4 ms·
Fair enough, the electoral college is a step between the President and the people. But even with the electoral college, you're talking about a huge number of pe
by clucas 4y ago
Fair enough, the electoral college is a step between the President and the people. But even with the electoral college, you're talking about a huge number of people overriding the will of a slightly larger huge number of people, you're not talking about tyranny.
As to your broader point about how people don't know about the nuanced issues... you are 100% correct, there probably weren't a whole lot of people who understood the details behind this Act when it was passed, and there a probably not a whole lot of people who understand it now.
But if there are issues that matter, and truly do harm us as a society... you write news articles, or blogs, or substacks about it, and you try to convince voters that it is an issue, and you encourage them to write to their congressional rep and senator, and explain why the law is bad. You don't need to pay high-priced lobbyists to do this stuff. Make a good case, and try to get people to do something. If it's really an issue (i.e. if it affects enough people a little bit, or affects a few people a lot), it will get fixed.
This constant harping on how you don't have any say in the government is learned helplessness, and the political apathy it breeds is far worse than any of the problems it purportedly identifies.
- metadat 4y agoDo you have any specific real-life cases where the write-in-by-mail worked out? In my experience, my elected officials beyond the county-level don't care much about slightly murky "little people" issues (such as OPs) unless bad PR threats loom immediately visible.
- clucas 4y agoObviously I can't speak to your specific county-level issues... I will say, if you can make a case for why something is bad, and you can get some of your neighbors on board with you, you should absolutely go to a county commissioner's meeting (or whatever type of meeting your county has) and make a case. Showing up in person and saying "I'm getting screwed by this thing you're doing" absolutely will make an impact. On the larger scale: there are tons of examples, but here's a recent one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
- usrn 4y agoI write my representatives. The federal ones tend to be pretty worthless but the state level ones listen.
- mistermann 4y agoThe truth value of your narrative is hardly factual either, I think this is yet another topic that everyone can only guess at what is actually going on, as opposed to what is claimed goes on.
- jacquesm 4y ago> The truth value of your narrative is hardly factual either This is probably a new low for HN in terms of gibberish.
- mistermann 4y agoThinking in pejorative memes is becoming very popular on this site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_value https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_value In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth. (Much more at the link) Judging by your about page, you are clearly not a dumb person, and I suspect you are aware of what the term means, yet you call it gibberish. To me, this is fascinating. I look forward to the next instalment in this Hacker News guidelines compliant conversation.