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>And how do you plan on getting Congress to agree to use a system in which vast swathes of them will "look like an unelectable crypto-fascist in the eyes of the

>And how do you plan on getting Congress to agree to use a system in which vast swathes of them will "look like an unelectable crypto-fascist in the eyes of the public"? Maybe they'd be forced to do so in order to compete with the new cohort of younger, technology-embracing politicians which will sweep to power on the crest of a wave of louis ck-style "OMG finally someone who understands" sentiment from the reddit generation, bumrushing congress in much the same way that the tea party has done. I fully admit that these ideas are not workable in this form. I'm trying to "dream big." That's why I used the phrase in my imagined utopia.

redrobot5050 15y ago
>bumrushing congress in much the same way that the tea party has done. Let's hope not. The Teaparty congress started going to work on things that didn't serve the tea party, but rather, corporate benefactors. Another example of the big problem being that money == speech.
SoftwareMaven 15y ago
That will never happen because too few of the Reddit generation are willing and/or capable of pulling out their checkbook (err, PayPal account) to cover the cost of that. In fact, too few of them are even willing to show up at the polls (40ish% compared to over 70% for age 55+[1]). Until those change, nobody is getting kicked out by the Reddit generation. [1] http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2010/tables.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p...
- nitrogen 15y ago
  One problem is that the 55+ demographic is able to vote in the civic centers they grew up with. Let us vote from our civic centers (e.g. the net) and we'll do so in much higher numbers. Increasing the barrier to political participation has the effect of excluding all but the highly motivated, thus pushing politics toward extremes.
  - LeafStorm 15y ago
    > One problem is that the 55+ demographic is able to vote in the civic centers they grew up with. You didn't go to high school or the library growing up?
    - nitrogen 15y ago
      Sure, but they were far from being a place I'd like to revisit, especially not on election day. The Internet is the community commons of today just as much as a library or city building was 30-40 years ago.
      - noahth 15y ago
        Are you really saying that high school was so bad you'd rather not vote than go back there for an hour or 3?
        drivingmenuts 15y ago
        High school, for me, is 3+ hours away. And yes, I'd rather never revisit that place again.
        nitrogen 15y ago
        Absolutely. Try growing up as a geek in a semi-suburbanized farming community (though things have changed since then).
        noahth 15y ago
        If you want to play this game: try growing up as a liberal, atheist geek from out of town in a rural bible-belt town of ~7,000. Then, try becoming an adult and getting over it so that you can perform your civic duty.
  - CWuestefeld 15y ago
    The important barrier to (effective) participation is not the drive to an inconvenient polling location. The barrier is learning about the candidates and the issues, and enough background to fit all the pieces together. That is, making an optimal choice for your vote is an extremely expensive undertaking. Thus, relatively few people do it well.

redrobot5050 15y ago

>bumrushing congress in much the same way that the tea party has done. Let's hope not. The Teaparty congress started going to work on things that didn't serve the tea party, but rather, corporate benefactors. Another example of the big problem being that money == speech.

SoftwareMaven 15y ago

That will never happen because too few of the Reddit generation are willing and/or capable of pulling out their checkbook (err, PayPal account) to cover the cost of that. In fact, too few of them are even willing to show up at the polls (40ish% compared to over 70% for age 55+[1]). Until those change, nobody is getting kicked out by the Reddit generation. [1] http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2010/tables.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p...

nitrogen 15y ago
One problem is that the 55+ demographic is able to vote in the civic centers they grew up with. Let us vote from our civic centers (e.g. the net) and we'll do so in much higher numbers. Increasing the barrier to political participation has the effect of excluding all but the highly motivated, thus pushing politics toward extremes.
- LeafStorm 15y ago
  > One problem is that the 55+ demographic is able to vote in the civic centers they grew up with. You didn't go to high school or the library growing up?
  - nitrogen 15y ago
    Sure, but they were far from being a place I'd like to revisit, especially not on election day. The Internet is the community commons of today just as much as a library or city building was 30-40 years ago.
    - noahth 15y ago
      Are you really saying that high school was so bad you'd rather not vote than go back there for an hour or 3?
      - drivingmenuts 15y ago
        High school, for me, is 3+ hours away. And yes, I'd rather never revisit that place again.
      - nitrogen 15y ago
        Absolutely. Try growing up as a geek in a semi-suburbanized farming community (though things have changed since then).
        noahth 15y ago
        If you want to play this game: try growing up as a liberal, atheist geek from out of town in a rural bible-belt town of ~7,000. Then, try becoming an adult and getting over it so that you can perform your civic duty.
- CWuestefeld 15y ago
  The important barrier to (effective) participation is not the drive to an inconvenient polling location. The barrier is learning about the candidates and the issues, and enough background to fit all the pieces together. That is, making an optimal choice for your vote is an extremely expensive undertaking. Thus, relatively few people do it well.