<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=windows-1252">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>oops... originally sent only to Marcus by mistake... <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/28/18 6:59 PM, Marcus Daniels
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:MWHPR11MB18873D3A8DF6D421C894E5B2C5B00@MWHPR11MB1887.namprd11.prod.outlook.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=windows-1252">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"><!-- P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} --></style>
<div id="divtagdefaultwrapper"
style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;"
dir="ltr">
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><a
href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/28/politics/maine-governor-certifies-congressional-election/index.html"
class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk996623" previewremoved="true"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/28/politics/maine-governor-certifies-congressional-election/index.html</a><br>
</p>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt"
face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Steven
A Smith <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com"><sasmyth@swcp.com></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, December 27, 2018 9:50:02 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Marcus Daniels<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] 2019 - The end of Trumpism</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div style="background-color:#FFFFFF">
<p>Marcus writes:<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered
medium)">
<style>
<!--
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math"}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri}
@font-face
{}
p.x_MsoNormal, li.x_MsoNormal, div.x_MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif}
a:link, span.x_MsoHyperlink
{color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline}
a:visited, span.x_MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline}
p.x_msonormal0, li.x_msonormal0, div.x_msonormal0
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif}
span.x_EmailStyle18
{font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif}
.x_MsoChpDefault
{font-size:10.0pt}
@page WordSection1
{margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in}
div.x_WordSection1
{}
-->
</style>
<div class="x_WordSection1">
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Steve
writes:</span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
background:white"> </span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
color:black; background:white">"Democracy is the tyranny
of the majority over the minority"</span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The
majority elected Hillary Clinton.</span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Marcus</span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>The Electoral College is archaic and ambiguous: <br>
</p>
<p> <a class="x_moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#changes"
moz-do-not-send="true">
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#changes</a>.
<br>
</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.
</p>
<p> <a class="x_moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/11/democrat-primary-elections-need-reform"
moz-do-not-send="true">
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/11/democrat-primary-elections-need-reform</a></p>
<p>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.<br>
</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>How does Direct Democracy distinguish itself from Populism
and Mob Rule? What constitutes (guarantees/assures?) an
engaged and informed electorate?</p>
<p>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)?</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>