Originally Posted by woj (Post 21309484)

you bring up a good point about the fact that many people end up not voting in states that are way blue or way red... deciding winner by popular vote would solve that problem, but at the same time it would concentrate all the political power in a few major cities, leaving rural areas and smaller states practically powerless...

so it's debatable which way is better, but if it worked fine for few hundred years, why change it now? Isn't a good rule of thumb "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Isn't the main reason why there is drama is because Hillary won popular vote? what if election results were reversed, would you still think it's a good idea, or would you lean towards keeping what worked for few hundred years as is?



yea, you are right, I looked at it wrong, Ohio did indeed in a way decide the election... :thumbsup

Originally Posted by woj (Post 21309484)

you bring up a good point about the fact that many people end up not voting in states that are way blue or way red... deciding winner by popular vote would solve that problem, but at the same time it would concentrate all the political power in a few major cities, leaving rural areas and smaller states practically powerless...

so it's debatable which way is better, but if it worked fine for few hundred years, why change it now? Isn't a good rule of thumb "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Isn't the main reason why there is drama is because Hillary won popular vote? what if election results were reversed, would you still think it's a good idea, or would you lean towards keeping what worked for few hundred years as is?



yea, you are right, I looked at it wrong, Ohio did indeed in a way decide the election... :thumbsup

Originally Posted by BlackCrayon (Post 21309505)

worked fine according to who? how can you tell? since there are no parallel universes where the opposite outcome happened that you can spy on, you'll never know if the country would be better for it or not without trying it.

Originally Posted by woj (Post 21309544)

US started with nothing and became, and still is, a dominant world power in just about every sense: economic, military, overall influence, one of the highest standards of living in the world, etc, so I think it's pretty fair to describe the political system in the US as "worked fine"...

it perhaps stagnated a bit last few decades, reasons for that are complex, but that has nothing to do at all with the way presidential elections are held... so I don't see any good reason why the way president is elected should be changed...

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn (Post 21309007)

^^gracias for this

I honestly feel like I'm living in some weird parallel universe these days, one where grown adults find it acceptable to rant/debase/insult/threaten peeps who have the temerity to be and think, gasp, different from themselves

I really don't spend that much time online except to work. I check in here and a couple other forums, perform the bare minimum of social media to keep my name/biz out there but fuck me the internet is a really cruel space I try to avoid. I prefer the real world where at least the people I interact with have to look into my eyes and see a human being there, and vice versa.

It's much more difficult to tear a person apart (note, not impossible, just more difficult) when they are right in front of you; the 'social isolation' inherent to the net absolutely brings out our worst human tendencies because this. the same principle is at play in road rage.

social media exacerbates and reproduces these divisions of position and perspective. the content each of us see is filtered by these private/for profit corporations to pertain to our underlying values/views, as determined by computer algorithyms.

the end result is people who share a community, share a nation, share a fucking planet we all rely upon, aren't encouraged to recognize this. being bellicose and selfish and cruel is seen as strength.

social media and the internet also perform useful, constructive roles (providing a voice to peeps who have not historically had a global platform, as a tool for sharing knowledge and ideas) so I'm not dismissing it out of hand. my point is that the internet is a tool, nothing more. it's not actual life.

this tool is currently being used by private interests to divide us, both to ensure the stability of the current system and equally importantly, to sell us shit

there's no god out there that cares about it. humanity and our planet are mere specks in a universe that really has no interest in our wellbeing. the only beings that care about us are us. and this is how we treat each other.

it's fucking insane and nobody wins

Originally Posted by Bladewire (Post 21309046)

Well said! :thumbsup

Ever notice how when you're in public these tensions don't exist face to face with everyday people you don't know personally?

It's important to remember that while grunts beat their chest, they don't have the intelect, tools, or will, to be divided, they just want to be acknowledged incessantly.

Originally Posted by Bladewire (Post 21309583)

I hate to inform you but the standard of life / quality of living is better in every other western country but America.

I.E. when I lived in Australia 7 years ago the national minimum wage was about $10 an hour, now it's $17.70 an hour minimum. Minimum weekly pay is $672.70 or $2,691 a month.

When I lived there every average older person I knew owned a home and a rental property, this was on the Gold Coast.

The public school my son went to had on site dentist building and nurses building. Flat tax for citizens no IRS bulshit. Puvluc healthcare for everyone and unemployment, etc.

So America being a "dominant world power" has got us what? AND we're squeezing our citizens to death financially and giving a crappier than crap quality of life for most full of stress and anxiety for things as simple as healthcare & childcare.

Originally Posted by bronco67 (Post 21309607)

How about the weird parallel universe where an internet troll is our new president? That's right. He qualifies as an internet troll.

Originally Posted by Google Expert (Post 21306805)

http://c2n.me/3Eut9hw.png

Trump's right, you know.

Originally Posted by BlackCrayon (Post 21308848)

you're either a democrat or republican....

Originally Posted by Rochard (Post 21309991)

Not really. I am not a Democrat and I've voted Republican before in the past. I vote for the person, not what one party or the other tells me to vote.

Originally Posted by Rochard (Post 21309991)

Not really. I am not a Democrat and I've voted Republican before in the past. I vote for the person, not what one party or the other tells me to vote.