Comments on: The limit I place on your yammering

By: curtis m goodnight

curtis m goodnight — Fri, 08 May 2020 02:23:01 +0000

what i have been posting : yeah- i am very bummed. And no- i don’t think it was a rigged game- more like a systemic flaw that keeps allowing huge influence by corporate and tycoon wealth. But here’s the deal- we have pushed the Dems left- the discussions re Green New Deal, M4A, income inequality, voter suppression would not have happened without Bernie rallying so many to the cause. …..There is a lot of nuanced stuff to unwind- Unions afraid their own golden health plans would be jeporadized , youth apathy, middle class anxiety over tax increases , the old “estate tax BS” etc. Remember- we a trying to undo multiple decades of hate talk radio and now Qanon and whatever bots are all over the net- the only party that speaks to our commonalities is the Dems….to sit this out is to give power to those that bully and harass any they deem “different” , who deny the science of climate crisis and who are tearing apart every single protection we or nature or the environment has enjoyed….please- vote Blue – all the way down…..

By: Bernard J.

Bernard J. — Wed, 06 May 2020 08:24:32 +0000

In reply to dean.

It’s not perfect, but Australia doesn’t let that be the enemy of the good. And I say this as a voter whose preferences have suffered under the system. Yes, I’d like it better, but I’d rather have this than most other countries’ systems.

The other point is that we have the capacity, albeit one with inertia, to review and update if there is a perceived need:

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/CIB/cib9899/99cib10

By: doug

doug — Tue, 05 May 2020 19:05:15 +0000

another person saying much the same thing http://enoughalreadynow.com/with-sanders-warren-ridin-with-biden-heres-what-progressives-can-do-who-arent/

By: dean

dean — Tue, 05 May 2020 17:07:20 +0000

Unless I’m wrong, Australia’s ranked voting system fails both the Condorcet criterion and the Monotonicity criterion.

By: RickA

RickA — Tue, 05 May 2020 16:03:22 +0000

In reply to Bernard J..

I totally agree with what Greg is saying – but would say it differently.

Each state has its own election for the national office of President. So the rank choice would only apply within a single state as to President.

Senator and Representative are not national, but are really state offices at the Federal level.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 05 May 2020 15:28:58 +0000

In reply to Bernard J..

I agree, but there is this one problem…

We don’t have a national election. There is no vote taken in the US for a national office, so there is no possibility of a national ranked choice vote.

By: Bernard J.

Bernard J. — Tue, 05 May 2020 14:53:07 +0000

US American really needs to get with the plan that Australia has, and instigate nation-wide preferential (ranked) voting. A whole lot of pain suddenly goes away, and people can vote with their conscience as well as with strategy. And it’s effectly valid multiple voting – anyone’s nuts to turn down that opportunity. All the better if it’s partial preferential, so that whiners can’t complain about being forced to vote for people they don’t like.

Election funding… well, you know what’s in that can of maggots.

And then do something about the outright propagandistic lying in campaigns. A real democracy shouldn’t need the ruinous landscape of propaganda and deception that characterises the US scene – it should be able to function on truth and rational debate and the capacity of informed voters to make a reasoned decision. Oh yes, I know “but Republicans”, but a system that is so warped by deception isn’t really a democracy, it’s a charade in which the populace gets to participate as extras… if they so choose.

Oh, and that reminds me – mandatory voting hasn’t yet killed or maimed any Australians…