While we do #Denmark #Danmark #USA #Greenland #Arctic drama, don't forget the #Inuit, the people who live there

@su_liam @grumble209 @benroyce @TCatInReality @Pepijn

To be fair to them, they were writing the constitution more than a century before Duverger was born. What's our excuse?

I think the US sucks at reforming its constitution because its ppl have been persuaded that it's weird or wrong to be into politics. Now that politics is becoming literally and violently fatal to even quite privileged people in the US, I'm optimistic that this blasé attitude will change.

@grumble209 @benroyce @TCatInReality @eswag @Pepijn The fact that “shitty Democrats”generally comes down to stay-the-course, “don’t change nothing,” while the best Republicans are “let’s take down everything good,” but draw the line at “burn the Constitution,” and actual Republican candidates are, “Burn It All: we have an edifice of shit to build!”
Such a hard choice.

@benroyce @grumble209 @TCatInReality @eswag @Pepijn Choose the lesser evil until you can primary something good in. If you can’t even win a primary, what do you think is gonna happen in the general?
If you’re incredibly lucky, you lose and get the lesser evil. If not, you lose and eat shit.

@davevolek @eswag @Pepijn

dave that's awesome but:

*how* do you implement it

and in that answer is everything i am talking about

@benroyce @TCatInReality @grumble209 @eswag @Pepijn The key is to not forget, and keep working to make things better.
I mean, that’s what she’s saying…

@su_liam @TCatInReality @grumble209 @eswag @Pepijn

right

and notice how the entitled twist it to justify their complacency by not voting

maddening

@theothersimo @Pepijn

that's funny because the "i'm not voting" validation performances are the gleeful ego masturbation in question here

the most important thing for the entitled nonvoter is their self-regard. it isn't making a difference

if somehow their demands before they show up and vote are met they still won't vote. they will find some other reason not to vote

because *that* is the point for them: their high holy purity self-regard song and dance

you don't see how toxic nonvoters are

@benroyce @su_liam @TCatInReality @grumble209 @eswag @Pepijn I just saw the video of the ICE agent shooting a mother of three at point blank range. I think that's a pretty good way to put it to people: if you'd shown up to vote for Harris, this woman in Minneapolis would be alive with her kids today. How about that for a difference between the candidates.

@benroyce @theothersimo @Pepijn I am growing more and more angry at nonvoters and other both-sides-ing people. They’re a big part of why things have gotten so bad.

I’m still here on Mastodon because I believe in the potential of this platform, but we have bad actors here just like all the other platforms. That’s a strike against it.

@mister_shade02X2 @theothersimo @Pepijn

you could be like me. i pick at this infuriating scab of mindless cynicism and toxic idealism entitled do-nothing nonvoters and never fucking shut up about it until they all block me, so i never see their comments

but i know they are there

hopefully i serve as a counterbalance of reason and sanity in a sea of useless whiners

@eswag @benroyce @Pepijn

Many good concerns.

The TDG has similarities with the Soviet system. But the Soviets had one political party, which required an adherance to certain ideology---and eventually worship of its leader. That leader rigged elections to keep him in power. The TDG will cast aside those with power accumulation instincts.

Most of the TDG representatives would be volunteers, maybe a small "per meeting" pay. They would have regular jobs.

1/2

@eswag @benroyce @Pepijn

The first members would be the first TDG builders. But the goal of each TDG would be to eventually have all neighbors voting.

Initially, the TDG will be mostly about its own self-governance, while learning the skills for TDG goverance. In the early stages, the TDG does not have the skills to handle societal issues. That will come later.

The TDG is about building a new political culture: deliberately and consciously.

@mister_shade02X2 @benroyce @theothersimo @Pepijn The good thing about Mastodon is that it's not "a" platform, thanks to federation. Anyone can spin up an instance so yeah, some arseholes will spin up Nazi bars and some badly moderated instances attract the worst people. But that's GOOD. You can block entire instances and curate your experience to make sure your exposure to them is kept to a minimum. That's not to say it's easy and there isn't still a lot of room for improvement.

@benroyce @eswag @Pepijn

Chapter 6 is how a society moves from western democracy to TDG. It will be about a 10-to-20 year process. There are new things we have to learn.

Not the answer you are looking for.

I am not a fireman, so I won't spend too much time to fix the current broken system. I'm more like a fire architect, designing system to reduce fires.

We can build the TDG during times of an oligarchy, which is plausible these days.

@elasticsoul @Pepijn @benroyce I’m going to make this even worse: even if you voted AGAINST TFG, you are still responsible for him, his government, and their actions in our name.

#USpol (1/3)

We’ve consciously embraced a majoritarian form of government, which specifies that the candidate picked by the most people is OUR president and runs OUR government. Parliamentary systems provide more opportunity for consensus building, and more importantly, votes of no confidence that bring down governments.

#USpol (2/3)

So as American voters, we keep this system in place, and we agree to give whatever bozo wins a majority of voters the keys for four years with no practical recourse (look at the success of any attempt at presidential impeachment and removal that has ever occurred. We’re okay at the impeachment part, but we suck at the removal part.

#USpol (3/3)

@eswag @grumble209 @benroyce @TCatInReality @Pepijn Also, it is genuinely hard and a bit dangerous to alter the Constitution. It has to pass with 2/3 of each chamber of Congress, and ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures.

@eswag @benroyce @TCatInReality @Pepijn Can people who work really hard with two or three side hustles and not spending money on avocado toast and $1000 iPhones become billionaires?

Probably - it's rare, but it can happen. Mostly, this line of rhetoric is made by the assholes at the top to reframe the problem of inequality and lack of social mobility from structural injustice onto personal responsibility. You're not a billionaire because just you're not hustling hard enough.

This is a post about people voting in primaries.

@su_liam @grumble209 @benroyce @TCatInReality @Pepijn

For sure, amending a constitution isn't something you do lightly. I think it should be possible to get an amendment like "corporations are not people, and money is not speech" through without breaking too many eggs.

As for hard, it used to be done with the same thresholds.