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.
========== The work ahead to protect and strengthen democracy. https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/how-to-prevent-another-january-6 #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-12-21 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title The work ahead to protect and strengthen democracy. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 9 epoch Lifetime ID 1833597403651437 impress 9 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "12/21/2022 06:12" reach 8 title "How to prevent another January 6" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1833597403651437 ========== What are the major conclusions after reading and writing about American political and economic democracy through four elections? How can we be faithful to the Enlightenment ideals of America's founders? https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-enlightenment.html The Main Challenge is Minority Rule https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html consisting of - Tools for protecting and enhancing minority political power Tools for protecting and enhancing minority economic power Possible responses to those challenges - Tools for protecting and enhancing equal political opportunity https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html Tools for protecting and enhancing equal economic opportunity https://www.one-flat-tax.net/ and if all those responses are defeated - The Last Resort Response is Regional Federalism https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html == https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-lessons.html == About political scrapbook - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 3665 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-12-13 ratio 0 react 374 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 374 title What are the major conclusions after reading and topic democracy wordrate 0 words 98 audclicks 374 epoch Lifetime ID 1826577227686788 impress 52 matchedlinkclicks 374 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "12/13/2022 07:12" reach 47 title "Lessons from Political Scrapbooking" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1826577227686788 ========== 110 years ago, initiative, referendum, and recall were instituted to provide a way for people outside to overcome entrenched interests in the legislature. https://californialocal.com/localnews/el-dorado/ca/article/show/426-california-governor-recall-explainer/ https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#initiative It didn't always work. Entrenched interests are still fighting back - https://ballotpedia.org/Legislative_alterations_of_ballot_initiatives https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-count-on-abortion-returning-to-the-ballot-in-2024/ https://tucson.com/news/election/proposition-128-to-give-az-legislature-power-to-overturn-voter-initiatives-fails/article_11b8c204-5bc0-11ed-9782-23e024e00b5b.html https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/capitol-watch/idaho-legislature-ballot-initiative-bill/277-87d5d323-bda3-4dc1-9aef-cfcc3b51beca Now with the advent of unlimited dark campaign money on mass media of all kinds, initiative etc have also become a way for interests outside to overcome the people's legislature. https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/11/13/this-failed-california-ballot-prop-spent-50-times-more-for-each-yes-vote-than-the-abortion-measure/ It doesn't always work. == More about political scrapbook - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 9930 impactrate 1 negative 0 posted 2022-11-13 ratio 3 react 1324 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1324 title 110 years ago, initiative, referendum, and recall were topic democracy wordrate 0 words 75 audclicks 1324 epoch Lifetime ID 1802751616736016 impress 6676 matchedlinkclicks 449 matchedotherclicks 875 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "11/13/2022 11:11" rcs 5 reach 4434 reactions 5 title "This failed California ballot prop spent 50 times more for each yes vote than the abortion measure" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1802751616736016 ========== Libertarians strike again! Just as Greens helped elect Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016, Libertarians helped elect Biden in 2020 - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-election.html and now a Libertarian has forced the Georgia Senate runoff, quite plausibly determining Senate control, although he never had the slightest chance to be elected. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/us/elections/georgia-runoff-chase-oliver.html But he's right! Repealing sore-loser laws and using ranked-choice voting would eliminate third parties' negative influence and enhance their positive. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-11-09 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Libertarians strike again! Just as Greens helped elect topic democracy wordrate 0 words 68 epoch Lifetime ID 1799879603689884 impress 12 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "11/09/2022 21:11" reach 10 title "The Libertarian Who Helped Push the Georgia Senate Race Into a Runoff" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1799879603689884 ========== Independent state legislatures - the latest fake theory for strengthening minority rule by dictating election results - https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/how-the-independent-state-legislature What will the reactionary Supreme Court majority decide? They know what their Federalist Society groomers want. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-11-03 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Independent state legislatures - the latest fake theory for topic democracy wordrate 0 words 34 epoch Lifetime ID 1795138800830631 impress 21 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "11/03/2022 16:11" reach 19 title "How the ‘Independent State Legislature Theory’ Might Change Our Elections" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1795138800830631 ========== Convincing the masses to reject facts and logic and empiricism, in favor of incontestable truth revealed and prescribed by authority, is a pillar of minority rule. More and more reactionary megadonors and political leaders don't even pretend to embrace the Enlightenment ideals of America's founders. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-enlightenment.html So with vastly different ideas of what truth is, no wonder we have converging crises and diverging consensus. Maybe it's time for regional federalism to let everybody live in their own bubble. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html Not that it will address the root causes of polycrises - it would just give everybody a chance to quit blaming people in the other reality sphere for all their problems. But blaming an intractable foe is a pillar of fake populism and cult of personality - and wouldn't be given up easily. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/01/polycrisis-midterms-biden-administration-progressive/ #PS1democracy ===== comments 1 impact 13 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-11-02 ratio 15 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Convincing the masses to reject facts and logic and topic democracy wordrate 0 words 131 commentsimpress 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1794353220909189 impress 17 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "11/02/2022 14:11" rcs 1 reach 15 title "Opinion | Can we fix our battered politics to deal with converging crises?" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1794353220909189 ========== Why buy an island if you can buy a whole country? Robert Vesco was thinking too small when he attempted to buy the island of Barbuda to make an independent country where he could be safe from American law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Vesco#%22Vesco_law%22 Maybe an island is in the right price range for some of the Trumpist small fry who've pleaded the 5th and might yet be convicted. But now the United States itself is for sale to the highest bidders. Or at least its politicians, and if you own those, and the mass media, it's the same thing. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/15/peter-thiel-who-is-he-republican-donor-tech-entrepreneur Thiel is done with democracy and intends to remake the US into even more of a libertarian paradise - for billionaires. Musk isn't heavily into politics yet, but what's not for him to like about a libertarian paradise for billionaires? https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/politics-for-sale Money used to just be the mother's milk of politics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_M._Unruh#Quotes Now it's the oxygen. The necessary schizophrenia of GOP candidates means that their campaigns against rich elites are funded by even richer elites. But they have to get used to talking one way in private to donors, and two other, different, ways in public, one for the base in the primary and one for the swing voters in the general. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#gop It's not to be expected that the beneficiaries of minority rule will voluntarily relinquish the economic and political power they have invested so much to establish and maintain, just as their spiritual ancestors fought the progressive reforms of Republicans Theodore Roosevelt and Hiram Johnson. In those days there was more freedom of the press because there was more free press; nowadays most of the remaining print newspapers don't dare offend their advertisers, lest they go to online media - increasingly controlled by - guess who! - the richer elites defending minority rule. == More about political scrapbook - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/politics-for-sale ===== comments 32 impact 10579 impactrate 1 negative 0 posted 2022-10-31 ratio 12 react 348 reactrate 0 shares 17 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 299 title Why buy an island if you can buy a whole country? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 304 audclicks 299 commentsimpress 32 epoch Lifetime ID 1792790944398750 impress 6866 matchedlinkclicks 135 matchedotherclicks 164 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/31/2022 15:10" rcs 94 reach 4399 reactions 45 sharesimpress 17 title "Politics for Sale" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1792790944398750 ========== Want to know who's buying your next Congress? https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/top-election-donors-2022/ Unlimited dark campaign money is one of the key threats to democracy. More on political scrapbook at https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy ===== comments 148 hide 1 hideall 1 impact 8960 impactrate 1 negative 2 posted 2022-10-24 ratio 4 react 3446 reactrate 0 shares 97 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 3199 title Want to know who's buying your next Congress? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 26 audclicks 3199 commentsimpress 148 epoch Lifetime hideallclicksusers 1 hideclicksusers 1 ID 1787322458278932 impress 21485 matchedlinkclicks 1322 matchedotherclicks 1877 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/24/2022 20:10" rcs 388 reach 14567 reactions 143 sharesimpress 97 title "Analysis | Meet the mega-donors pumping millions into the 2022 midterms" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1787322458278932 ========== Election news that wasn't - Yes, in many states it's legal and common to drop off ballots for other people in various circumstances - https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-government-and-politics-8eaf001732ac25976f0560a3e49ed500 No, non-citizens can't vote in Federal elections - and very few try - https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-noncitizens-voting-question-d720a6d02e066700d86812dc717906e5 What isn't fake news - there are lots of domestic and foreign actors spreading propaganda to promote distrust of democratic elections, toward a goal of Soviet-style pro-forma elections with predetermined outcomes. https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-warns-foreign-efforts-sway-american-voters == More about political scrapbook - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-warns-foreign-efforts-sway-american-voters ===== comments 53 impact 6413 impactrate 1 negative 0 posted 2022-10-21 ratio 4 react 855 reactrate 0 shares 9 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 793 title Election news that wasn't - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 75 audclicks 793 commentsimpress 53 epoch Lifetime ID 1784365048574673 impress 4553 matchedlinkclicks 181 matchedotherclicks 612 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/21/2022 08:10" rcs 110 reach 3455 reactions 48 sharesimpress 9 title "US warns about foreign efforts to sway American voters" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1784365048574673 ========== Ranked-choice voting is making progress - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential Do your part if it's on your ballot! https://fairvoteaction.org/get-involved/ballot-measures/ Professional politicians don't like ranked-choice voting, because it transfers power from them to the voters. They like to say it's confusing but the only thing that confuses them is how they could continue to act as political kingmakers if ranked-choice voting were adopted. == More about political scrapbook - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy https://fairvoteaction.org/get-involved/ballot-measures/ ===== comments 11 hide 1 impact 954 impactrate 0 negative 1 posted 2022-10-20 ratio 16 react 149 reactrate 0 shares 3 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 134 title Ranked-choice voting is making progress - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 64 audclicks 134 commentsimpress 11 epoch Lifetime hideclicksusers 1 ID 1783810081963503 impress 3441 matchedlinkclicks 29 matchedotherclicks 105 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/20/2022 16:10" rcs 28 reach 2511 reactions 14 sharesimpress 3 title "Ballot Measures - FairVote Action" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1783810081963503 ========== Robert Vesco attempted to buy the island of Barbuda to make an independent country where he could be safe from the law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Vesco#%22Vesco_law%22 Vesco was thinking too small! Now the United States is for sale to the highest bidder. Or at least its politicians, and if you own those, and the mass media, it's the same thing. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/15/peter-thiel-who-is-he-republican-donor-tech-entrepreneur Thiel is done with democracy and intends to remake the US into even more of a libertarian paradise - for billionaires. Musk isn't heavily into politics yet, but what's not for him to like about a libertarian paradise for billionaires? https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/politics-for-sale Money used to just be the mother's milk of politics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_M._Unruh#Quotes Now it's the oxygen. The necessary schizophrenia of GOP candidates means that their campaigns against rich elites are funded by even richer elites. But they have to get used to talking one way in private to donors, and two other, different, ways in public, one for the base in the primary and one for the swing voters in the general. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#gop It's not to be expected that the beneficiaries of minority rule will voluntarily relinquish the economic and political power they have invested so much to establish and maintain, just as their spiritual ancestors fought the progressive reforms of Republicans Theodore Roosevelt and Hiram Johnson. In those days there was more freedom of the press because there was more free press; nowadays most of the remaining print newspapers don't dare offend their advertisers, lest they go to online media - increasingly controlled by - guess who! - the richer elites defending minority rule. == More about political scrapbook https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/politics-for-sale ===== comments 3 impact 7498 impactrate 1 negative 0 posted 2022-10-20 ratio 9 react 284 reactrate 0 shares 6 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 275 title Robert Vesco attempted to buy the island of Barbuda to make topic democracy wordrate 0 words 264 audclicks 275 commentsimpress 3 epoch Lifetime ID 1783805158630662 impress 3521 matchedlinkclicks 37 matchedotherclicks 238 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/20/2022 16:10" rcs 27 reach 2765 reactions 18 sharesimpress 6 title "Politics for Sale" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1783805158630662 ========== What are the major conclusions after reading and writing about American political and economic democracy through four elections? How can we be faithful to the Enlightenment ideals of America's founders? The Main Challenge is Minority Rule consisting of - Tools for protecting and enhancing minority political power Tools for protecting and enhancing minority economic power Possible responses to those challenges - Tools for protecting and enhancing equal political opportunity Tools for protecting and enhancing equal economic opportunity and if all those responses are defeated - The Last Resort Response is Regional Federalism https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-lessons.html More about political scrapbook at https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy ===== comments 7 impact 3528 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-10-14 ratio 7 react 360 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 352 title What are the major conclusions after reading and writing topic democracy wordrate 0 words 98 audclicks 352 commentsimpress 7 epoch Lifetime ID 1779037319107446 impress 4028 matchedlinkclicks 194 matchedotherclicks 158 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/14/2022 22:10" rcs 8 reach 2819 sharesimpress 1 title "Lessons from Political Scrapbooking" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1779037319107446 ========== Why are there so few truly contested elections? Are open primaries the solution to one-party rule? For many offices in many states, the only election that matters is the primary of the dominant party. That winner is sure to win the general election. So only the voters in that primary matter. https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/commentary-the-threat-to-democracy-that-no-one-s-talking-about/article_14208ca2-45d6-11ed-afa2-c707a4c10fe7.html That's another pillar of minority rule. In those districts, the winner doesn't matter much; it will be one or another of the dominant partiy's extreme candidates supporting minority rule (whether they know it or not). https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html Megadonors don't have to fund the general election campaign much. In fact, many of those candidates run unopposed. Gruber and Kresky argue for open primaries, where anybody can vote in whichever primary he wants. That doesn't seem like the best approach. Why not let the parties run their primaries or caucuses any way they want - on their own dime. The important thing is repeal sore-loser laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sore_loser_law so people who run and lose in the primary can try again in the general election. And the general election must be ranked-choice https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/ranked-choice-voting/ so that a particular point of view doesn't lose just because it attracts too many candidates. That way every voter has a say as to who he'd prefer AND who he'd accept if he can't get his first choice, and no voter wastes a vote because there are too many similar candidates. As for that other pillar of minority rule that contributes to uncontested elections - gerrymandering - multimember districts, WHEN combined with ranked-choice voting, insure that sizeable minorities that choose to vote as a bloc are guaranteed some representation. https://fairvote.org/multi_member_districts_a_win_for_representation/ ===== More about political scrapbook https://www.political-scrapbook.net/about.html #PS1democracy https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/commentary-the-threat-to-democracy-that-no-one-s-talking-about/article_14208ca2-45d6-11ed-afa2-c707a4c10fe7.html ===== comments 4 impact 15803 impactrate 2 negative 0 posted 2022-10-09 ratio 4 react 581 reactrate 0 shares 2 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 575 title Why are there so few truly contested elections? Are open topic democracy wordrate 0 words 272 audclicks 575 commentsimpress 4 epoch Lifetime ID 1774525489558629 impress 3442 matchedlinkclicks 113 matchedotherclicks 462 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "10/09/2022 13:10" rcs 15 reach 2350 reactions 9 sharesimpress 2 title "Commentary: The threat to democracy that no one’s talking about" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1774525489558629 ========== Biden to address nation on democracy and rule of law - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#rule-of-law GOP leaders had prerecorded responses ready - Joe Biden is the divider-in-chief and epitomizes the current state of the Democrat Party: one of divisiveness, disgust, and hostility towards half the country Not half! Only the fraction that supports the violent insurrectionists of Jan 6! Only the fraction that supports stealing stop secrets, storing them improperly, lying about it, and obstructing the investigation! Unfortunately the GOP leadership has decided to lead that fraction, abandoning the faith of their fathers - Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan. He’s trying to stir up controversy, he’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election, it’s just – it’s horribly inappropriate Even truer if you switch Democrat and Republican, and Biden and either Trump or DeSantis! https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/politics/joe-biden-democracy-speech/index.html #PS1democracy ===== comments 2 impact 54 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-09-01 ratio 5 react 4 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 2 title Biden to address nation on democracy and rule of law - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 136 audclicks 2 commentsimpress 2 epoch Lifetime ID 1743624389315406 impress 27 matchedlinkclicks 2 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "09/01/2022 10:09" rcs 3 reach 22 reactions 1 title "Biden's 'direct' prime-time address on democracy comes as he grows more concerned about Trump's influence" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1743624389315406 ========== Minority rule isn't nearly powerful enough! https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html So the Kochs and Mercers and their megadonor allies want to call a constitutional convention rigged to preserve their control forever, by transforming the power of the Federal government to guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government - Republican in the sense of 1787 - to its exact opposite - to guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government - Republican in the modern Trumpist Dixiecrat GOP sense of minority rule. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-meckler-article-five-constitutional-convention_n_6086c380e4b09cce6c143b10 https://www.businessinsider.com/constitutional-convention-conservatives-republicans-constitution-supreme-court-2022-7 Their apologists pretend that it couldn't possible run out of control - but who'd believe them in an age of a sitting president planning and encouraging violent insurrection? Running wild is exactly the intent since they can't get what they want any other way. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-08-02 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Minority rule isn't nearly powerful enough! topic democracy wordrate 0 words 131 epoch Lifetime ID 1722790131398832 impress 17 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "08/02/2022 22:08" rcs 1 reach 16 reactions 1 title "Republicans' next big play is to 'scare the hell out of Washington' by rewriting the Constitution. And they're willing to play the long game to win." type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1722790131398832 ========== How much has the decline of public education contributed to political partisanship? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/books/review/will-bunch-after-the-ivory-tower-falls.html Probably it's part of the problem, but it seems that the end of the fairness doctrine, the rise of social media, unlimited dark campaign money, and the takeover of the Republican Party by Dixiecrats all played larger parts. The Cavalier forebears of the Dixiecrat megadonor class never had any use for public education funded by their taxes. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-08-02 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title How much has the decline of public education contributed topic democracy wordrate 0 words 70 epoch Lifetime ID 1722561168088395 impress 17 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "08/02/2022 16:08" reach 17 title "Why Is America Fractured? Blame College, a New Book Argues." type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1722561168088395 ========== The historical argument against centrist third parties - they don't accomplish anything. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/opinion/why-andrew-yangs-new-third-party-is-bound-to-fail.html Better to put that energy into a coalition or caucus of like-minded candidates that remain within their parties but relentlessly pursue the electoral reforms that promote democracy - ranked-choice voting, multimember districts, eliminating sore-loser laws. https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used But the defenders of minority rule are even more relentless, and will oppose any democratic reform that threatens their power. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html Reforms have to be national - in both red and blue states - and how is that going to happen? #PS1democracy https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/opinion/why-andrew-yangs-new-third-party-is-bound-to-fail.html ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-07-30 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title The historical argument against centrist third parties - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 88 epoch Lifetime ID 1720733374937841 impress 15 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "07/30/2022 22:07" reach 14 title "Opinion | Why Andrew Yang’s New Third Party Is Bound to Fail" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1720733374937841 ========== The delusional branch of the GOP thinks the patriarchal branch will rest with Roe v Wade. That's not what they say and not what they'll do. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/opinions/republicans-gays-respect-for-marriage-act-senate-smith/index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/30/republicans-roe-abortion-lgbt/ The Roe v Wade repeal rejected the implicit Constitutional right of privacy https://www.ask.com/news/what-is-the-constitutional-right-to-privacy and the general principle of stare decisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precedent How far will the patriarchalists run with that? You might think that the GOP megadonors will put a stop to the patriarchalists when they start losing more GOP votes than they gain. But if the Supreme Court accepts the notion of independent state legislatures deciding elections https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/independent-state-legislature-theory-explained then red states can just ignore educated suburban women or other swing voters. Don't waste time making complicated logical legal analyses - it's all about maintaining minority rule. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html #PS1democracy https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/opinions/republicans-gays-respect-for-marriage-act-senate-smith/index.html ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-07-30 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title The delusional branch of the GOP thinks the patriarchal topic democracy wordrate 0 words 120 epoch Lifetime ID 1720701778274334 impress 11 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "07/30/2022 21:07" reach 10 title "Opinion: Republicans have to make a fateful choice on what kind of party they want to be | CNN" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1720701778274334 ========== Third parties??? Only if they get ranked-choice voting and get rid of sore-loser laws first! Otherwise they just split the moderate vote. And if they can get ranked-choice voting and get rid of sore-loser laws, then a third party won't be needed. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/andrew-yang-forward-party-whitman-jolly/index.html But they have to understand that the megadonors financing minority rule will spare no expense to preserve the status quo. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html #PS1democracy https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/andrew-yang-forward-party-whitman-jolly/index.html ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-07-28 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Third parties??? Only if they get ranked-choice voting topic democracy wordrate 0 words 63 epoch Lifetime ID 1719016898442822 impress 14 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "07/28/2022 15:07" reach 12 title "Group of Republicans and Democrats form new political party to appeal to moderates" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1719016898442822 ========== Why nobody has confidence in Congress. https://washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/08/republicans-broke-americans-confidence-institutions-poll/ Total paralysis is an acceptable outcome for GOP megadonors. They'd welcome more tax cuts and deregulation, but they'll settle for no change in minority rule. #PS1democracy ===== impact 3 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-07-10 ratio 14 react 1 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 title Why nobody has confidence in Congress. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 32 epoch Lifetime ID 1705859753091870 impress 18 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "07/10/2022 20:07" rcs 1 reach 14 sharesimpress 1 title "Opinion | How Republican leaders broke Americans’ confidence" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1705859753091870 ========== Independent State Legislatures - the final frontier toward permanent minority rule. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html The six reactionary Supreme Court justices know they were nominated and confirmed in order to protect and expand minority rule. Will they remember that when the issue comes up next year? How will they twist their legal theories to match? https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/politics/independent-state-legislature-theory-what-matters/index.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-07-06 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Independent State Legislatures - the final frontier toward topic democracy wordrate 0 words 52 epoch Lifetime ID 1702387023439143 impress 9 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "07/06/2022 06:07" reach 9 title "Analysis: Why Republicans want to redefine one word in the Constitution" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1702387023439143 ========== Republican senate campaigns aren't financed to protect democracy. They are financed to protect minority rule. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html There aren't 10 Republican Senate votes to do almost anything supported by Democrats. Why would electoral count reform be any different, especially in an election year? Look at the counter-attacks for the simplest gun safety proposals. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/19/fix-electoral-count-law-now-before-trump-tries-exploit-it-again/ #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-06-21 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Republican senate campaigns aren't financed to protect topic democracy wordrate 0 words 52 epoch Lifetime ID 1691545534523292 impress 6 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "06/21/2022 06:06" reach 5 title "Opinion | Fix the electoral count law now, before Trump tries to exploit it again" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1691545534523292 ========== Money is the mother's milk of politics. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations Big corporations donate to both sides in order to retain access. But after they've financed a takeover by the Trumpist Dixiecrat GOP, they won't need to donate to any candidates because election outcomes will be prescribed in advance. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/opinion/jan6-companies-donate.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 5 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-06-15 ratio 12 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title Money is the mother's milk of politics. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 46 audclicks 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1687662298244949 impress 15 matchedlinkclicks 1 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "06/15/2022 21:06" rcs 1 reach 12 reactions 1 title "Opinion | Who Is Financing Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ Caucus? Corporations You Know." type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1687662298244949 ========== Reparations - for whom? https://apnews.com/article/california-race-and-ethnicity-san-francisco-voter-registration-0cb66f61c4b9f0136c43a17408720d98 What about Native Americans, Latinos, LGBTQ, poor ignorant white victims of lousy schools - where does it end and how do all these varying claims get evaluated? How do you decide about Cherokees who owned slaves? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_Slave_Revolt_in_the_Cherokee_Nation On a Federal level, reparations for any particular group will not get anywhere in the soon-to-be Trumpist Senate. A better way to insure some reparations to all those who need it most is a (taxable) Universal Basic income for all voters. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-ubi.html That's something for everybody that deserves it, at the price of doing something for everybody that doesn't - but it's taxable so people already doing well don't get as much benefit. It necessarily has to be combined with financial incentives to states so that even red states are motivated to expand voter registration and turnout rather than restricting it. That's a threat to GOP minority rule - so the only hope of achieving it is by mobilizing support among working white people, who will be subject to relentless propaganda by the GOP major donor class that all the benefit will go to those [undeserving] people and will be paid for by working white people. Expect a chorus of THEY don't deserve it and WE can't afford it. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/theory.html#political%20ideology%20for%20the%20masses The reality must be equally relentlessly broadcast - the benefit is for all poor and working people and it will be paid for by all the better off - who will be rewarded with a more robust economy. #PS1democracy https://apnews.com/article/california-race-and-ethnicity-san-francisco-voter-registration-0cb66f61c4b9f0136c43a17408720d98 ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-06-02 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Reparations - for whom? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 247 epoch Lifetime ID 1678608905816955 impress 11 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "06/02/2022 20:06" reach 11 title "Slave reparations advocates hail historic California report" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1678608905816955 ========== Slavery is gone, but political paralysis is STILL essential to protecting minority rule. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html Thus DC and Puerto Rico will never be allowed statehood, lest they elect Democratic senators. Political paralysis is a design feature to protect minority rule by protecting slavery. From 1820 to 1860 the biggest political issue was protecting the South's parity in the Senate - everybody knew that if the North ever got a majority, slavery was over. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/29/our-gun-debate-paralysis-stretches-back-to-civil-war/ #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-29 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Slavery is gone, but political paralysis is STILL essential topic democracy wordrate 0 words 72 epoch Lifetime ID 1675551746122671 impress 10 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/29/2022 13:05" reach 10 title "Opinion | The gun debate is paralyzed by our past" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1675551746122671 ========== What's pushing America toward regional federalism? https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html all the pillars of minority rule! https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html guns, right to life, racism, cult of personality, rejection of all the rational Enlightenment ideals of America's founders... https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#rule-of-law Why should blue states continue to subsidize red states' fantasies? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/opinion/uvalde-shooting.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-27 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title What's pushing America toward regional federalism? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 41 epoch Lifetime ID 1674175606260285 impress 7 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/27/2022 17:05" reach 6 title "Opinion | America May Be Broken Beyond Repair" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1674175606260285 ========== Concentrations of power are inherently bad! https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-wells-fargo-exec-says-181447962.html https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-congress-climate-and-environment-199c935b6c81b6520c39fbf2791b899b https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/business/economy/baby-formula-shortage-market.html Every traditional Republican knows that concentrations of political power in the Federal government are BAD. But they don't seem to generalize to concentrations of economic power, because concentrated economic power makes political campaign major donor fund-raising more efficient - if there are fewer major donors. So they complain about economic conditions when Biden is president, and then vote against anything he proposes to remedy the situation, and do not propose any plausible remedies of their own. #PS1democracy ===== impact 25 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-22 ratio 2 react 3 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 3 title Concentrations of power are inherently bad! topic democracy wordrate 0 words 83 audclicks 3 epoch Lifetime ID 1670490626628783 impress 8 matchedlinkclicks 3 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/22/2022 19:05" reach 7 title "Baby Formula Shortage Has an Aggravating Factor: Few Producers" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1670490626628783 ========== If the goal is to reduce partisan divisiveness, a solution is ranked-choice voting and eliminating sore-loser laws. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential California's top-2 method is a small improvement over partisan primaries and caucuses, but it still allows kingmakers to discourage candidates that might split the vote. https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/nicholas-goldberg-a-decade-ago-california-adopted-a-strange-top-two-primary-system-hows-it/article_15ee9cc8-b9a4-52fb-9c03-7052e932fc84.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-19 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title If the goal is to reduce partisan divisiveness, a solution topic democracy wordrate 0 words 43 epoch Lifetime ID 1667863340224845 impress 11 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/19/2022 09:05" reach 10 title "Nicholas Goldberg: A decade ago, California adopted a strange top-two primary system. How's it working out?" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1667863340224845 ========== Want to do something about campaign finance? It's not easy, since the politicians in office tend to be comfortable with the systems that got them there. https://americanpromise.net/ Senate campaigns cost tens of millions of dollars. Georgia alone will be over $80 million. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/politics/battle-senate-control-midterms/index.html And much more of it comes from the Super-PACs than from the party campaign committees. That kind of money doesn't come from small individual contributions. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-12 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Want to do something about campaign finance? It's topic democracy wordrate 0 words 67 epoch Lifetime ID 1662996257378220 impress 15 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/12/2022 17:05" reach 12 title "Here's where the battle for Senate control will be won -- or lost | CNN Politics" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1662996257378220 ========== Greens elected Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016. Libertarians elected Biden in 2020. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-election.html That's a good reason to avoid them https://www.political-scrapbook.net/theory.html#registration Until there's ranked-choice-voting https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used Now we pay the price for self-indulgence https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/05/05/pitts-america-is-paying-a-steep-price-for-staying-home-on-election-day/ #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-05 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Greens elected Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 32 epoch Lifetime ID 1657766164567896 impress 10 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/05/2022 20:05" reach 10 title "Pitts: Democrats pay dearly for staying at home in 2016 election" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1657766164567896 ========== Why we need ranked-choice voting in place of partisan primaries and caucuses - that would maximize centrist moderates and minimize extremist fringes. https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used How lucky the Ukrainians are that the US House GOP conference was not in charge of resisting Putin. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/opinions/2013-government-shutdown-problem-with-gop-dent/index.html They can't even resist Trump. No Profiles in Courage for the Fear Caucus. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-05-01 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Why we need ranked-choice voting in place of partisan topic democracy wordrate 0 words 54 epoch Lifetime ID 1654391258238720 impress 11 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "05/01/2022 09:05" reach 6 title "Opinion: Fear is destroying the GOP from inside out" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1654391258238720 ========== we might want to look squarely at the political institutions that make mutual respect feel like surrender — namely our winner-take-all binary party system. In such a system, compromise and concession really do feel like surrender, because letting the other side win on anything means potentially letting them win on everything. And when every election is for everything, demagoguery and demonization are inevitable https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/04/29/what-can-stop-diverse-democracy-tearing-itself-apart/ #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-04-30 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title we might want to look squarely at the political topic democracy wordrate 0 words 64 epoch Lifetime ID 1654068104937702 impress 4 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "04/30/2022 22:04" reach 3 title "Review | What can stop a diverse democracy from tearing itself apart?" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1654068104937702 ========== The argument for regional federalism https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html By November 2022, either painful Putin and covid inflation will still be running rampant, or America will be in a painful Fed-induced recession to kill inflation. Either way, GOP candidates will blame Biden and Democrats for the pain, since GOP don't have to propose a plausible alternative. With their likely new majorities in Congress, they will proceed to attempt to impeach and remove Biden and his administration on a strictly party-line basis. That will keep them busy so they have an excuse for doing nothing about inflation or recession. Sure they'll pass the usual tax cuts for billionaires, deregulate to get back to global warming as usual, and do what they can to put reactionaries in Federal courts - even if it means stopping all judicial confirmations until Trump or DeSantis is president. At the state level they'll do whatever they can to make sure Democrats win no more elections. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/meadows-texts-trump-lies-2022-election-analysis/index.html They're already working on bogus theories that state legislatures can overrule the popular vote, knowing that their reactionary judges will support them. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-04-30 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title The argument for regional federalism topic democracy wordrate 0 words 178 epoch Lifetime ID 1654055014939011 impress 3 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "04/30/2022 22:04" reach 3 title "Analysis: Lies and delusions revealed in Meadows' texts are already poisoning the next election" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1654055014939011 ========== Putinist Trumpism? https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#trump Or the country needs to come together on at least two crucial points: that democracy must survive and that truth must be respected https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2022-credos.html#rule-of-law Putin gave Biden an opportunity to lead the democratic world. But Putin also gave Trump an opportunity to return to power on the tails of Putin's inflation, by launching his war while the Democrats were in power. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/opinions/putin-created-unexpected-opportunity-future-of-democracy-ghitis/index.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 6 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-04-28 ratio 4 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title Putinist Trumpism? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 63 audclicks 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1652577491753430 impress 5 matchedlinkclicks 1 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "04/28/2022 22:04" reach 4 title "Opinion: Putin has created an unexpected opportunity" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1652577491753430 ========== Funding alternatives - https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#corporate%20donations Which is worse? Billionaires running for office with their own money, or billionaire investors funding candidates with unlimited dark money? https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-business-pennsylvania-campaigns-mehmet-oz-fcc1e26d6fc733874fdfa32b1627567d As long as it takes tens of millions of dollars for a Senate campaign, it's going to be one or the other. No GOP candidates, and few Democratic ones, restrict themselves to accepting only small grass-roots donations. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-04-28 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Funding alternatives - topic democracy wordrate 0 words 61 epoch Lifetime ID 1652169711794208 impress 5 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "04/28/2022 08:04" reach 4 title "Millionaire candidates pour cash into Ohio, Pa. Senate races" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1652169711794208 ========== Swing voters are mostly influenced by economics, especially inflation, especially of gas prices. But reducing inflation is easy. Just give Putin what he wants, when he wants it. Oddly enough, many voters want Biden to be tougher on Putin somehow. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-europe-nato-3e68ceb4c389c84f395f6deecea3906d Most swing voters don't think through to root causes. So GOP gets away with voter suppression. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/us/politics/democrats-democracy-election.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-04-21 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Swing voters are mostly influenced by economics, especially topic democracy wordrate 0 words 57 epoch Lifetime ID 1647274428950403 impress 9 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "04/21/2022 07:04" reach 4 title "Democrats Fear for Democracy. Why Aren’t They Running on It in 2022?" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1647274428950403 ========== “I have a hard time explaining that when the White House is in favor of something, when Democrats are in favor of something, Republicans are in favor of something, the House is in favor of it, and the Senate is in favor of it, we still can’t seem to get it done. https://apnews.com/article/climate-2022-midterm-elections-biden-technology-business-7aa66d84e150a4c1d54831677075cee9 Sen Cornyn surely knows that the performative members of Congress automatically oppose anything the other side proposes - then brag about it on Fox, to score points with the extreme base that will support them in the next primary. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-04-18 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title “I have a hard time explaining that when the White House topic democracy wordrate 0 words 92 epoch Lifetime ID 1645499232461256 impress 8 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "04/18/2022 18:04" reach 6 title "Congress seeks compromise to boost computer chip industry" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1645499232461256 ========== Whether talking about climate, https://bdnews24.com/environment/2022/03/01/time-is-running-out-to-avert-a-harrowing-future-climate-panel-warns https://dev.apnews.com/article/texas-weather-climate-louisiana-climate-change-503dc6290c26b64f23c6e2a663eea6ac https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/02/california-faces-a-big-short-in-vital-commodities/ or Ukraine, https://bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-02-27/ukraine-shows-that-u-s-cannot-afford-culture-wars culture wars are a luxury distraction the world can't afford. It's a global challenge to democracies - and autocracies - to find and support leadership that will face tough problems with no great solutions instead of easy sure wins. #PS1democracy ===== impact 5 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-03-06 ratio 9 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title Whether talking about climate, topic democracy wordrate 0 words 46 audclicks 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1615194752158371 impress 10 matchedlinkclicks 1 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "03/06/2022 15:03" reach 9 title "Ukraine Reminds Us of What We Already Knew" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1615194752158371 ========== Some countries don't have equal rights for women. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/09/middleeast/iran-teenage-wife-beheaded-intl/index.html But the US ERA has become a complicated legal morass. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/09/politics/senate-republicans-archivist-era/index.html The 18th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd amendments contained seven year limits on ratification. The 19th, and 23rd-27th contain no such limits. The Constitution doesn't say whether states can rescind ratifications. The Supreme Court will have to decide. If they decide against ERA, as the Trumpists want, that will hand the Democrats a handy issue to remind educated suburban women what Trumpism is really about. #PS1democracy ===== impact 8 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-02-09 ratio 5 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 sumclicks 1 title Some countries don't have equal rights for women. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 83 audclicks 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1598176143860232 impress 6 matchedlinkclicks 1 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "02/09/2022 22:02" reach 5 title "Three Senate Republicans urge archivist not to certify the Equal Rights Amendment" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1598176143860232 ========== If it weren't for colored people in cities, Trump would have won! Ask any of these Trumpist candidates! https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/08/republicans-2020-election-lie-johnson-mandel/ Of course, if it weren't for KKK and KGB support in 2016, Trump would have lost, and if it weren't for QAnons and anti-vaxxers and violent militiamen in 2020, he would have lost by even more. Trump could just as well blame the LIbertarians for his loss, just as the Greens cost Clinton in 2016 and Gore in 2000. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2021-close-elections.html https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-election.html #PS1democracy https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/08/republicans-2020-election-lie-johnson-mandel/ ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-02-08 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title If it weren't for colored people in cities, Trump would topic democracy wordrate 0 words 78 epoch Lifetime ID 1597405913937255 impress 6 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "02/08/2022 20:02" reach 5 title "Opinion | GOP candidates add a repulsive new twist to Trump’s ‘big lie’" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1597405913937255 ========== The Impossible Dream! https://www.political-scrapbook.net/theory.html#registration Third parties mostly have a reverse effect. Libertarians made the difference to elect Biden in 2020; Greens helped elect Trump in 2016 and Bush in 2000. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2021-close-elections.html The missing ingredients to support centrist candidates are ranked-choice voting and multi-member districts. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/democracy.html#preferential So the Common Sense Party is not likely to do much good without the prerequisites. https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/02/07/moderate-common-sense-party-hopes-to-get-on-2022-ballot-in-california/ #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-02-07 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title The Impossible Dream! topic democracy wordrate 0 words 58 epoch Lifetime ID 1596344727376707 impress 10 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "02/07/2022 05:02" reach 8 title "Moderate Common Sense Party hopes to get on 2022 ballot in California" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1596344727376707 ========== The Trumpist Dixiecrat GOP is in sight of its dream of running the whole country permanently, for the benefit of the hereditary nobility that finances its campaigns. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-minority.html Traditional conservatives were willing to use rural bias to their advantage https://www.reduce-rural-bias.net/ but the Thurmond-Gingrich-Trump Dixiecrats have taken it to a whole new level. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/politics/democrats-voting-rights-joe-biden/index.html The majority had better get started on regional federalism while they still can https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-regional.html The Dixiecrat Trumpists are not going to wait for them. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/politics/democrats-republicans-supreme-court-states-congress-white-house/index.html #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-18 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title The Trumpist Dixiecrat GOP is in sight of its dream of topic democracy wordrate 0 words 74 epoch Lifetime ID 1583052488705931 impress 8 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/18/2022 10:01" reach 6 title "Analysis: With help from Manchin and Sinema, a Republican revolution from below is driving national policy" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1583052488705931 ========== The enduring legacy of white moderates. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/15/opinions/mlk-white-moderates-voting-rights-filibuster-ray/index.html If filibuster had stood in the way of ending slavery or segregation, Manchin and Sinema would have stood in the door to protect it, waiting for a bipartisan effort by slaveholders to end slavery or segregationists to end segregation. And we'd be waiting still. #PS1democracy ===== impact 5 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-16 ratio 9 react 1 reactrate 0 shares 1 sharesrate 0 title The enduring legacy of white moderates. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 51 engaged 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1581910528820127 impress 11 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/16/2022 17:01" reach 9 sharesimpress 1 title "Opinion: The White moderates MLK warned us about" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1581910528820127 ========== Ranked-choice voting progresses. https://www.fairvote.org/rcv Alaska hopes to reduce partisanship. https://apnews.com/article/elections-alaska-voting-legislature-election-2020-900d52ccb7d2bbff8de23b3ae92af12f Traditional politicians sued because it would dilute the power of political parties. Exactly! That's the whole idea. End the schizophrenic candidates lying one way for the primary and the opposite way for the general. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-16 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Ranked-choice voting progresses. topic democracy wordrate 0 words 43 epoch Lifetime ID 1581904708820709 impress 14 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/16/2022 17:01" reach 10 title "Election overhaul in Alaska aimed at reducing partisanship | AP News" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1581904708820709 ========== Sounds very much like it's all about protecting unlimited dark money political contributions, a pillar of minority rule. Losing that threatens all GOP as well as Manchin and Sinema and perhaps others. https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-joe-biden-voting-elections-wv-state-wire-28fce7f5190404f5091158c912bf8d5d Everybody knows there is no bipartisan road to undermining minority rule. The only interesting thing is how creative they are inventing excuses. Schumer intends to force everybody to put their excuses on the record. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-13 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Sounds very much like it's all about protecting unlimited topic democracy wordrate 0 words 67 epoch Lifetime ID 1579761645701682 impress 9 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/13/2022 11:01" reach 8 title "Biden prods Senate, but Sinema blunts voting bill's chances | AP News" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1579761645701682 ========== Voting rights appear to be the issue that this Congress will be remembered for. Bipartisanship will be achieved if failure to act soils the historical legacy of both parties. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-voting-rights-joe-biden-senate-elections-election-2020-5b63509f7e1407bfde54ddce7c072174 Although there's a lot at stake, campaign finance reform is probably the biggest issue - GOP is dead set against anybody knowing where their money comes from. And not a few Democrats agree. #PS1democracy ===== impact 6 impactrate 0 likeimpress 1 negative 0 posted 2022-01-10 ratio 9 react 1 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Voting rights appear to be the issue that this Congress topic democracy wordrate 0 words 63 engaged 1 epoch Lifetime ID 1578011039210076 impress 11 likeimpress 1 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/10/2022 20:01" reach 9 title "Invoking Jan. 6, Dems pivot to fight for voting legislation | AP News" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1578011039210076 ========== What kind of nation do we want to be? https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article257104857.html There's always been a minority that favored blut-und-boden and hereditary aristocracies. They used to hide behind facades, but now they are more obvious, yet more willing to blame others for acting the way they do - because they believe everybody acts the way they do. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-09 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title What kind of nation do we want to be? topic democracy wordrate 0 words 55 epoch Lifetime ID 1577300759281104 impress 8 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/09/2022 20:01" reach 5 title "‘What kind of nation are we going to be?’ Can’t wait to find out | Opinion" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1577300759281104 ========== Ordinary Democrats and Republicans are much less rabid than their party's leaders and committed base. They do share a well-founded suspicion that the political leadership is not looking out for people like them. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/opinion/voter-focus-groups-jan-6.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/opinion/democrats-focus-group.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/opinion/republicans-focus-group.html But do they understand the root causes of their discontent? As long as it takes tens of millions of dollars to run for the Senate, senators and candidates will cater to major donors to get major donations. Nothing else is likely to change until campaign finance reform occurs. https://americanpromise.net/ But most average voters are more concerned about inflation and crime, and don't see the connection. There is relatively little that the president can do about most of the issues that concern ordinary voters, as both Trump and Biden have demonstrated. Congress is supposed to pass needed laws. Congress won't because the system is set up to favor the most extreme candidates who campaign to the extreme voters who are most likely to vote in party primaries. If elected these extremists are more interested in making an exciting media splash than getting into the drudgery of drafting legislation and negotiating compromises to pass it - compromise and bipartisanship are dirty words that only hurt them with their supporters. https://www.political-scrapbook.net/2020-congress.html The best way to deal with that is to repeal state sore-loser laws, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sore-loser_law which prevent moderate candidates who ran in the primary from running in the general election, and then use ranked-choice voting in the general election, https://www.fairvote.org/rcv which also tends to encourage centrism rather than extremism. But most average voters have never heard of sore-loser laws or ranked-choice voting, both of which are threats to the political establishment that those voters are suspicious of. #PS1democracy https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/opinion/voter-focus-groups-jan-6.html ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-07 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Ordinary Democrats and Republicans are much less rabid than topic democracy wordrate 0 words 274 epoch Lifetime ID 1575728672771646 impress 7 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/07/2022 09:01" reach 6 title "Opinion | What Democratic and Republican Voters Really Think About the State of America" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1575728672771646 ========== Who's going to run the Democratic House in majority or minority? https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-pelosi-jeffries/2022/01/01/317f7792-5cfa-11ec-9c0e-a955f8a009c1_story.html The most important thing to realize at this specific moment in history is that the Democratic Party is the rule-of-law alternative to the Trumpist Dixiecrat cult of personality. They need to be open and affirming to others - such as traditional conservatives - who align with them on that critical distinction. If, and when, Trumpism is finally put to rest, then everybody can go back to politics as usual. Until then, everybody needs to maintain their main focus on the main thing - preservation of the Enlightenment ideals of America's founders, and the American democracy that embodies those ideals. #PS1democracy ===== impact 0 impactrate 0 negative 0 posted 2022-01-02 reactrate 0 sharesrate 0 title Who's going to run the Democratic House in majority or topic democracy wordrate 0 words 111 epoch Lifetime ID 1572756889735491 impress 6 pageid 534332363577954 pagename "Political scrapbook" posted "01/02/2022 19:01" reach 6 title "House Democrats begin preparing for the post-Pelosi era" type Link URL https://www.facebook.com/politicalscrapbooknet/posts/1572756889735491