Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Nuclear option
With members of congress more polarized than ever, those in congress find solace in power and focus on campaigning for their re election , thus are constantly short sighted vs looking at what is best for our nation long term
When our founding fathers set up our government, they oddly spent time crafting each house and intentionally making the House and Senate different. The House was designed with Representatives to be, "The will of the people". States are allocated a specific number of house seats depending on their population which is frequently updated as is the electoral college based on population.
The Senate was designed differently, more like a big brother to the House, their role was more than just to exercise the will of their constituents and as such have different standards for passing certain laws and or appointments. It is for this reason the Senate only confirms SCOTUS nominees with a 60 vote threshold to push bipartisanship, while in the House a simple majority of the votes can pass a law. (Which then goes to the Senate)
By invoking the "nuclear option" (which has been done before by both parties) the rules of the Senate change to a simple majority 51 votes. The Senate effectively has just become a mirror of the House, the checks and balance of legislative power has vanished and with it the foundation in which our founding fathers set up the Senate.
In this case, using the "nuclear option" to confirm a SCOTUS nominee will be a first and set a precedence as the Senate has no higher duty than to confirm or reject a SCOTUS nominee. One could argue a Nominee in such a position , knowing what chaos is about to ensue would step aside for the good of the country. The only higher responsibility the Senate has would be to remove a sitting president from office after the House has voted for an impeachment.
The short sightedness of this move by republicans could come back to haunt them in just 18 months when democrats will attempt to retake the Senate. If successful, Democrats with 51 votes could stop EVERY SINGLE BILL from reaching the President making Trump not just a lame duck 2 years into his presidency but an incapacitated duck at that.
Trump then would only have Executive Order power which as we have seen, judges are more than happy to intervene if Trump goes too far, further every order could be reversed by a new 2020 president .
Let's hope a few republicans in the Senate see the chaos that will occur and vote NO on Thursday in regards to changing the rules of The Senate.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
China
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Trump
Some food for thought take it or leave it your call... when you review anything you must put yourself in the situation itself ... example
a police shooting you must put yourself in the position of the officer when he decided to shoot and if it was reasonable (this is the legal standard) you CAN NOT Monday morning quarterback it and critique it w the ability to hit pause, rewind and take an hour to review what's really 8 seconds.. you must put yourself in those 8 seconds
with that as a background I bring you back to a discussion from Nov. the ELECTORAL COLLEGE.my points as to why it's not relative in 2017
1. Put yourself (as in police shooting example as to when it was implemented). So let's journey back to 1787... a system a brilliant system was created to ensure people, no matter where you lived, were courted for their votes... but wait in 1787 Women could not vote and blacks were not "people" thus could not vote... so those rural voters needing to be courted were wealthy land and slave owners and white.. on that alone I would argue it has no place in our society today
2. It CAN be manipulated.. if a hack was to manipulate votes (not saying they did) it's far easier to swing a few votes here and there vs the popular vote... it's said 80,000 votes gave Trump the states he needed despite loosing by 3 million votes (no 3 million illegal votes never were cast)
SO here is how you LEGALLY manipulate the electoral college (in this example for democrats) to win the White House EVERY ELECTION LEGALLY... you take 5 Million democrats from Cali and 5 Million voters from NY (leaving enough for Cali and NY to remain BLUE.. you move these 10 Million democrats to Texas in the time frame to legally register to vote as a Texas resident and Tx becomes a blue state... democrats win the White House each time.. after the election these 10 million ppl move back to the respective states...you now have just legally manipulated the electoral college...
its far harder to manipulate the popular vote ...this would take illegal tampering...
take it for what it's worth .. just a different view from someone bored waiting for "Vikings" to come on ...
point is if you are a woman or black, this system was not made to represent you and circumvents one person one vote, and is able to be manipulated... it worked back in the day for what it was designed for.. but don't be fooled that it serves the same purpose today...
today it underminds the one vote per person, all votes are equal notion... yes it really does not even make candidates campaign all over they merely know the swing states, republicans don't waste time and money in Tx as it's in the bag nor in Cali as it's a loss and the opposite is true for democrats
Additionally it's the only position (president) we DONT use the popular vote... the popular vote is the gold standard inside states from state reps to US reps and senators and governors ..
again just a totally different perspective .. this post is so long few will read it but if the President wins the popular vote, they are a president for , of , and by the people... when they loose by 3 million votes but still win... well you see millions marching, protesting ect ...
ok VIKINGS is just about on..