5 ms·

This is fascinating because the effect size is so large and so discontinuous. That the US government has become so detached from actual law enforcement makes m

This is fascinating because the effect size is so large and so discontinuous. That the US government has become so detached from actual law enforcement makes me wonder if there's anyone thinking about reforms to the political system itself. I'm not talking about politically charged stuff like redistricting or ranked choice that just shifts the party in power. I mean ways to create more citizen power over their representatives. What would today's equivalent to "direct election of senators" be?

foota 3y ago
For starters, there's the national popular vote interstate compact, which would remove the influence that district and state boundaries have over the presidential election.
- Fauntleroy 3y ago
  Which will unfortunately never happen due to the machinations of said influence. Ever since the Citizen's United decision we've just been kidding ourselves that normal political action will get us anywhere.
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    If you look at the map below they've made great progress [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Intersta... Assuming all pending states enact the compact then there are only two electoral college votes remaining.
    - foota 3y ago
      I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice. The best chance would be if democrats won the election while losing the popular vote, since that would likely get conservative states on board.
      - whatshisface 3y ago
        It's gone the other way for years and years, so it's not likely to be inverted now.
        foota 3y ago
        It wasn't so long ago that Kerry won the popular vote and lost the (contested) electoral college. The feeling seems to be that there are enough small democratic states that the advantage can go either way.
      - nebula8804 3y ago
        If you look at the map it really drives home how you only need a small collection of purple states to push you over. Imagine if democrats could really push hard and retain solid control over some of these states. It would make this compact foolproof. Imagine if the compact goes into effect but the red states just change their minds and don't enforce the laws on the books. By making it so that these few purple states retain solid blue control, it help preempt this possible last pushback. that would go a long way to changing the landscape. All of a sudden it would finally sweep away all this conservative nonsense by clearly showing that it is not as popular of a position as it seems right now and the current democratic position becomes the base level conservative position. That will be the lasting legacy of this compact I so badly want to see in my lifetime. My hunch is they need to push harder into turning PA solid blue. Maybe AZ long term? Or maybe Iowa. Maybe just pick off the small states like Iowa, NH and include PA and that should be enough votes to solify the compact.
    - aidenn0 3y ago
      Looks like all of the blue states are already in; not sure where the last 2 votes will come from.
      - nebula8804 3y ago
        Changing demographics in some of the purple states that allow democrats to take over state level government and push this compact through.
ender341341 3y ago
I feel like term limits would at least help prevent singular people from staying in power long enough to collect more power. It only really seems controversial with the politicians themselves, everyone else seems to be pretty for it from wherever they are on the aisle from what I've seen.
- kevinmchugh 3y ago
  Wikipedia has a very dire list of consequences of term limits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_the_United_States#Negative_impacts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_the_United_Stat... I'm pretty against them (and not a politician) because it takes power from voters and gives it to unelected party members. Absent term limits, voters can just vote against any politician they feel has served too long.
  - whatshisface 3y ago
    >Term limits have been linked to lower growth in revenues and expenditures.[105] It's always humorous when Wikipedia editorializes. I don't think everyone would agree that this sentence belongs in the negative impacts paragraph. ;-)
    - kevinmchugh 3y ago
      It's interesting that this is all on the "term limits in the US page" and not the general "term limits" page
- deltarholamda 3y ago
  P.J. O'Rourke once quipped about term limits something along the lines of "do you want a dog that knows where all the bones are buried, or a dog that digs up the entire yard?" It seems an easy fix, but like a lot of easy fixes you replace the known problems with unknown problems. Which doesn't mean it's not a good idea per se, but it also doesn't mean it will fix anything. For example, with term limits, it becomes even cheaper to buy a politician than it is now.
- 3y ago
darklycan51 3y ago
Last large company to be broken was in 1982, with Bell System... it's been so long and now they literally own the entirety of government. Microsoft's acquisition of ActBlizzard is a perfect example, while I must have to admit that as a map maker for Warcraft 3 for 20 yers, I am glad that the game is out of Bobby Kotick's hands, and that's my selfish reason to support the acquisition... In reality it's really scary how easily the US accepted it, even worse how they went and threaned Sony when Sony attempted to fight them, lol, it became painfully obvious that senators are basically just talking heads for Microsoft. Now there are documents that they want to acquire Nintendo and Valve... this would legitimately ruin gaming as a whole. And yes I get that there are massive differences between pharma/food companies corruption and tech, but it just shows how much power corporations hold in modern day over modern life, it is scary.
junofan 3y ago
It would have to be something that increases independence from political parties. As it stands, my representative has simply voted in line with the Biden administration’s preference 100% of the time. I haven’t read every bill, but it’s hard to believe that’s what people here would really want.

foota 3y ago

For starters, there's the national popular vote interstate compact, which would remove the influence that district and state boundaries have over the presidential election.

Fauntleroy 3y ago
Which will unfortunately never happen due to the machinations of said influence. Ever since the Citizen's United decision we've just been kidding ourselves that normal political action will get us anywhere.
- nebula8804 3y ago
  If you look at the map below they've made great progress [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Intersta... Assuming all pending states enact the compact then there are only two electoral college votes remaining.
  - foota 3y ago
    I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice. The best chance would be if democrats won the election while losing the popular vote, since that would likely get conservative states on board.
    - whatshisface 3y ago
      It's gone the other way for years and years, so it's not likely to be inverted now.
      - foota 3y ago
        It wasn't so long ago that Kerry won the popular vote and lost the (contested) electoral college. The feeling seems to be that there are enough small democratic states that the advantage can go either way.
    - nebula8804 3y ago
      If you look at the map it really drives home how you only need a small collection of purple states to push you over. Imagine if democrats could really push hard and retain solid control over some of these states. It would make this compact foolproof. Imagine if the compact goes into effect but the red states just change their minds and don't enforce the laws on the books. By making it so that these few purple states retain solid blue control, it help preempt this possible last pushback. that would go a long way to changing the landscape. All of a sudden it would finally sweep away all this conservative nonsense by clearly showing that it is not as popular of a position as it seems right now and the current democratic position becomes the base level conservative position. That will be the lasting legacy of this compact I so badly want to see in my lifetime. My hunch is they need to push harder into turning PA solid blue. Maybe AZ long term? Or maybe Iowa. Maybe just pick off the small states like Iowa, NH and include PA and that should be enough votes to solify the compact.
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    Looks like all of the blue states are already in; not sure where the last 2 votes will come from.
    - nebula8804 3y ago
      Changing demographics in some of the purple states that allow democrats to take over state level government and push this compact through.

ender341341 3y ago

I feel like term limits would at least help prevent singular people from staying in power long enough to collect more power. It only really seems controversial with the politicians themselves, everyone else seems to be pretty for it from wherever they are on the aisle from what I've seen.

kevinmchugh 3y ago
Wikipedia has a very dire list of consequences of term limits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_the_United_States#Negative_impacts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_the_United_Stat... I'm pretty against them (and not a politician) because it takes power from voters and gives it to unelected party members. Absent term limits, voters can just vote against any politician they feel has served too long.
- whatshisface 3y ago
  >Term limits have been linked to lower growth in revenues and expenditures.[105] It's always humorous when Wikipedia editorializes. I don't think everyone would agree that this sentence belongs in the negative impacts paragraph. ;-)
  - kevinmchugh 3y ago
    It's interesting that this is all on the "term limits in the US page" and not the general "term limits" page
deltarholamda 3y ago
P.J. O'Rourke once quipped about term limits something along the lines of "do you want a dog that knows where all the bones are buried, or a dog that digs up the entire yard?" It seems an easy fix, but like a lot of easy fixes you replace the known problems with unknown problems. Which doesn't mean it's not a good idea per se, but it also doesn't mean it will fix anything. For example, with term limits, it becomes even cheaper to buy a politician than it is now.
3y ago

darklycan51 3y ago

Last large company to be broken was in 1982, with Bell System... it's been so long and now they literally own the entirety of government. Microsoft's acquisition of ActBlizzard is a perfect example, while I must have to admit that as a map maker for Warcraft 3 for 20 yers, I am glad that the game is out of Bobby Kotick's hands, and that's my selfish reason to support the acquisition... In reality it's really scary how easily the US accepted it, even worse how they went and threaned Sony when Sony attempted to fight them, lol, it became painfully obvious that senators are basically just talking heads for Microsoft. Now there are documents that they want to acquire Nintendo and Valve... this would legitimately ruin gaming as a whole. And yes I get that there are massive differences between pharma/food companies corruption and tech, but it just shows how much power corporations hold in modern day over modern life, it is scary.

junofan 3y ago

It would have to be something that increases independence from political parties. As it stands, my representative has simply voted in line with the Biden administration’s preference 100% of the time. I haven’t read every bill, but it’s hard to believe that’s what people here would really want.