Making Washington DC a State

[Egomaniac]

Our election system is just fine right now. It's been fine for decades.

Your election system is fucking garbage.

The Electoral College is fucked.
Gerrymandering is fucked.

[beanman12345]

Your election system is fucking garbage.

The Electoral College is fucked.
Gerrymandering is fucked.

That's not what he's talking about, he's talking against trumplican lies that the election was stolen and massive fraud via mail ins and dominion and stopping and starting counts and all that bullshit.

[Stormdash]

I think a good argument can be made that any legislation that "redraws" the federal district to just the very buildings occupied by the government would, by operation of law, be a retrocession of the rest of the land to Maryland. Which is the only option that there even should be for DC to become a state, and would still also require the creation of a new federal district to which to relocate the seat of government.

[Egomaniac]

That's not what he's talking about, he's talking against trumplican lies that the election was stolen and massive fraud via mail ins and dominion and stopping and starting counts and all that bullshit.

But that's not the whole election system.

Getting registered to vote is part of the election system.
Gerrymandering is part of the election system.
The electoral college is part of the election system.
Early voting is part of the election system.
People having to wait in lines for hours in order to cast their vote is part of the election system.

It's great that there was no fraud found in the election itself...but that does not mean the entire system is fine.

[beanman12345]

But that's not the whole election system.

Getting registered to vote is part of the election system.
Gerrymandering is part of the election system.
The electoral college is part of the election system.
Early voting is part of the election system.
People having to wait in lines for hours in order to cast their vote is part of the election system.

It's great that there was no fraud found in the election itself...but that does not mean the entire system is fine.

Right, it was a miscommunication. That's why he clarified.

[Egomaniac]

Right, it was a miscommunication. That's why he clarified.

I see that now. I didn't see it when I replied.

[beanman12345]

I see that now. I didn't see it when I replied.

I do like the meme though made me chuckle.

[Ivanstone]

It's great that there was no fraud found in the election itself...

There's this gem from 2018:
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/74680...e-ballot-fraud

Wouldn't be too shocked if overturned a couple of stones and found more GOP voter fraud.

[Kathranis]

Or at the very least, swap terms lengths between the two branches of congress.

Fuck no. Six years for House members? They already barely need to be qualified to get elected, and often enough not even that if they run unopposed in their district.

[Ivanstone]

Fuck no. Six years for House members? They already barely need to be qualified to get elected, and often enough not even that if they run unopposed in their district.

Two year terms are still problematic though. You spend a fair bit of time fundraising and then you have to run two elections: primary and general. Its a lot of wasted time.

[Kathranis]

Two year terms are still problematic though. You spend a fair bit of time fundraising and then you have to run two elections: primary and general. Its a lot of wasted time.

So reform how they run and finance campaigns. And prevent redistricting while they're at it.

[beanman12345]

Two year terms are still problematic though. You spend a fair bit of time fundraising and then you have to run two elections: primary and general. Its a lot of wasted time.

That's actually an argument for term limits.

[Gestopft]

That's actually an argument for term limits.

How so? /10char

[Antiganon]

Our election system is just fine right now. It's been fine for decades.

Campaign finance law is definitively NOT fine, nor is the complete lack of enforcement mechanism given how utterly powerless the FEC has shown itself to be over the past 4 years.

Edit: Caught up now, I see this has been addressed.

IMO, you fix elections in this country with a few changes:

1. Campaign finance reform. Constitutional amendment overturning Citizen's United. I wouldn't go as far as to have it be only public money (who decides which candidates are viable enough to get the public money? If there are 100 Presidential candidates from extremely fringe parties, does everybody get 1% of the Presidential Campaign Fund that I just had the IRS deposit $6 into?), but I would limit the corporate donations to the same dollar amount as individual donations, and I would HEAVILY regulate PACs, making them outright illegal if possible.

2. Election modernization. This does not mean electronic voting. It means clear and consistent procedures across all 50 states, with mail-in voting, early in-person voting, and election day voting all the norm. It means all ballots should be the same - a piece of paper with the candidate's names, fill in the bubble for your chosen candidate. It means there should be X number of polling places per 10,000 residents within Y square miles, nationwide.

3. Lobbying restrictions. Make it illegal for former Representatives and Senators (and Cabinet officials, for that matter) to work in industries they regulated for a period of 10 years after their term.

[beanman12345]

How so? /10char

I'll let the guys literally advocating for term limits explain why, because they can better than I can. article is a few years old, but nothings really changed in this regard in the last 4 years.

https://www.termlimits.com/congress-...sing-priority/

Not saying I subscribe to the idea of term limits for congress, I think there are a lot of good reasons why there shouldn't be, but phone banking is one why there should. US government is a special kind of fucked up. I really don't know what the answer is tbh. But something has to give because what we have now, it just doesn't work as intended.

[Gestopft]

I'll let the guys literally advocating for term limits explain why, because they can better than I can. article is a few years old, but nothings really changed in this regard in the last 4 years.

https://www.termlimits.com/congress-...sing-priority/

Not saying I subscribe to the idea of term limits for congress, I think there are a lot of good reasons why there shouldn't be, but phone banking is one why there should. US government is a special kind of fucked up. I really don't know what the answer is tbh. But something has to give because what we have now, it just doesn't work as intended.

To me that seems like something that campaign finance reform is way, waaaaaaay more likely to fix than term limits.

[Shadowferal]

That's actually an argument for term limits.

Sounds more an argument for campaign finance reform.

[cubby]

I do like the meme though made me chuckle.

Agreed - great meme. Nice one @Egomaniac.

- - - Updated - - -

Campaign finance law is definitively NOT fine, nor is the complete lack of enforcement mechanism given how utterly powerless the FEC has shown itself to be over the past 4 years.

Edit: Caught up now, I see this has been addressed.

IMO, you fix elections in this country with a few changes:

1. Campaign finance reform. Constitutional amendment overturning Citizen's United. I wouldn't go as far as to have it be only public money (who decides which candidates are viable enough to get the public money? If there are 100 Presidential candidates from extremely fringe parties, does everybody get 1% of the Presidential Campaign Fund that I just had the IRS deposit $6 into?), but I would limit the corporate donations to the same dollar amount as individual donations, and I would HEAVILY regulate PACs, making them outright illegal if possible.

2. Election modernization. This does not mean electronic voting. It means clear and consistent procedures across all 50 states, with mail-in voting, early in-person voting, and election day voting all the norm. It means all ballots should be the same - a piece of paper with the candidate's names, fill in the bubble for your chosen candidate. It means there should be X number of polling places per 10,000 residents within Y square miles, nationwide.

3. Lobbying restrictions. Make it illegal for former Representatives and Senators (and Cabinet officials, for that matter) to work in industries they regulated for a period of 10 years after their term.

Yep, agreed. I was speaking to only the security of our election, but obviously I could have been MUCH clearer.

One issue with your #2, however, is that elections are run by the states, and changing that would be a constitutional move.

[zEmini]

Would DC have a Governor, Major and/or Commissioner at the same time?

[Machismo]

Would DC have a Governor, Major and/or Commissioner at the same time?

States have governors, mayors, and commisioners.

That would be up to the state of Washington DC.