4 ms·

The problem is that only a certain of percentage of Americans can legally vote, only a percentage of those (50%-60%) will actually vote, and a much smaller perc

The problem is that only a certain of percentage of Americans can legally vote, only a percentage of those (50%-60%) will actually vote, and a much smaller percentage of those will ever vote outside their party line (swing voters). So the percentage of Americans is small, but the impact may be much larger. Or it might be much smaller. Who knows.

IgorPartola 13y ago
Aside: I would vote outside of party lines. However, I am forced to choose a very slightly smaller evil at every turn. Democrats gave me a president that started doing smart things for the economy and rights of minorities, yet brought about drone strikes, codified the Wild West that arose from the Bush era and allowed the NSA to blossom further. The Republicans gave me a non functioning Congress and a presidential candidate unable to pull his head out of his ass. No other party matters unless you live in a specific district where an old time independent is an incumbent.
- bzbarsky 13y ago
  As far as I can tell, Obama has been basically ignoring the economy as much as he can get away with. Especially the parts of it he directly controls, like who's on the Fed's Board of Governors (where it took him a year to get around to even nominating anyone for the two positions that were empty at the start of his first term). As a result, during the most critical part of the recession the FOMC was made up of 5 regional bank presidents and 5 appointed governors, instead of the 7 appointed governors it should have had, and therefore Fed policy was much more strongly biased towards the bank presidents than it should have been. The rest of your analysis is about right, though. > No other party matters And both of the incumbent parties write legislation to make sure it stays that way...

4 ms·

The problem is that only a certain of percentage of Americans can legally vote, only a percentage of those (50%-60%) will actually vote, and a much smaller perc

by rkuykendall-com 13y ago

IgorPartola 13y ago
Aside: I would vote outside of party lines. However, I am forced to choose a very slightly smaller evil at every turn. Democrats gave me a president that started doing smart things for the economy and rights of minorities, yet brought about drone strikes, codified the Wild West that arose from the Bush era and allowed the NSA to blossom further. The Republicans gave me a non functioning Congress and a presidential candidate unable to pull his head out of his ass. No other party matters unless you live in a specific district where an old time independent is an incumbent.
- bzbarsky 13y ago
  As far as I can tell, Obama has been basically ignoring the economy as much as he can get away with. Especially the parts of it he directly controls, like who's on the Fed's Board of Governors (where it took him a year to get around to even nominating anyone for the two positions that were empty at the start of his first term). As a result, during the most critical part of the recession the FOMC was made up of 5 regional bank presidents and 5 appointed governors, instead of the 7 appointed governors it should have had, and therefore Fed policy was much more strongly biased towards the bank presidents than it should have been. The rest of your analysis is about right, though. > No other party matters And both of the incumbent parties write legislation to make sure it stays that way...