[FRIAM] 2019 - The end of Trumpism

[Steven A Smith]

oops... originally sent only to Marcus by mistake...


On 12/28/18 6:59 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
>
> https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/28/politics/maine-governor-certifies-congressional-election/index.html
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Steven A Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 27, 2018 9:50:02 AM
> *To:* Marcus Daniels
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] 2019 - The end of Trumpism
>
> Marcus writes:
>
>> Steve writes:
>>
>> "Democracy is the tyranny of the majority over the minority"
>>
>> The majority elected Hillary Clinton.
>>
>> Marcus
>>
> The Electoral College is archaic and ambiguous:
>
> https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#changes. 
>
>
> Perhaps our current orange-tinted clusterf*ck will continue to 
> degenerate to the point of motivating the necessary will to mount the 
> necessary constitutional amendment.
>
> Republicans are acutely good at gaming vulnerable systems to their 
> benefit (gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc.) but the DNC and 
> Hillary proved to be their equal during the primary with Superdelegates.
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/11/democrat-primary-elections-need-reform
>
> Ranked Choice voting seems ultimately yet more promising to *improve* 
> the selection of our representatives.  I believe that Maine is running 
> that experiment for us now at the State level. Arrow's Impossibility 
> is real but no more significant IMO than the real-world ambiguities 
> and paradoxes introduced by practical realities such as voter 
> suppression and fraud, system hacking and mechanical errors (e.g. 
> hanging chads)... Technology (can a direct democracy be facilitated by 
> something like block-chain technology?) might resolve some of these 
> questions, but very likely it will miss the more fundamental 
> philosophical questions.
>
> We are a Federal Republic with a Representative Democracy for good 
> reasons... some of the context of those "good reasons" surely has 
> evolved over the 250ish years it has been in place while the 
> mechanisms maybe have not evolved as quickly. Individual and small 
> groups of Opportunistic, Brash, Narcissists can usually outmanouvre 
> such a slow moving leviathan.   I'm not sure what to do about that.
>
> How does Direct Democracy distinguish itself from Populism and Mob 
> Rule?   What constitutes (guarantees/assures?) an engaged and informed 
> electorate?
>
> But the question remains:  Is there a better way to meet the goals of 
> governance than the democracies we have tried and/or imagined?  How do 
> we balance (or align?) the needs of the group and of the individual?  
> Is "Democracy the worst form of government except for all of the 
> others we have tried" (Churchill paraphrase)?
>
> - Steve
>
>
>
>
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