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#202 Nov 19 2016 at 7:50 AM Rating: Excellent
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Those are only contradictory positions if you assume that fascism isn't a stance of the median Republican. Not saying myself that it is but, if you read the first article, he makes clear that Trump's views on immigration and national safety are what's appealing to all parts of the Republican spectrum (which is what makes him the 'median Republican' as he says in the article). So he says in the first article what aspects of Trump give him broad Republican voter appeal and the second saying why those aspects are reflective of fascism.

Does ANYONE bother to read past the headline (which typically isn't written by the article's author anyway)?
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#203 Nov 19 2016 at 11:23 AM Rating: Good
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I'm reasonably certain that the people of Wyoming and the people of Montana don't think of themselves as interchangeable and identical. And if you asked them, you'd find that they think of themselves as two different groups of people, with two very different sets of ideas about the rules to live under, how to manage their local economies, their culture, wants, desires etc. They are not just a homogenous set of voters. There are reasons why different states exist and have boundaries, different legislatures and executives, and different rules beyond just divvying up electoral college votes. Wyoming and Montana didn't develop as separate states just so the people living there could pad their EC vote count.


Those states are really bad examples, since their borders were defined not by culture, economic differences etc, but rather for ease of territorial maintenance.
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#204 Nov 19 2016 at 1:20 PM Rating: Good
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Jophiel wrote:
Those are only contradictory positions if you assume that fascism isn't a stance of the median Republican.
Show me one the doll where Reagan bad touched you, Joph. Smiley: tongue
#205 Nov 19 2016 at 2:00 PM Rating: Excellent
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I know you're used to all thoughts being expressed in 140 characters or less but you really need to learn to read deeper than a single sentence.
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#206 Nov 19 2016 at 3:19 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
Except I don't believe that's a correct comparison. People want to be treated the same regardless of race, or gender, or whatever. States, and the people who live in them, actively want to be treated differently based on what state they live in. Folks in California very much may wish to have a different set of rules and laws than people in Montana, who in turn might choose to have different rules than people in New York. That's kind of the point of moving to a different state. The state boundaries specifically denote regions where differences in law, culture, etc, will exist.

People do not want to be treated differently based on what state they live in. You might, but I certainly do not. I live in Texas because I enjoy the climate and the overwhelming majority of my family lives here. I don't choose Texas because of set of rules I'm forced to live by.
gbaji wrote:
And again, I completely and utterly disagree with that comparison. Those are two very different things. It's wrong to apply different rules to two different people based on their race or ***. It's not just wrong but desired that two different states have different rules and be thought of as different entities. It's why we have different states in the first place. So that people can choose to live in a state that has rules they like. Making them all identical is the opposite of that. Thus, lumping all voters in all states in the same big popular vote bucket is also wrong.

It is not desired that two different states have different rules. You might desire it to be, but I do not.

It's also not why we have different states. We have different states because the U.S. was settled piece wise in different regions, at different times, by different nations.
gbaji wrote:
I'm reasonably certain that the people of Wyoming and the people of Montana don't think of themselves as interchangeable and identical. And if you asked them, you'd find that they think of themselves as two different groups of people, with two very different sets of ideas about the rules to live under, how to manage their local economies, their culture, wants, desires etc. They are not just a homogenous set of voters. There are reasons why different states exist and have boundaries, different legislatures and executives, and different rules beyond just divvying up electoral college votes. Wyoming and Montana didn't develop as separate states just so the people living there could pad their EC vote count.

I'm not asserting that they're interchangeable, I'm asserting that their vote shouldn't chased based on how imaginary lines are drawn.

If Wyoming and Montana were grouped as the same state, with all of their voters retaining their original wants and interests, their total EV would be cut in half. Alternatively, if you took Wyoming and split it into 2 separates states, again with everyone retaining their originals wants and interests, then their EV would double.

What people want hasn't changed in either of those scenarios, but how much EV they control has. That is the problem. 2 half gallons of of water shouldn't have more mass than 1 full gallon. 2 half gallons of water shouldn't have less mass than 4 quarter gallons.

Strategically, Wymoning should want to split itself into 2 separate states so that each of their residents has more influence in the federal government, even if both states function identically on the state level. The only reason other states would wish for them not to do so is specifically because Wymoing would double its EV at the expense of others.
gbaji wrote:
It's easy to say that. It's a lot harder to write down an alternative methodology that does not introduce even worse problems.

It's been done. The problem is that party in control has no motivation to implement a system that will give them less control and the parties not in control have insufficient power to implement a system that will give them more.
gbaji wrote:
I'm not seeing any justification of your unbiased opposition to the EC at all in there. Did I miss it?

I wrote what I did as a courtesy to you. Since you're asserting I have partisan motivations, then the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate as such.

Edited, Nov 19th 2016 3:23pm by Allegory
#207 Nov 19 2016 at 4:03 PM Rating: Good
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I know you're used to all thoughts being expressed in 140 characters or less but you really need to learn to read deeper than a single sentence.
Look, old guy, I know you're clinging to the failed institutions of the past, but you gotta learn to move forward. #OldMediaIsDeadAndGone
#208 Nov 20 2016 at 3:18 AM Rating: Good
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People do not want to be treated differently based on what state they live in. You might, but I certainly do not. I live in Texas because I enjoy the climate and the overwhelming majority of my family lives here. I don't choose Texas because of set of rules I'm forced to live by.
That's ********* and gbaji's the perfect example. Clearly, gbaji lives in California because it's such a hotbed for Democrats.
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#209 Nov 20 2016 at 6:00 AM Rating: Good
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Allegory wrote:
People do not want to be treated differently based on what state they live in. You might, but I certainly do not.


Well, some people may not, but a lot of people do. 30 of those States in the Union did.

It's obviously no coincidence that the main States taken by the D-side align with the large populated cities. I don't think anyone is disputing that. But you seem to think that a ~1% difference in popular vote nation-wide, carried on the back of these high density cities, should override the very different political views of of the States as a whole. But if it were a 1% difference across all the States, then the D-side would have won many of their states and won the election.

I travel frequently for work between Northern Michigan and Western Kentucky/Southern Illinois. Both areas heavily red. And I'm still surprised about how different the people are. When I first started working in Kentucky I actually felt more in place when I had traveled to Italy for a week a few years ago. (Part of it is probably admittedly racist. Northern Michigan is a very white area. Not a lot of diversity...) Sometime in the near future I'll probably be heading out west to the California area at roughly the same frequency. I'd imagine there is going to be a lot of difference there too.
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#210 Nov 20 2016 at 11:16 AM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
But you seem to think that a ~1% difference in popular vote nation-wide, carried on the back of these high density cities, should override the very different political views of of the States as a whole. But if it were a 1% difference across all the States, then the D-side would have won many of their states and won the election.


Yes, a less then 1% difference. Or, you know, the majority of people in the united states, that voted for Hillary. No need be disingenuous.
Hillary got the majority of the popular vote, don't qualify it as just a ~1% difference.

Edited, Nov 20th 2016 9:19am by stupidmonkey
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#211 Nov 20 2016 at 11:43 AM Rating: Excellent
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TirithRR wrote:
Allegory wrote:
People do not want to be treated differently based on what state they live in. You might, but I certainly do not.
Well, some people may not, but a lot of people do. 30 of those States in the Union did.

It's obviously no coincidence that the main States taken by the D-side align with the large populated cities. I don't think anyone is disputing that. But you seem to think that a ~1% difference in popular vote nation-wide, carried on the back of these high density cities, should override the very different political views of of the States as a whole. But if it were a 1% difference across all the States, then the D-side would have won many of their states and won the election.

Maybe I'm misreading Allegory but I took his remark to mean that someone who is pro-life in California (to pick an obvious example) does not want to simply be a reflection of their blue state but would rather have their opinion matter on the national stage. A pro-life vote in a deep blue state is "wasted" since the state won't flip red regardless but, also, a pro-choice vote in such a state may be "wasted" as well since the state was already overwhelmingly blue. A popular vote method would make both of those votes have more value regardless of what state you live in.

Speaking of, a popular vote method would likely increase participation since I wouldn't say "Eh, Illinois is in the bag anyway" but I'd know that my vote actually counted towards the grand total. Republicans, of course, would not like this since the more people who vote, the worse they do (thus their continued voter suppression efforts).
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#212 Nov 20 2016 at 12:21 PM Rating: Good
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Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
TirithRR wrote:
But you seem to think that a ~1% difference in popular vote nation-wide, carried on the back of these high density cities, should override the very different political views of of the States as a whole. But if it were a 1% difference across all the States, then the D-side would have won many of their states and won the election.


Yes, a less then 1% difference. Or, you know, the majority of people in the united states, that voted for Hillary. No need be disingenuous.
Hillary got the majority of the popular vote, don't qualify it as just a ~1% difference.


Meh. I'd feel worse about it if it weren't all clustered in a handful of big cities. If that 1% were truly a representation of the entire US.


Jophiel wrote:
Maybe I'm misreading Allegory but I took his remark to mean that someone who is pro-life in California (to pick an obvious example) does not want to simply be a reflection of their blue state but would rather have their opinion matter on the national stage. A pro-life vote in a deep blue state is "wasted" since the state won't flip red regardless but, also, a pro-choice vote in such a state may be "wasted" as well since the state was already overwhelmingly blue. A popular vote method would make both of those votes have more value regardless of what state you live in.


I took it as his general tone has been the whole thread. A dismissal of the idea of the State in general and treating everyone in the US as the same regardless of State of residence. But we have single cities so populous they can suppress the vote of entire States.


Jophiel wrote:
Speaking of, a popular vote method would likely increase participation since I wouldn't say "Eh, Illinois is in the bag anyway" but I'd know that my vote actually counted towards the grand total. Republicans, of course, would not like this since the more people who vote, the worse they do (thus their continued voter suppression efforts).


I am not so sure there'd be much of a voter difference. I guess I don't give the voters in general as much credit as you would. The Presidency is the thing they come out for the most, right? And their local or State elections ignored. And those they have even more direct say in. I guess I don't see the link between Direct Influence vs Turnout.
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#213 Nov 20 2016 at 1:25 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
But you seem to think that a ~1% difference in popular vote nation-wide, carried on the back of these high density cities, should override the very different political views of of the States as a whole. But if it were a 1% difference across all the States, then the D-side would have won many of their states and won the election.

You seem still very stuck on this agenda against "big cities", and I had addressed it in post 194, but you didn't seem to feel the need to respond.

You seem to think areas with high populations shouldn't matter and shouldn't have their fair say. You seem very worried about about rural areas being disenfranchised, but have no problem with urban areas being disenfranchised to an even greater extent. If 11 people are ordering a pizza, 5 want pepperoni, 4 want veggie, and 2 want hawaiian, why should the veggie be the one to win out? This is akin to the 2016 presidential election where Clinton had ~48%, Trump ~47%, and others 5%. Why should a minority vote win in a Democracy?

I get your fear about rural people people being ignored, but in singlemindedly boosting them you're ignoring everyone else to an even greater extent.
#214 Nov 20 2016 at 1:33 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
Meh. I'd feel worse about it if it weren't all clustered in a handful of big cities. If that 1% were truly a representation of the entire US.

Smiley: dubious
Because people who live in big cities aren't a part of the US? Tell me, please, how does the fact that I live in Los Angeles make my opinions less relevant than a person who lives in rural montana?

Also, the votes continue to come in, and Hilary now has a 1.5 Million lead over Donald.
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#215 Nov 20 2016 at 1:35 PM Rating: Good
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Allegory wrote:
TirithRR wrote:
But you seem to think that a ~1% difference in popular vote nation-wide, carried on the back of these high density cities, should override the very different political views of of the States as a whole. But if it were a 1% difference across all the States, then the D-side would have won many of their states and won the election.

You seem still very stuck on this agenda against "big cities", and I had addressed it in post 194, but you didn't seem to feel the need to respond.

You seem to think areas with high populations shouldn't matter and shouldn't have their fair say. You seem very worried about about rural areas being disenfranchised, but have no problem with urban areas being disenfranchised to an even greater extent. If 11 people are ordering a pizza, 5 want pepperoni, 4 want veggie, and 2 want hawaiian, why should the veggie be the one to win out? This is akin to the 2016 presidential election where Clinton had ~48%, Trump ~47%, and others 5%. Why should a minority vote win in a Democracy?

I get your fear about rural people people being ignored, but in singlemindedly boosting them you're ignoring everyone else to an even greater extent.


I didn't respond to it because I dislike analogies, but if you insist.

If you had 5 different groups of people that came together and decided to order pizza an one large entity,

Group 1 had 2 people
Group 2 had 2 people
Group 3 had 2 people
Group 4 had 10 people
Group 5 had 3 people

Group 4 wants Veggie, Groups 1-3, and 5, all want Pepperoni (except 1 person in group 5, who wanted Hawaiian... but everyone hates Phil so who cares, that's about how we all feel about third party voters, right?).

All together 8 people want pepperoni, 10 people want veggie, and one person wants Hawaiian.

But in the beginning they determined that since they were five separate groups coming together they didn't want any one large group dictating what the 4 other groups get to do purely based on size. Otherwise they may feel that this combination didn't represent their individual groups well. So decisions as a whole have to represent and appeal to all groups, not just the one group with the most individuals.

Edited, Nov 20th 2016 2:52pm by TirithRR
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#216 Nov 20 2016 at 2:22 PM Rating: Good
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It's not really about the pizza analogy.

The bigger point is that you believe you are helping one group of people at a larger cost to another group of people. You're playing favorites, and in such a way that there is a net cost to everyone. A popular vote doesn't favor big cities, it only favors an area exactly to the extent that the area has people. Most people consider this voting system in most situations to be fair.

I don't think it fundamentally makes sense to give different people a different number of votes or vote weighting. In pretty much any other context based on any other criteria, most societies have decided this is wrong.

I live in the suburbs, yet my vote for Texas State Senator counts just as much as someone in a 1,000 pop rural Texas town or someone in Houston, the 4th largest city in the U.S. Even though each municipality is its own differing legal zone with its own set of rules, we don't weight votes differently going from the municipality to the states, yet we do with states going to the Federal level. Should my vote count for more than someone in Dallas, Austin, or Houston? Should a rural town like Cedar Springs have 4 or even 7 times the say in a state senator than Houston does?



If I were being petty, you and Gbaji both think that EC is fine, so your state of mind is more densely populated than mine. Shouldn't you concede victory of the argument to me then?
#217 Nov 20 2016 at 2:22 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
If you had 5 different groups of people that came together and decided to order pizza an as one large entity,

Group 1 had 2 people
Group 2 had 2 people
Group 3 had 2 people
Group 4 had 10 people
Group 5 had 3 people

Group 4 wants Veggie, Groups 1-3, and 5, all want Pepperoni (except 1 person in group 5, who wanted Hawaiian... but everyone hates Phil so who cares, that's about how we all feel about third party voters, right?).

All together 8 people want pepperoni, 10 people want veggie, and one person wants Hawaiian.

But in the beginning they a long time ago, it was determined by people who had to use rotary phones, and to whom had never been delivered a pizza because it was a brand new thing, and the majority of these groups didn't even exist yet, let alone any of the members of the group today, that since they were five separate groups coming together they didn't want any one large group dictating what the 4 other groups get to do purely based on size, even though chinese used to be ordered differently, and they changed that, because it seemed more fair. Otherwise they may feel that this combination didn't represent their individual groups well. So decisions as a whole have to represent and appeal to all groups, not just the one group with the most individuals.

Edited, Nov 20th 2016 2:52pm by TirithRR


Edited, Nov 20th 2016 12:25pm by stupidmonkey
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#218 Nov 20 2016 at 2:25 PM Rating: Good
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Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
a long time ago


So?

Allegory wrote:
A popular vote doesn't favor big cities, it only favors an area exactly to the extent that the area has people


What is a big city but an area that has a lot of people? I didn't care about the Pizza either. Just illustrated a situation where 1 group was favored more than the other 4 combined. Their interests were ignored. Now instead of Group 4 trying to compromise and maybe going Pepperoni with Mushrooms and Green Peppers to appeal to some of the other 4 groups, they can just focus on that veggie pizza.





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think that EC is fine, so your state of mind is more densely populated than mine.


Silly, but then you'd be in a "State of Mind" with 2 Senate representations and 1 House rep, and we'd be in a State of Mind with 2 Senate Reps, and 2 House Reps (assuming no other states..) So it'd be a 4 to 3 EC split? Instead of a 2 to 1 Popular Vote split? Or maybe it's only 1 Senate per... so 3 and 2?


Edited, Nov 20th 2016 3:39pm by TirithRR
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#219 Nov 20 2016 at 3:59 PM Rating: Excellent
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If you had five different entities who all came together to order pizza based on units comprised of weighted votes, I'd first and foremost wonder what was wrong with them that they couldn't order pizza like normal, sane, people.
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#221 Nov 20 2016 at 4:06 PM Rating: Good
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Jophiel wrote:
If you had five different entities who all came together to order pizza based on units comprised of weighted votes, I'd first and foremost wonder what was wrong with them that they couldn't order pizza like normal, sane, people.


Sometimes I wonder why the States originally came together too, since they have such a hard time agreeing on things.
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#222 Nov 20 2016 at 4:22 PM Rating: Good
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I don't want to get too bogged down by analogies, but your scenario is flawed TirithRR. If a plurality of people want Veggie (10 people in your example), then I'm arguing that they should have Veggie. You're the one arguing that a minority of people should have their way based on their grouping.
#223 Nov 20 2016 at 5:56 PM Rating: Excellent
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TirithRR wrote:
Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
a long time ago
So?


So, those people are no longer around, the reasons that they made the decisions that they did are not always valid (because of new technologies, mass media, etc), and the other things they decided to decide that same way are no longer decided that way.

Edited, Nov 20th 2016 4:23pm by stupidmonkey
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#224 Nov 20 2016 at 7:12 PM Rating: Good
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Allegory wrote:
I'm arguing that they should have Veggie. You're the one arguing that a minority of people should have their way based on their grouping.


Yes. That's the difference in the two view points. Though not just a minority of people but a majority of groups that joined this little make believe Union. (No points/counterpoints to be made by stating them.)

New York City has more people in it than what... the 10 least populous States combined? I view that as a problem to a pure popular vote, I do travel a bit for work, and in what handful of places I've been I have seen enough of a difference in the people. And the EC as a way to mitigate that problem. It doesn't make it a purely equalized vote by State (like if they just went EC by Senate or something. 100 total, who ever gets 51+ wins, like my previous analogies which I don't like to make). And it doesn't make a purely popular vote.

Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
TirithRR wrote:
Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
a long time ago
So?


So, those people are no longer around, the reasons that they made the decisions that they did are not always valid (because of new technologies, mass media, etc), and the other things they decided to decide that same way are no longer decided that way.


I don't buy the argument that it should be changed because it's old. (Hence the, "So?")

I also don't know how the people of North Dakota being able to read news about happenings California would actually change what is important to them vs what's important to California.
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#225 Nov 20 2016 at 7:31 PM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
TirithRR wrote:
Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
a long time ago
So?
So, those people are no longer around, the reasons that they made the decisions that they did are not always valid (because of new technologies, mass media, etc), and the other things they decided to decide that same way are no longer decided that way.
I don't buy the argument that it should be changed because it's old. (Hence the, "So?")

Then I guess it's a good thing that's not what I said.

My point was that because it is old, and the world has changed, technology has changed, jobs have changed, transportation has changed, communication has changed, and so has the way that we access the world and the way we access the information available to us has changed, maybe the old way is no longer the best way. I mean, doctors used to punch holes in peoples skulls to let the humours escape!

TirithRR wrote:
I also don't know how the people of North Dakota being able to read news about happenings California would actually change what is important to them vs what's important to California.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here, I'll give you a chance to clarify before responding.


Man, the reconstruction of a quote pyramid when you accidentally mess it up is a lengthy process Smiley: lol
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#226 Nov 20 2016 at 7:36 PM Rating: Good
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Professor stupidmonkey wrote:
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here, I'll give you a chance to clarify before responding.


Mass media and new technologies allowing people to be exposed to or know what is going on around the world, doesn't necessarily change what is happening to them in their locale?
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