Election

[Tituba]

What is the word for a fear of facist, racist, or Hitler?

[inspiresuccess]

What is the word for a fear of facist, racist, or Hitler?

Good question, Tituba. New words are created over time to reflect our current society like...selfie.

By the end of 4 years, I'm afraid there's going to be a new word in the dictionary call trumpophobia, referring to someone who fears the kind of person Trump represents.

[inspiresuccess]

Okay, I read it. Got it. I'll not mention the subject in public.

I didn't realize what you were referring to here. I thought you were referring to bathroom humor!

[inspiresuccess]

My one vote in California was one of the over 1 million votes for Hillary Clinton that didn't "count" because of the Electoral College. Two ways have been suggested to make sure the "one person, one vote" concept actually works. The first is a constitutional amendment presented by my Senator, Barbara Boxer. The other one is a state by state process that would get around the Electoral College and make everyone's vote count:

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

[jcjm]

The electoral collage comes up whenever the electoral vote and the popular vote don't match up.

The system was set up for a good reason, so that the large cities couldn't control the election. Back then it was New York and a few others, now its New York, Chicago and LA. These 3 cities could cancel out a lot of the rest of the country.

I think the electoral college does a good job of not letting small parcels of land (the cities) dictate what the rest of the country does and for that reason I am for it.

In the words of one of the talking heads on cable news comparing it to baseball, its not how many hits you get but how many runs you get. Teams get more hits all the time and lose to a team that gets a home run. I think we are more use to it in baseball because it happens more often.

As far as the election itself, it was going to be crap no matter who won. With things so polarized the loser was inevitably going to cry foul, no matter who won. This can be seen by the protests going on. They are doing exactly what they were saying the opposition would do WHEN they lost. Protest, riot, make excuses, say the electoral vote is wrong and should be changed, nit picking appointments.

What happened to

when they go low we go high

I guess that just is something said when you're ahead in the polls.

It seems to me that both parties are the same. They both want to tax and spend, the only difference is WHO they tax and WHAT they spend on

[SquarePeg]

I agree, jcjm.

One theme in this election was the idea of rejuvenating our nation's cities. Seems to me it might be a good idea to let the cities control the election since they have so much riding on it.

[inspiresuccess]

The man who initiated the Electoral petition for Hillary Clinton is moving forward with his work. Here's the current link:

https://www.change.org/p/electoral-coll ... dium=email

[inspiresuccess]

Barbara Sher encourages us to rant when we need to. She suggests that we express our anger, our sadness, feel sorry for ourselves, express and feel whatever we're feeling and get it all out in a great big rant. Then she says after you have your great big rant, GET ON WITH THE WORK OF MOVING TOWARDS YOUR GOALS.

So, it's fine to rant here and share any negative feelings we have about this whole political situation. But once we have a good rant, let's take Barbara's advice and take action.

We all have choices to make. The question is not just what we think and feel. The big question is WHAT ARE We GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? What steps are we personally going to take to make the situation better?

As a member of LWV (League of Women Voters) we are doubling our efforts to fight voter suppression to make sure every person has the opportunity to vote. That means doubling down on the Republican attempts to prevent people from voting, especially minorities.

As a Democrat, we are taking a huge step back to see where we've failed on a national level and how we can take back control of some of the state legislatures where we have a chance of regaining control.

We can complain, be negative, and do nothing or we can be active, move forward, and make a difference.

We can be whiny, grouchy and glum or we can keep our sense of humor and be as light as possible in dealing with a dark situation.

The big question here is...WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO ABOUT IT?

[jcjm]

One theme in this election was the idea of rejuvenating our nation's cities. Seems to me it might be a good idea to let the cities control the election since they have so much riding on it.

Are you suggesting we take our lead from the places that have the highest murder rates, drug use, crime, etc. because they know how to fix things? Surely, I am misunderstanding this.

[SquarePeg]

No, what I'm suggesting is that the votes of those who live in the cities should no longer be diluted by the votes of rural Americans.

[SquarePeg]

I'd be in favor of a petition to switch from the electoral college to a one citizen one vote system if it weren't retroactive. Ignoring the votes of the electoral college for the Clinton/Trump election is changing the rules after the fact. It's like changing the scoring in football after a game is played so that every score is only 1 point: touchdown, extra point, safety, etc. The team that won with two touchdowns would become the loser if its opponent scored three field goals.

[jcjm]

I'm fine with the electoral college.

If you change that you may as well change the Senate. Why let Rhode Island have 2 Senators when California only gets 2?

The founding fathers were really pretty smart. They wanted every state to be represented and through the Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court and President, they were able to put in place a set of checks and balances that has carried on for over 200 years.

Changing just one part of it would disrupt the balance. Sometimes (a very few times) the popular vote is different than the electoral vote, but changing the whole 3 part system (executive, legislative, judicial) for an occasional anomaly is overkill. Especially when the founding fathers put it in place for just that reason, to keep one group in one city from dictating what goes on in the entire country.

[SquarePeg]

I'm fine with the electoral college.

If you change that you may as well change the Senate. Why let Rhode Island have 2 Senators when California only gets 2? -snip-

That "inequity" is offset by the make up of the House of Representatives, as you know.

[jcjm]

That "inequity" is offset by the make up of the House of Representatives, as you know.

I don't get it. If the House, Senate, and Judicial branch are OK, why change the President?

To me its like taking a cookie recipe and saying I'm going to keep everything the same except delete one of the ingredients. Might be great, but more likely will taste like crap. Believe me we did it (by mistake) once and even the dog wouldn't eat the cookies.

The whole 3 part government works together, when you change one and not the others, it will create an imbalance in the others.

Trump and the Republicans will have about a year to make their changes and if the people don't like them, there will be the off year elections in 2018 where they can vote for members of the House and Senate to offset the Presidency and then the Presidency again in 2020. So, as a condolence, Trump really only has about 1 year, before the wheels of change can start to block him.

Remember not all Republicans are his fans either. In fact I think things didn't turn out as planned for the Republicans either. I think the House and Senate went Republican because the Republicans thought Hillary was going to win and they wanted some leverage against a Democratic President. I believe there are many Republicans who would have been just as happy if Hillary had won as long as the Senate and House were Republican. Then they could have put up one of the not so successful Republican Candidates of 2016 in 2020 for President.

[SquarePeg]

I agree with your last two paragraphs. But I thought Congressional elections occurred in even-numbered years only. Senators get elected to six-year terms; Representatives to two-year terms.

But there are those from Congress who are being appointed to various agencies in the new administration. Those few vacancies are likely be filled in next year's election.