Should Al Franken Resign?

[Cow Poke]

Exactly what I just noted in my last post.

To which I beat you by 7 minutes.

This is party by geography. If you were to rescale it to show party by population, the map would actually favor blue (55 million registered Republicans to 72 million registered Democrats), with independents vascilating between the two parties year by year.

Reality kicks in, though, because presidential elections are won not by counties or population density, or even party loyalty or registration, but by electoral college votes.

[carpedm9587]

Use that list function I taught you.

• Infrastructure
• Regulation of commonly held resources
• National defense
• Establishment of laws
• Enforcement of laws
• Education
• Speaking as a nation in international organizations and matters
• Supporting new initiatives with national benefits (until the free market takes over)
• Ensuring universal access to healthcare
• Safety net for those not otherwise cared for
• Research associated with decision-making related to above listed items
• Collection of taxes (to fund the above)

That's my quick, from the hip, list. If someone thinks something should be removed, I'd be interested in knowing 1) whether you think that is not actually a need and why and, 2) if it IS a need, how you think that need can be met if it is not done by government.

[Cow Poke]

• Infrastructure
• Regulation of commonly held resources
• National defense
• Establishment of laws
• Enforcement of laws
• Education
• Speaking as a nation in international organizations and matters
• Supporting new initiatives with national benefits (until the free market takes over)
• Ensuring universal access to healthcare
• Safety net for those not otherwise cared for
• Research associated with decision-making related to above listed items
• Collection of taxes (to fund the above)

That's my quick, from the hip, list. If someone thinks something should be removed, I'd be interested in knowing 1) whether you think that is not actually a need and why and, 2) if it IS a need, how you think that need can be met if it is not done by government.

Good job on the list function! I feel like a proud papa!


I think the government fails miserably in the area of education.
In other areas, I think the government tends to be incredibly inefficient at spending money wisely.

That's my quick, from the hip, response, for now.

[carpedm9587]

To which I beat you by 7 minutes.

Reality kicks in, though, because presidential elections are won not by counties or population density, or even party loyalty or registration, but by electoral college votes.

The electoral college, as it is strutured, is badly flawed. Instead of doing what the Founders wanted it to do, because they did not specify how the electoral votes were to be aportioned, it skews the weight of each voters vote based on the state in which they live. My vote is more than 3 times as powerful as the vote of a person in California, because our state has 3 electoral votes for 625,000 people (208,000 people per electoral vote), but California has 55 electoral votes for 39.25 million people (713,000 people per electoral vote). If the founders had wanted to ensure what they set out to ensure, they would have stipulated that two electoral votes in each state be alotted statewide (representing the state's view in the election process), and the rest of the votes be allocated by congressional district (representing the people's choice). Then the red congressional districts in California would not be swept aside because the vast majority of the state is blue - their desire would be reflected in the electoral outcome.

Fortunately, it would not require a constitutional amendment to make this change. It would simply require more states to do as Maine and Nevada already do. There are many initiatives with exactly that outcome in mind working through several state legislatures.

Be that as it may, I find great hope in the fact that Trump not only lost the popular vote by historic amounts (for a winner), but only won the electoral vote by 70,000-80,000 votes in three states. That is a razor thin margin that he has already done a great deal to erode. His approval/disapproval gap was zero on the day he was innaugurated, and it has been steadily eroding every since (currently at -17.3 aggregated). I suspect it is near its bottom. After all, even on the day Nixon resigned, he still had the approval of 25% of the population - his "base." So there are some people who will never abandon Trump under any circumstances whatsoever. They will always find a way to excuse/explain/justify his actions and his language. And there are some who will never ever join Trump under any circumstances (I am one of them, for reasons I have outlined elsewhere). But Trump is steadily losing that middle group - the ones who were willing to give him a shot, especially with Clinton as the alternative. They are the ones he is not spending enough time satisfying - and they will be his undoing.

Now we just have to wait 3 years to see if my prediction is correct...

[carpedm9587]

Good job on the list function! I feel like a proud papa!


I think the government fails miserably in the area of education.
In other areas, I think the government tends to be incredibly inefficient at spending money wisely.

That's my quick, from the hip, response, for now.

I would agree with both observations - though perhaps for different reasons.

P.S. I HAVE been using the list function, "papa"

[Cow Poke]

The electoral college, as it is strutured, is badly flawed. Instead of doing what the Founders wanted it to do, because they did not specify how the electoral votes were to be aportioned, it skews the weight of each voters vote based on the state in which they live. My vote is more than 3 times as powerful as the vote of a person in California, because our state has 3 electoral votes for 625,000 people (208,000 people per electoral vote), but California has 55 electoral votes for 39.25 million people (713,000 people per electoral vote). If the founders had wanted to ensure what they set out to ensure, they would have stipulated that two electoral votes in each state be alotted statewide (representing the state's view in the election process), and the rest of the votes be allocated by congressional district (representing the people's choice). Then the red congressional districts in California would not be swept aside because the vast majority of the state is blue - their desire would be reflected in the electoral outcome.

Fortunately, it would not require a constitutional amendment to make this change. It would simply require more states to do as Maine and Nevada already do. There are many initiatives with exactly that outcome in mind working through several state legislatures.

Be that as it may, I find great hope in the fact that Trump not only lost the popular vote by historic amounts (for a winner), but only won the electoral vote by 70,000-80,000 votes in three states. That is a razor thin margin that he has already done a great deal to erode. His approval/disapproval gap was zero on the day he was innaugurated, and it has been steadily eroding every since (currently at -17.3 aggregated). I suspect it is near its bottom. After all, even on the day Nixon resigned, he still had the approval of 25% of the population - his "base." So there are some people who will never abandon Trump under any circumstances whatsoever. They will always find a way to excuse/explain/justify his actions and his language. And there are some who will never ever join Trump under any circumstances (I am one of them, for reasons I have outlined elsewhere). But Trump is steadily losing that middle group - the ones who were willing to give him a shot, especially with Clinton as the alternative. They are the ones he is not spending enough time satisfying - and they will be his undoing.

Now we just have to wait 3 years to see if my prediction is correct...

As serpent-head (James Carville) so famously declared - "it's the economy, stupid". That's looking pretty rosy.

[carpedm9587]

In American Politics?!?!?! I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I say!

Perhaps you need a colonic...?

[Cow Poke]

I would agree with both observations - though perhaps for different reasons.

P.S. I HAVE been using the list function, "papa"

Hmmmm, you're not the one I helped with that, Junior?

[carpedm9587]

As serpent-head (James Carville) so famously declared - "it's the economy, stupid". That's looking pretty rosy.

I predict it will not be enough. Trump is laying waste to too many things the middle and left care about (ecology, etc.), and he is not going to be able to deliver on too many things he promised.

Case in point - there is no way Trump is going to revive the coal industry and bring back those jobs. The market has spoken - and is speaking. A few hundred jobs here or there as he (possibly) breathes life into one or two plants - but the evolution to renewables, the low cost of natural gas, and the impact of automation on the coal industry are market forces Trump simply cannot combat. And while he is wasting what little energy he is actually putting on this, other nations are gaining huge leads in the development and manufacturing of renewables, so we will eventually be (already are) buying from them. If Trump had half a brain, he'd go to those places decimated by the loss of coal jobs and seek to entice renewable industries into those areas, putting them on the forefront and back on a path of sustainability. But he is too locked into his "good old days" and promising what people want - a return to what was. I predict it will be his undoing.

[Cow Poke]

Perhaps you need a colonic...?

Naw, I'm a regular guy!

[Cow Poke]

I would agree with both observations - though perhaps for different reasons.

P.S. I HAVE been using the list function, "papa"

[EM](I need to figure out how to use the LIST tag - I don't think I'm doing it right...)[/EM]

Silly question, perhaps, but are you editing in "advanced" mode?

Clicking "Go Advanced" in the bottom right....

• Allows you to type stuff
• And make your list
• then you highlight that whole block of text
• And click on the list (or bullet) icon

1. Allows you to type stuff
2. And make your list
3. Then you highlight that whole block of text
4. And click on the list (or bullet) icon

But I taught you!

[carpedm9587]

Hmmmm, you're not the one I helped with that, Junior?

Yes - I am. Just pointing out that I have used it fairly regularly since you taught me...

[Cow Poke]

I predict it will not be enough. Trump is laying waste to too many things the middle and left care about (ecology, etc.), and he is not going to be able to deliver on too many things he promised.

Case in point - there is no way Trump is going to revive the coal industry and bring back those jobs. The market has spoken - and is speaking. A few hundred jobs here or there as he (possibly) breathes life into one or two plants - but the evolution to renewables, the low cost of natural gas, and the impact of automation on the coal industry are market forces Trump simply cannot combat. And while he is wasting what little energy he is actually putting on this, other nations are gaining huge leads in the development and manufacturing of renewables, so we will eventually be (already are) buying from them. If Trump had half a brain, he'd go to those places decimated by the loss of coal jobs and seek to entice renewable industries into those areas, putting them on the forefront and back on a path of sustainability. But he is too locked into his "good old days" and promising what people want - a return to what was. I predict it will be his undoing.

Six months is an eternity in politics. we have a couple years, yet.

[carpedm9587]

Naw, I'm a regular guy!

TMI...

[Cow Poke]

Yes - I am. Just pointing out that I have used it fairly regularly since you taught me...

Gorsh - you say the sweetest things!