusetts needs ranked-choice voting topic democracy wordrate 0 words 9 ID 719366661741189 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/719366661741189 audclicks 5 audreach 2 engaged 2 impress 34 likeclickusers 2 likeuimpress 16 likeuusers 12 matchedotherclicks 5 oimpress 34 oreach 14 posted "09/18/2018 07:33:31 AM" postotherclicks 2 reach 14 type Link ========== Public libraries - Carnegie was right. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-defend-democracy-start-with-your-public-library/2018/09/18/7addf05a-bab2-11e8-9812-a389be6690af_story.html The Trump administration - not so much. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library ===== comments 1 hide 2 impact 103 impactrate 0 likeimpress 24 negative 2 posted 2018-09-18 priority 1 ratio 7 react 79 reactrate 0 shares 8 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 44 title Public libraries - Carnegie was right. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 13 ID 719348258409696 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/719348258409696 audclicks 44 audreach 29 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 42 hideclicks 2 hideclicksusers 2 impress 779 likeclickusers 30 likeimpress 24 likeuimpress 144 likeusers 24 likeuusers 107 matchedlinkclicks 8 matchedotherclicks 36 negclicks 2 negusers 2 oimpress 779 oreach 583 posted "09/18/2018 06:53:32 AM" postlinkclicks 8 postotherclicks 23 reach 583 sharesimpress 8 sharesusers 8 type Link ========== It's time to end the racist imperialist tradition and make the Federal territories fully part of the United States or set them free. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/14/trumps-false-claims-about-puerto-rico-are-insulting-they-reveal-deeper-truth/ http://www.equalrightsnow.org/ https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/660784194266103 http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#Federal%20territories ===== comments 3 hide 2 impact 48 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 2 posted 2018-09-14 priority 1 ratio 3 react 21 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 10 title It's time to end the racist imperialist tradition and make topic democracy wordrate 0 words 23 ID 717542361923619 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/717542361923619 audclicks 10 audreach 5 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 2 engaged 9 hideclicks 2 hideclicksusers 2 impress 95 likeclickusers 8 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 72 likeusers 4 likeuusers 62 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 8 negclicks 2 negusers 2 oimpress 95 oreach 69 posted "09/14/2018 08:39:40 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 5 reach 69 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== The reactionaries win every time they get progressives to fight on the reactionaries' terms https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-new-threat-to-democracy--from-the-left/2018/09/13/7e3fbb72-b790-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html ===== comments 4 impact 57 impactrate 0 likeimpress 4 negative 0 posted 2018-09-14 ratio 4 react 41 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 30 title The reactionaries win every time they get progressives to topic democracy wordrate 0 words 14 ID 717269848617537 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/717269848617537 audclicks 30 audreach 17 commentsimpress 4 commentsusers 4 engaged 18 impress 287 likeclickusers 13 likeimpress 4 likeuimpress 109 likeusers 4 likeuusers 91 matchedlinkclicks 10 matchedotherclicks 20 oimpress 287 oreach 203 posted "09/14/2018 08:16:41 AM" postlinkclicks 10 postotherclicks 11 reach 203 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== The permanent fix to gerrymandering There will be no end to litigation about gerrymandered districts. A better long-term solution is to render them useless, while increasing the political value of centrism over extremism. We could finally say goodbye to the two-faced politician who has to say one thing to win the party primary or caucus, and the opposite thing to win the general election. No wonder nobody trusts them. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/gerrymandering-districts-multimember.html Fairvote advocates for these reforms - https://www.fairvote.org/ http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#redistricting ===== comments 1 impact 75 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-09-13 ratio 3 react 10 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 5 title The permanent fix to gerrymandering topic democracy wordrate 0 words 75 ID 716968078647714 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/716968078647714 audclicks 5 audreach 5 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 6 impress 53 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 31 likeusers 3 likeuusers 25 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 4 oimpress 53 oreach 33 posted "09/13/2018 04:33:45 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 4 reach 33 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== The real Kavanaugh threat This outweighs all the others, because dark money is the #1 problem of American politics - it funds #2, #3, .... #infinity. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/09/13/how-brett-kavanaugh-could-help-create-an-era-of-rampant-corruption/ Actually, unlimited personal contributions to political campaigns would be OK - as long as they were published by donor and amount within 7 days. The public needs to know immediately who has been bought and by whom. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations ===== comments 2 hide 1 impact 315 impactrate 0 likeimpress 7 negative 1 posted 2018-09-13 ratio 3 react 50 reactrate 0 shares 8 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 32 title The real Kavanaugh threat topic democracy wordrate 0 words 63 ID 716901028654419 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/716901028654419 audclicks 32 audreach 12 commentsimpress 2 commentsusers 2 engaged 19 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 212 likeclickusers 18 likeimpress 7 likeuimpress 107 likeusers 7 likeuusers 78 matchedlinkclicks 3 matchedotherclicks 29 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 212 oreach 151 posted "09/13/2018 12:59:05 PM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 10 reach 151 sharesimpress 8 sharesusers 7 type Link ========== When did you last change your mind on a significant political, economic or social issue? When did you vote with the other side? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/opinion/campaign-finance-political-donors.html It's all about vast sums of dark money and institutional and personal ideological barriers to centrist and independent candidates and bipartisan initiatives. The long-term solutions have to involve getting the dark money out of politics - we need to know who is buying whom - and removing institutional barriers by reforms liked ranked-choice voting instead of primaries and caucuses. http://www.americanpromise.net/ https://democracy21.org/issues/money-in-politics Voters who think that elections should be decided by people rather than dollars, should support the necessary structural changes to campaign finance laws to make sure that AT LEAST we know who's paying, and better yet to restrict political contributions to registered voters. https://www.nolabels.org/ Voters who would like Congress to make choices other than the extreme left or extreme right, should support the necessary structural changes to Congressional rules that inhibit centrist and bipartisan solutions. https://www.uniteamerica.org/ Voters who would like to choose candidates other than the extreme left or extreme right that party primaries tend to produce, should support the necessary structural changes to voting laws that inhibit centrist, independent and third-party candidates. More at http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html ===== comments 1 impact 176 impactrate 0 likeimpress 4 negative 0 posted 2018-09-08 ratio 4 react 9 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 4 title When did you last change your mind on a significant topic democracy wordrate 0 words 195 ID 713769088967613 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/713769088967613 audclicks 4 audreach 4 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 6 impress 78 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 4 likeuimpress 46 likeusers 4 likeuusers 34 matchedotherclicks 4 oimpress 78 oreach 36 posted "09/08/2018 06:31:56 AM" postotherclicks 4 reach 36 type Link ========== How can President Trump become as great as President Hamilton? Trick question! Not everybody on our paper currency has been President. But Hamilton did get a clause in the Constitution named after him anyway, inserted specifically to prevent (future) immigrants from becoming President. Trump would have liked the Hamilton clause, because it discriminated against immigrants. Trump should be similarly honored with a clause, inserted specifically to deal with anybody like him who might be elected President in the future. Hamilton would have liked the Trump clause, because it discriminated against incompetents. The Trump clause could go like this: at any time the House of Representatives may nominate a new President by a 2/3 vote conducted with ranked-choice voting. The Senate then has 72 hours to confirm the nomination by a simple 2/3 yea/nay vote. If confirmed, the new President is immediately sworn in. This mechanism avoids the necessity of a criminal charge and trial, or a finding of mental or medical incapacity. You can be incompetent to be President while mentally and medically competent for normal life and free of provable criminal conduct. This, or any, constitutional amendment is very hard to pass. But maybe the motivation will be sufficient soon. This mechanism would not be invoked successfully very often. It is very hard to imagine getting 2/3 agreement on ANY issue with the current Congress. It might be successfully invoked about as often as impeachment, which is never so far (Andrew Johnson was impeached but not convicted by the Senate - read about it in Kennedy's Profiles in Courage). The purpose of the Trump clause is to get future Presidents to consider their actions more carefully and to seek and to act upon better advice. Or, as with the impeachment process, encourage a President who's in the wrong job to resign and seek employment better matched to his skills. As the song goes.... If you see Crooked Hill'ry, please tell her thanks a lot, The recession that's due is going to give me quite a bad blot, My cabinet is such losers, they can't even pass a single law, And my best friend, if I had one, wouldn't even say where it is that I rot. I started out with lock-her-up but soon switched to harder stuff, Everybody said that they'd stand behind me when the game got rough, But the joke was on me, there was no one there to even bluff, I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough. -- Just Like Don Trump's Blues http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#electoral%20college ===== impact 42 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-09-06 ratio 27 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title How can President Trump become as great as President topic democracy wordrate 0 words 423 ID 712755542402301 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/712755542402301 audclicks 1 audreach 1 engaged 1 impress 60 likeclickusers 1 likeuimpress 30 likeuusers 25 matchedotherclicks 1 oimpress 60 oreach 27 posted "09/06/2018 03:38:08 PM" postotherclicks 1 reach 27 type Link ========== Independents Day https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/election-day-could-be-independents-day/2018/08/19/45a63406-a194-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html Many voters would like another choice besides those chosen by the major parties' ideological extremists - the ones who show up to vote in primaries - as exemplified yesterday in Florida. Unite America is working to improve the chances and effectiveness of other choices - https://www.uniteamerica.org/ That's a gradual process of removing institutional obstacles that favor the major parties. The single most helpful reform would be ranked-choice voting - http://www.fairvote.org/ As desirable as these long-term structural changes are, for the 2018 Federal election, in most states without ranked-choice voting, the winner is either going to be a Democrat or a Trumpist. Votes for independents and third parties might as well be Trumpist votes. ===== impact 45 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-08-29 ratio 9 react 4 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Independents Day topic democracy wordrate 0 words 113 ID 708585662819289 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/708585662819289 audclicks 2 audreach 2 engaged 3 impress 52 likeclickusers 3 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 39 likeusers 2 likeuusers 33 matchedotherclicks 2 oimpress 52 oreach 36 posted "08/29/2018 05:36:33 PM" postotherclicks 2 reach 36 type Link ========== Be done with caucuses! https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/08/27/the-presidential-caucus-needs-to-die/ A better alternative is ranked-choice-voting and multimember districts http://www.fairvote.org/ ===== comments 3 impact 26 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-08-27 ratio 3 react 22 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 14 title Be done with caucuses! topic democracy wordrate 0 words 12 ID 707364026274786 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/707364026274786 audclicks 14 audreach 5 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 2 engaged 6 impress 121 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 92 likeusers 3 likeuusers 65 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 12 oimpress 121 oreach 81 posted "08/27/2018 03:55:51 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 4 reach 81 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link ========== In the greatest traditions of American democracy Democracy is not defined by majority rule; that defines a mob. Democracy is defined by recognition of and preservation of rights of minorities, even unpopular minorities, even minorities of just one person. Thus in America, everybody, even very unpopular defendants, gets a fair trial, and an adequate lawyer. (Of course, to get a great lawyer, you might have to pay more!) John Adams was not a great president, but who could look good after Washington? Adams' best claim to fame is representing the accused English soldiers in the Boston Massacre - VERY unpopular defendants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre Rudolf Abel was not a terrible effective spy, but he was an unpopular one when caught. Even so, he got an effective defense from James Donovan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_B._Donovan who became rather unpopular himself, as dramatized in the movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Spies_(film) The tradition continues, and Michael Cohen, who probably doesn't have many friends left, got potent representation from an unexpected quarter https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/lanny-davis-the-ultimate-clinton-loyalist-is-now-michael-cohens-lawyer-but-dont-call-it-revenge/2018/08/23/e1550056-a6b9-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html One wonders who will be left to defend Trump if it comes to that. The best thing Trump could do would be to let somebody sensible choose his defense team. ===== impact 355 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 0 posted 2018-08-24 ratio 3 react 19 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 16 title In the greatest traditions of American democracy topic democracy wordrate 0 words 187 ID 705640439780478 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/705640439780478 audclicks 16 audreach 12 engaged 12 impress 95 likeclickusers 11 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 58 likeusers 1 likeuusers 47 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 15 oimpress 95 oreach 73 posted "08/24/2018 04:48:14 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 11 reach 73 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link ========== the broader influence of celebrity culture on politics is to transform citizens into spectators https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-republic-will-never-be-the-same/2018/08/16/c85266e8-a178-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html ===== impact 27 impactrate 0 likeimpress 6 negative 0 posted 2018-08-17 ratio 4 react 19 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 12 title the broader influence of celebrity culture on politics is topic democracy wordrate 0 words 14 ID 697463983931457 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/697463983931457 audclicks 12 audreach 7 engaged 12 impress 113 likeclickusers 12 likeimpress 6 likeuimpress 96 likeusers 6 likeuusers 70 matchedlinkclicks 4 matchedotherclicks 8 oimpress 113 oreach 80 posted "08/17/2018 09:13:50 AM" postlinkclicks 4 postotherclicks 4 reach 80 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== No good deed goes unpunished, and no good law can't be taken too far https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/government-transparency-has-gone-too-far/2018/08/13/5c66b902-905c-11e8-8322-b5482bf5e0f5_story.html ===== impact 8 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 0 posted 2018-08-16 ratio 8 react 6 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 4 title No good deed goes unpunished, and no good law can't be topic democracy wordrate 0 words 14 ID 696257890718733 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/696257890718733 audclicks 4 audreach 3 engaged 3 impress 67 likeclickusers 3 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 53 likeusers 1 likeuusers 39 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 3 oimpress 67 oreach 50 posted "08/16/2018 07:41:30 AM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 2 reach 50 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== How are violent leftists different from violent rightists? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/08/13/antifa-protesters-couldnt-find-any-fascists-at-unite-the-right-and-harassed-the-press-instead/ ===== comments 1 hideall 1 impact 27 impactrate 0 likeimpress 6 negative 1 posted 2018-08-13 ratio 1 react 34 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 26 title How are violent leftists different from violent rightists? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 8 ID 693507840993738 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/693507840993738 audclicks 26 audreach 6 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 9 hideallclicks 1 hideallclicksusers 1 impress 83 likeclickusers 9 likeimpress 6 likeuimpress 77 likeusers 6 likeuusers 59 matchedlinkclicks 1 matchedotherclicks 25 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 83 oreach 62 posted "08/13/2018 07:52:53 PM" postlinkclicks 1 postotherclicks 5 reach 62 type Link ========== Declining PAC money - a choice no Republican makes https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/us/money-politics-dean-phillips.html http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations ===== comments 1 impact 11 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 0 posted 2018-08-12 ratio 5 react 12 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 5 title Declining PAC money - a choice no Republican makes topic democracy wordrate 0 words 9 ID 692219817789207 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/692219817789207 audclicks 5 audreach 3 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 6 impress 95 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 70 likeusers 5 likeuusers 48 matchedotherclicks 5 oimpress 95 oreach 67 posted "08/12/2018 03:31:19 PM" postotherclicks 3 reach 67 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Good result, but a bad precedent? https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/online-activists-wield-a-secret-weapon-against-hatemongers-like-alex-jones-hint-its-big/2018/08/10/2ab14fee-9b15-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/beware-the-digital-censor/2018/08/12/997e28ea-9cd0-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html ===== impact 1 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-08-12 ratio 15 react 2 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Good result, but a bad precedent? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 6 ID 692214617789727 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/692214617789727 audclicks 2 audreach 2 engaged 2 impress 42 likeclickusers 2 likeuimpress 41 likeuusers 29 matchedlinkclicks 2 oimpress 42 oreach 30 posted "08/12/2018 03:23:03 PM" postlinkclicks 2 reach 30 type Link ========== How dark money works - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/business/the-stealth-campaign-to-kill-off-obamacare.html ===== impact 10 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 0 posted 2018-08-01 ratio 4 react 19 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 11 title How dark money works - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 5 ID 680326352311887 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/680326352311887 audclicks 11 audreach 6 engaged 8 impress 109 likeclickusers 8 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 74 likeusers 5 likeuusers 56 matchedlinkclicks 3 matchedotherclicks 8 oimpress 109 oreach 87 posted "08/01/2018 03:45:39 PM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 4 reach 87 sharesimpress 3 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== Ranked choice voting training Fairvote is offering training to anybody interested in ranked choice voting, also called preferential voting. https://www.fairvoteca.org/calendar Fairvote advocates ranked choice voting and multimember districts to increase diversity and responsiveness in legislative bodies. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential ===== hide 1 impact 11 impactrate 0 negative 1 posted 2018-07-25 ratio 8 react 3 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Ranked choice voting training topic democracy wordrate 0 words 35 ID 673123593032163 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/673123593032163 audclicks 2 audreach 1 engaged 1 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 45 likeclickusers 1 likeuimpress 43 likeuusers 24 matchedotherclicks 2 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 45 oreach 26 posted "07/25/2018 10:20:18 PM" postotherclicks 1 reach 26 type Link ========== Writing new rules to change a do-nothing Congress http://thehill.com/homenews/house/398700-problem-solvers-caucus-has-a-vision-a-bipartisan-house The next Congress will probably very close to evenly divided. It's a rare opportunity for a few members to push it toward action instead of stagnation. https://www.morningstar.com/news/pr-news-wire/PRNews_20180725DC63125/no-labels-endorses-problem-solvers-caucus-bold-break-the-gridlock-reform-package.html ===== impact 14 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 0 posted 2018-07-25 ratio 7 react 4 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Writing new rules to change a do-nothing Congress topic democracy wordrate 0 words 34 ID 673119329699256 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/673119329699256 audclicks 2 audreach 1 engaged 3 impress 49 likeclickusers 3 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 47 likeusers 2 likeuusers 27 matchedlinkclicks 2 oimpress 49 oreach 29 posted "07/25/2018 10:12:59 PM" postlinkclicks 1 reach 29 type Link ========== Bringing basic political rights to residents of Federal territories Equally American is working to bring the equal protection of the law to Federal territories - https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/voting/ More at https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/660784194266103 http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#Federal%20territories ===== hide 1 impact 30 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 1 posted 2018-07-25 ratio 4 react 11 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 4 title Bringing basic political rights to residents of Federal topic democracy wordrate 0 words 27 ID 673111806366675 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/673111806366675 audclicks 4 audreach 4 engaged 6 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 81 likeclickusers 6 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 73 likeusers 5 likeuusers 47 matchedotherclicks 4 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 81 oreach 54 posted "07/25/2018 10:01:08 PM" postotherclicks 4 reach 54 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== NRA, Putin, and keeping the dark money dark https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/opinion/republican-party-national-rifle-association-trump-russia.html We need less dark money, not more https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-groups/u-s-treasury-moves-to-protect-identities-of-dark-money-political-donors-idUSKBN1K704F http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations ===== comments 14 hide 1 impact 186 impactrate 0 likeimpress 19 negative 1 posted 2018-07-20 ratio 2 react 124 reactrate 0 shares 10 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 80 title NRA, Putin, and keeping the dark money dark topic democracy wordrate 0 words 15 ID 667029533641569 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/667029533641569 audclicks 80 audreach 49 commentsimpress 14 commentsusers 13 engaged 59 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 395 likeclickusers 39 likeimpress 19 likeuimpress 184 likeusers 19 likeuusers 119 matchedlinkclicks 13 matchedotherclicks 67 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 395 oreach 279 posted "07/20/2018 06:14:34 AM" postlinkclicks 12 postotherclicks 41 reach 279 sharesimpress 10 sharesusers 10 type Link ========== We need less dark money, not more https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-groups/u-s-treasury-moves-to-protect-identities-of-dark-money-political-donors-idUSKBN1K704F http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations ===== comments 7 hide 2 impact 70 impactrate 0 likeimpress 19 negative 2 posted 2018-07-17 ratio 3 react 100 reactrate 0 shares 9 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 63 title We need less dark money, not more topic democracy wordrate 0 words 7 ID 664108993933623 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/664108993933623 audclicks 63 audreach 38 commentsimpress 7 commentsusers 7 engaged 54 hideclicks 2 hideclicksusers 2 impress 640 likeclickusers 32 likeimpress 19 likeuimpress 188 likeusers 18 likeuusers 117 matchedlinkclicks 21 matchedotherclicks 42 negclicks 2 negusers 2 oimpress 640 oreach 396 posted "07/17/2018 08:54:28 AM" postlinkclicks 20 postotherclicks 25 reach 396 sharesimpress 9 sharesusers 8 type Link ========== Measuring gerrymandering mathematically https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/could-math-solve-the-gerrymandering-problem-1 https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/detecting-gerrymandering-with-mathematics There are simpler ways too - http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#redistricting ===== hide 1 impact 9 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 1 posted 2018-07-15 ratio 5 react 10 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 7 title Measuring gerrymandering mathematically topic democracy wordrate 0 words 9 ID 662554944089028 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/662554944089028 audclicks 7 audreach 2 engaged 4 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 83 likeclickusers 4 likeimpress 1 likeuimpress 75 likeusers 1 likeuusers 51 matchedotherclicks 7 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 83 oreach 59 posted "07/15/2018 05:14:08 PM" postotherclicks 2 reach 59 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Dismantling American Imperialism in DC and the other Federal Territories 50 years ago, the House District Committee was where rural Dixiecrats who could not be entrusted with any real responsibility were assigned. There they could, to their hearts' content, punish District residents for being black. Things haven't changed that much - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-are-sabotaging-dcs-self-rule-send-them-packing/2018/07/13/1e7e23ce-85f7-11e8-9e80-403a221946a7_story.html Stepping back to the larger picture, how many disenfranchised Americans are there and where do they live? Puerto Rico 3,700,000 District of Columbia 694,000 Guam 160,000 US Virgin Islands 107,000 American Samoa and Swains Island 56,000 Northern Mariana Islands 54,000 Wake and Palmyra 0 Guano Islands 0 Wake, Palmyra, and the Guano Islands have no permanent native populations, usually due to lack of drinking water - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act In comparison, some state populations: California (most) 40,000,000 Kentucky (median) 4,500,000 Wyoming (least) 580,000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population The District of Columbia is allowed to vote in presidential elections by the 23rd Amendment, and has a non-voting representative in the House. Residents of the listed islands have fought bravely in our wars but are not allowed to vote in Federal elections, and have only non-voting representatives in the House. Yet residents of all these territories can't claim any citizenship except American, and some of them aren't even American citizens, only American Nationals - https://www.immihelp.com/immigration/us-national.html and lots of Americans don't even grant them that - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/12/cop-resigns-viral-video-woman-harassed-puerto-rico-shirt/778982002/ It's time to put this racist imperialist past behind us and US. What the Federal territories have in common is an average skin tone that is darker than the Trump-preferred Norwegian. So very few politicians are interested in the issue - certainly no Republicans want to elevate Puerto Rico or DC to reliably Democratic statehood. So they don't bother to prepare for the inevitable - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/us/fema-puerto-rico-maria.html On a tiny budget, Equally American is campaigning for voting rights for these disenfranchised Americans: http://www.equalrightsnow.org/ But the ultimate solution is to get all American citizens and nationals into a state - or else independence or affiliation with another tiny island nation, if they prefer that. * Puerto Rico has a larger population than twenty states. It should be elevated to statehood. * District of Columbia has a larger population than Vermont or Wyoming, but it is too small geographically to be a state. It should be receded to Maryland, whence it came, so its residents have state resident rights. Nobody worries that receding Arlington and Alexandria to Virginia in 1846 has undermined national security; the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies function fine outside DC. Federal reservations within DC would remain Federal reservations. The other islands are too small in population to become states. * US Virgin Islands could become part of the state of Puerto Rico; they are very close geographically. * Guam, Northern Marianas, American Samoa, and Swains Island could become part of the state of Hawaii. * The Guano and other uninhabited islands should remain under the jurisdiction of the Departments of the Interior or Defense as appropriate. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#Federal%20territories ===== comments 2 impact 1642 impactrate 0 likeimpress 7 negative 0 posted 2018-07-13 ratio 2 react 34 reactrate 0 shares 5 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 20 title Dismantling American Imperialism in DC and the other topic democracy wordrate 0 words 483 ID 660784194266103 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/660784194266103 audclicks 20 audreach 16 commentsimpress 2 commentsusers 2 engaged 20 impress 136 likeclickusers 20 likeimpress 7 likeuimpress 120 likeusers 7 likeuusers 77 matchedlinkclicks 2 matchedotherclicks 18 oimpress 136 oreach 91 posted "07/13/2018 09:41:56 PM" postlinkclicks 2 postotherclicks 15 reach 91 sharesimpress 5 sharesusers 3 type Link ========== How much justice can you afford? Just whisper in my ear - https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-07-12/millions-from-anonymous-donors-to-influence-kavanaugh-fight Dark money in politics is probably the biggest threat to American democracy. American Promise is working one approach - http://www.americanpromise.net Democracy 21 has another - http://www.democracy21.org/ But political donations should be restricted to registered voters (real American persons) and published promptly so everybody can see who's paying for what - http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations ===== comments 3 impact 240 impactrate 0 likeimpress 16 negative 0 posted 2018-07-13 ratio 3 react 40 reactrate 0 shares 4 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 17 title How much justice can you afford? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 60 ID 660202260990963 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/660202260990963 audclicks 17 audreach 11 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 3 engaged 26 impress 185 likeclickusers 25 likeimpress 16 likeuimpress 144 likeusers 15 likeuusers 91 matchedlinkclicks 4 matchedotherclicks 13 oimpress 185 oreach 127 posted "07/13/2018 07:17:51 AM" postlinkclicks 4 postotherclicks 9 reach 127 sharesimpress 4 sharesusers 4 type Link ========== Time to change the rules of the House? https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/politics/house-speaker-reform.html An idea from nolabels: https://www.nolabels.org/ ===== comments 1 impact 23 impactrate 0 likeimpress 3 negative 0 posted 2018-06-22 ratio 4 react 19 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 14 title Time to change the rules of the House? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 12 ID 640555352955654 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/640555352955654 audclicks 14 audreach 11 commentsimpress 1 commentsusers 1 engaged 13 impress 133 likeclickusers 12 likeimpress 3 likeuimpress 112 likeusers 3 likeuusers 70 matchedlinkclicks 6 matchedotherclicks 8 oimpress 133 oreach 90 posted "06/22/2018 01:23:41 PM" postlinkclicks 6 postotherclicks 7 reach 90 sharesimpress 1 sharesusers 1 type Link ========== Maine tries preferential voting today https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/12/maine-will-try-a-whole-new-way-of-voting-on-tuesday/ ===== impact 2 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2018-06-12 ratio 10 react 3 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 3 title Maine tries preferential voting today topic democracy wordrate 0 words 5 ID 631829943828195 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/631829943828195 audclicks 3 audreach 3 engaged 3 impress 60 likeclickusers 3 likeuimpress 58 likeuusers 30 matchedlinkclicks 3 oimpress 60 oreach 32 posted "06/12/2018 06:06:03 AM" postlinkclicks 3 reach 32 type Link ========== Between a rocky primary and a hard election One reason (among many) that politicians in closed primary states with contestable general elections have difficulty maintaining their intellectual integrity, is that they have to say one thing to win the primary and the opposite thing to win the general election. The voters who show up for primary elections are more ideological on average than those for general elections. https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-whose-jobs-once-seemed-safe-are-struggling-for-a-2018-survival-strategy/2018/05/06/031e931e-4f49-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html This applies to Republicans and Democrats. Big donors want to invest in candidates who will win at both levels and so often end up rewarding this kind of behavior. It means that voters have no idea what the candidate really believes or really will do. Maybe the candidate has no idea either. A better approach is preferential voting, which has the potential to decide most races with just one election. Every member of every party can rank all the candidates by preference, so all candidates have an incentive to seek broad support beyond their own party's ideological base. http://www.fairvote.org/ The open primaries in California and elsewhere have their own issues; in a large field, California's does not insure that either of the top-two represent the majority. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_primaries_in_the_United_States It would be nice to think that part of the solution is to get the big money out of politics. When there are many small donors, each one has relatively little influence. http://www.americanpromise.net ===== hide 1 impact 291 impactrate 0 likeimpress 2 negative 1 posted 2018-05-06 ratio 3 react 13 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 10 title Between a rocky primary and a hard election topic democracy wordrate 0 words 224 ID 614860232191833 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/614860232191833 audclicks 10 audreach 7 engaged 7 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 92 likeclickusers 7 likeimpress 2 likeuimpress 88 likeusers 2 likeuusers 43 matchedotherclicks 10 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 92 oreach 48 posted "05/06/2018 09:12:00 PM" postotherclicks 7 reach 48 type Link ========== Replace the Electoral College? George Will explains, for those who skipped or slept through civics class, how the Electoral College was intended to protect political minorities by insuring that presidents have to gain support across the whole country: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/02/george-will-why-trump-wants-to-replace-the-electoral-college-with-popular-vote-in-presidential-elections/ After all, the essence of democracy is observing that minorities have rights and protecting them; simple majority rule is the essence of the mob, which the Founders rightly feared based on ancient and recent precedents. Will observes that the winner-take-all outcome prescribed in 48 of the 50 states is a critical part of the method even though it's not in the Federal Constitution or any Federal statute. This is the basis for our two-party system which has mostly provided an uncommon degree of political stability compared to most other countries. The necessity of gaining broad national majorities tends to push the parties toward the center, but this tendency has become undone in recent years by dark big money in politics and single-issue narrow-casting media. Many aspects of the Electoral College are obsolete: * There is no need for the electors to meet in their state capitals on a certain day in December; cell phones (and even the telegraph) enabled the collusion across state lines that the Founders were trying to avoid. * There is no need to actually elect persons to serve as electors for the purpose of meeting in their state capital for one day: the RNC settled that last time by threatening criminal and civil action against any electors that might choose to exercise free will; so each secretary of state should just certify the results of the election to Congress. * The over-representation of rural interests is excessive. Rural interests are already over-represented in the Senate and the House. No need to add up over-representations. That doesn't mean that direct popular election of presidents is any better an idea than it was in 1787, particularly without preferential balloting - which would be tricky to validate on a national scale. We could still have primaries and caucuses and conventions and campaigns, but without electing the President in November. In January of odd years, the House could elect a President by distilling all the signal and noise generated the previous year, voting by simple majority of individual members. An an added bonus, to deal with the specific case of a president whose egregious incompetence later becomes inescapably blatant, while not rising to the impeachment standard of high crimes or the 25th amendment standard of disability: why not allow the House to elect a new president at any time by 2/3 vote? This would not be a weekly occurrence; getting a 2/3 vote out of the House on anything is difficult, more so if voting is by state delegations. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#electoral%20college http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#amendments ===== comments 43 hide 2 impact 33909 impactrate 2 likeimpress 18 negative 2 posted 2018-05-03 ratio 4 react 742 reactrate 0 shares 5 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 674 title Replace the Electoral College? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 457 ID 613251389019384 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/613251389019384 audclicks 682 audreach 480 bimpress 3186 blikeimpress 11 blikeusers 10 breach 2815 commentsimpress 43 commentsusers 18 engaged 494 hideclicks 2 hideclicksusers 2 impress 3590 likeclickusers 20 likeimpress 18 likeuimpress 175 likeusers 18 likeuusers 93 matchedlinkclicks 285 matchedotherclicks 389 negclicks 2 negusers 2 oimpress 404 oreach 265 posted "05/03/2018 07:47:07 AM" postlinkclicks 233 postotherclicks 285 reach 3036 sharesimpress 5 sharesusers 5 type Link budget 33 budgettype Lifetime cadname "Post: ""Replace the Electoral College?""" ccleantitle Replace the Electoral College? cclicksall 856 cclickslink 246 ccpcall 0.0385514 ccpclink 0.13414634 cdelivery not_delivering cend 2018-06-30 cimpressions 3187 clicksunique 238 conversionrank - cost 0.13414634146341 cpm 10.35456542 creach 2830 cstart 2018-04-01 ctrall 26.85911516 ctrlink 7.7188578600565 ecomments 9 ecpclink 0.13414634 ends 2018-06-03 engagedrank - ereact 12 eshares 5 frequency 1.126148409894 indicator actions:link_click qualityrank - results 246 spent 33 ========== National Summit for Democracy https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/02/28/trump-skeptics-gather-to-ask-if-democracy-can-survive-him/ A National Summit for Democracy was held a couple of months ago to gather perspectives from the left, center, and right about what to do about the erosion of conservative and liberal democratic values: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-political-center-is-fighting-back/2018/04/25/6170f646-489b-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html The Renew Democracy Initiative has an interesting collection of directors and hopes to interpret the Federalist Papers in light of current events: https://www.renew-democracy.org/about-renew-democracy-initiative/ Meanwhile, in the Senate, McConnell says he won't allow a Mueller bill to come to a vote. The practice of yielding to the majority leader began in the late 1940s... but it makes bipartisan compromise harder to achieve. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-mueller-bill.html But that could be overcome in the Senate; 47 + 2 + 4 = 53. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/theory.html#conservative ===== comments 3 hide 1 impact 452 impactrate 0 likeimpress 5 negative 1 posted 2018-04-30 ratio 4 react 40 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 29 title National Summit for Democracy topic democracy wordrate 0 words 113 ID 612058152472041 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/612058152472041 audclicks 29 audreach 15 commentsimpress 3 commentsusers 3 engaged 15 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 259 likeclickusers 11 likeimpress 5 likeuimpress 138 likeusers 5 likeuusers 73 matchedlinkclicks 4 matchedotherclicks 25 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 259 oreach 166 posted "04/30/2018 04:40:13 PM" postlinkclicks 3 postotherclicks 13 reach 166 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link ========== What is bipartisan problem solving? It might be like trying to hold back the tide, but there are people in Congress trying to make some kind of progress where they can agree. It sounds simple - isn't that what they are paid to do - work out productive compromises? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_Solvers_Caucus inspired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Labels Actually, no - the ideological voter base and the big money donors have different ideas about the function of Congress - total victory and no compromise. Their success - measured by bipartisan meeting of minds in their caucus rather than by getting a lot of legislation passed against the tide - has been in finding things everybody could agree to. A different kind of bipartisan operating involves coupling two issues, one key to each side, and trying to find a way that both can get the most important thing they want. For instance, consider Obamacare - the Democrats and a few Republicans would like to fix some of its problems to make it better. Most Republicans want to repeal it lock, stock, and barrel, and don't want to make it better for fear that will reduce the chance of repeal later (though if they couldn't get it repealed in 2017 they're sure not going to have better luck in 2019). And in 2018 they don't want to embolden their further-right or further-Trump Republican primary opponents and they don't want to hand the Democrats any kind of victory to brag about in the general election. TCJA - the new tax law passed just before Christmas - the Republicans and a few Democrats would like to fix some of its problems to make it better. Most Democrats want to repeal it lock, stock, and barrel, and don't want to make it better for fear that will reduce the chance of repeal later. And in 2018 they don't want to embolden their further-left or further-Bernie Democratic primary opponents and they don't want to hand the Republicans any kind of victory to brag about in the general election. Most people don't consider these morally equivalent issues - but they are politically equivalent in 2018. Wouldn't it be better to make both laws better now - for the benefit of the majority of voters who aren't extreme ideologues and aren't major campaign donors, who just want to get on with their lives? That's not to say that more significant change won't happen in 2019. But a lot of things might happen between now and then, not necessarily the ones we expect, so why not fix what can be fixed now? http://www.liberty-and-justice.net/ ===== hide 1 impact 5197 impactrate 0 likeimpress 37 negative 1 posted 2018-04-25 ratio 13 react 122 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 82 title What is bipartisan problem solving? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 426 ID 609897489354774 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/609897489354774 audclicks 83 audreach 71 bimpress 1746 blikeimpress 26 blikeusers 22 breach 1617 engaged 105 hideclicks 1 hideclicksusers 1 impress 1920 likeclickusers 4 likeimpress 37 likeuimpress 121 likeusers 36 likeuusers 44 matchedlinkclicks 15 matchedotherclicks 67 negclicks 1 negusers 1 oimpress 174 oreach 87 posted "04/25/2018 05:47:28 PM" postlinkclicks 13 postotherclicks 63 reach 1695 sharesimpress 2 sharesusers 2 type Link budget 39 budgettype Lifetime cadname "Post: ""What is bipartisan problem solving?""" ccleantitle What is bipartisan problem solving? cclicksall 148 cclickslink 15 ccpcall 0.253698 ccpclink 2.52518 cdelivery rejected cend 2018-06-30 cimpressions 1746 clicksunique 5+10 conversionrank - cost 1.57485 cpm 22.5219 creach 1628 cstart 2018-04-01 ctrall 8.50224 ctrlink 0.860848 ecpclink 5.8 ends 2018-06-03 engagedrank - epagelikes 1 ereact 33 eshares 2 frequency 1.07248 indicator actions:post_engagement+actions:link_click qualityrank - results 45 spent 39 ========== Preferential voting allows minority representation https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/23/santa-claras-voting-system-attacked-in-court-as-discriminatory/ Santa Clara is going to court to defend its at-large method of electing a city council. It's alleged that this disenfranchises the 30% of voters there who are Asian. But at-large multi-member districts disenfranchise any minorities, whether ethnic, economic, or by allegiance to sports teams. Consider a city with 10 council seats and two distinct populations, the ABC's which are 70% and the XYZ's which are 30%. It's thought that ABC voters only vote for ABC candidates, while XYZ voters only vote for XYZ candidates. The plaintiffs in the Santa Clara case believe that. If true, then it follows that simple at-large voting disenfranchises them. They'll never be able to elect any candidate. And if the XYZ's are spread out evenly in the city rather than concentrated in ghettos - because segregation is a thing of the past - then having separate districts won't work either because the XYZ's will never have a majority in any district. Is there no way that the XYZ's can get 30% of council seats? Yes, there is a way - preferential voting in multimember districts. http://www.fairvote.org/ With preferential voting - also called ranked-choice voting - as many candidates can run representing as many factions as possible, and if there is an ABC/XYZ split as above, the results will be that the XYZ's get about the 30% that they deserve, and nobody wastes a vote. And fringier candidates who want to make an impact can run and perhaps be elected if they modify their message toward the median of the district. http://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential ===== comments 20 impact 13936 impactrate 1 likeimpress 49 negative 0 posted 2018-04-24 ratio 7 react 536 reactrate 0 shares 32 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 435 title Preferential voting allows minority representation topic democracy wordrate 0 words 260 ID 609501779394345 URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/609501779394345 audclicks 441 audreach 362 bimpress 3918 blikeimpress 35 blikeusers 24 breach 3607 commentsimpress 20 commentsusers 10 engaged 404 impress 4491 likeclickusers 5 likeimpress 49 likeuimpress 105 likeusers 49 likeuusers 39 matchedlinkclicks 217 matchedotherclicks 218 oimpress 573 oreach 384 posted "04/24/2018 08:23:57 PM" postlinkclicks 188 postotherclicks 187 reach 3948 sharesimpress 32 sharesusers 30 type Link budget 39 budgettype Lifetime cadname "Post: ""Preferential voting allows minority representation""" ccleantitle ranked-choice voting allows minority representation cclicksall 653 cclickslink 189 ccpcall 0.0621041 ccpclink 0.2764 cdelivery rejected cend 2018-06-30 cimpressions 3922 clicksunique 148+34 conversionrank - cost 0.149292 cpm 9.97915 creach 3561 cstart 2018-04-01 ctrall 16.6343 ctrlink 4.80097 ecomments 5 ecpclink 0.687856 ends 2018-06-03 engagedrank - epagelikes 1 ereact 40 eshares 30 frequency 1.10138 indicator actions:link_click+actions:post_engagement qualityrank - results 256 spent 39