An unnecessary politcal post · 3:07pm Jan 31st, 2014
So, I've been doing some thinking, and I think the reason that the american government is so screwed up right now can be summed up in one word:
Extremists.
Libertarians, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Pro Life, Pro Choice, Fundamentalists, Atheists, LGBTQ supporters, Natural Gender supporters.... no matter what the viewpoint, every individual in congress takes a hard and fast position without willing to listen to the other side. This flat out does not work in a democratic republic like ours; the whole point of congress is checks and balances, compromise, reasonable individuals making reasonable sacrifices for reasonable gains. It wasn't always like this, mind you, but by letting the congressmen draw voting counties for their next election we have allowed society's leaders to grow from intelligent, well spoken individuals to well-spoken individuals that will be heard no matter what over the years.
We are deadlocked. A number of our recent laws are actually negotiated outside the USA simply because we can't decide anything for ourselves anymore.
I for one would like this to change. And in order to change it, I think we need to place the construction of the voting territories outside the control of congress. Now, I'm not entirely sure who should get control of this ability--I want to say Firemen, since they're usually separate from legislative processes and tend to join up because they care about people--and I'm not sure how I'm going to get this idea out.
....any thoughts?
I think that this video describes the problem pretty well.
And personally I think CGPGrey has the best solution.
Ummm... I think I just read "A Look Into Witchcraft" and it was funny and engaging and I'd really like it, "Steel Spirit," and "Pinkie Pie: Psychologest" to continue?
Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a demanding jerk or nothing, I just don't have much of a head for politics and I just sorta randomly felt like complimenting a few of your fics that I really like.
I'd argue that it's not extreme enough: nobody's willing to take moral stands that cost them seats, so our national discussion is generations behind that of other nations.
You're right, but I have no idea how you could find an unbiased agency outside Congress's (and the people who influence congress, your aforementioned extremitsts) reach.
I considered some sort of combination of Census data and city planning information, but... that just moves the influence from congress to the executive branch
There must be some sort of mathematical way of distri–
1778595
...yeah that works
Well, politicians like extremists. They tend to act on emotion and are easy to pander to. Politicians, for the most part, do not give a dam about abortion, gay rights, or any of that other stuff. They just want the easy votes that supporting one group or the other will give them. They also don't want to ever fix any of these issues as they serve as a great distraction. People might figure out both parties are totally corrupt, if they didn't keep the people divided and fighting with each other over this stuff.
Congress has no control over districting.
That said, states do, and when a state ends up under total control of one party, said party proceeds to Gerrymander the house districts to ensure they remain safe.
Getting rid of extremism would require a multi-pronged approach; you'd need to abolish redistricting, you'd probably want completely open primaries, you'd want to control campaign finance to reduce the influence of business & rich donors & free Congresspeople to spend less time fundraising, and then you'd want to curtail your 501(c) groups and their ilk, especially the 501c4s in particular.
That'd be a good start, at least.
1779199 See? Easy!
1779538
Oh, if only it were so simple as pointing it out
More CPG Grey solutions:
Into the actual politics. Just to let you know. I vote primarily democratic, but don't particularly like some aspects that they have. I agree somewhat with republican economics, but not their social policies or "top down wealth" thinking (The moderates are usually pretty good at making harder choices and running the financials of the govt more or less as a "successful" company). There actually is a non major party that has these views, but because of the electoral college, and even further regular non ranked voting, I throw my vote away if I vote for them. This helps extremist candidates win and blocks other parties from gaining office. This, frankly, needs to be fixed. that, or move away from the "republic" political system and using more ballot measures that citizens directly vote on. This would be a big help for social political issues like he usual, Gay marriage, abortion rights, etc and fairly peacefully and with finality, close those issues from the political arguments so we can focus on things like the economy and not screwing the country with future debt. Oh, and deliberation in govt instead of debate would also help tremendously. just saying.
If anyone wants to have political discussion or just corrections, I would very much like to hear them and maybe learn something!
Tripartisanism and a six-year triumvirate executive system that cycles a new triumvirate/president every two years.
Crisis (hypothetically) resolved.
My thoughts:
If one side tries to compromise and the other side says "my way or nothing gets done," the stubborn side is the extremist. No matter how loudly the stubborn side proclaims that they want to compromise, no matter how many talking heads repeat those words, they're still the stubborn side and still the extremist.
That being said, an extremist side is not necessarily wrong. If you want to kill me, and I refuse, and you say, "can I please just kill you a little?" you're wrong. And if you offer the compromise of breaking my leg or cutting off an arm or even putting out your cigarette on my arm, my refusal and stubbornness are right. I want to be extremely alive....