“So what is America after Trump? A nation figuring out how — and whether — to engage and whom to love: the stranger or the self? I know the cynic’s prediction of which we’ll choose, but pure cynicism is boring. I’m rooting for a change but planning for a stasis.”
There is a Christian answer to this question that challenges the notion of the United States being a Christian nation.
Is this a metaphor?
Seventy degree temps in November demands being outdoors.
Three words: Bush v. Gore
Unfortunately, even after all the votes are counted this election will not be over for many more months. The most tragic thing about that is COVID-19 is raging across the country and people, citizens of the United States that POTUS is sworn to protect, are dying.
Is President Trump’s current actions impeachable?
Lessons From The 2020 Election
It should be clear that Democrats need to work on their strategy for Presidential elections. If one is willing to listen to me, I have the following observations.
Simply getting out the vote will not work. It seems the conclusion drawn from 2016 is that Clinton lost because not enough Democrats voted. The thinking is based on the belief there are more Democrats than Republicans in the United States. The problem is, increating vote count only works in a pure democratic nationwide election, aka the popular vote, and we don’t elect Presidents in the United States by popular vote. (The founders feared a pure democracy.)
Republicans have simplified the path to the White House: win rural votes by > 50% margin and if you get 30% of the urban vote, you win, and that strategy aligns to the electoral college. In short, Democrats have to get more rural vote, which leads me to the one overriding fundamental that Democrats have to understand..
Fear of socialism trumps everything else!
People are not really voting on issues, which I think is why polling is not working. People are voting on fear and mostly fear of the other side. The Republican message is simple, Democrats are socialists, socialism = communism = evil = unAmercan, so vote Republican to save America! A significant number of people are convinced they can never vote for a Democrat because that is a vote for Socialism. Add to that another significant number of people, call them evangelicals, who are convinced voting for a Demorat is a vote for killing babys and you have this result. And evangelials equate socialism to atheism which adds another reason why they fear Democrats. Then, sadly, add to the fact that there are too many who fear a vote for a Democrat is a vote for people of color over white people.
If you consider that Republican votes are mostly all about fear of what Democrats will do, I think you see how the Democrat primary and compaigns of 2016 and 2020 make the election strategy for Republicans easy because policies considered to be socialist AND politicians considered to be socialists (Bernie Sanders) dominated the campaigns.
In short, I think Bernie Sanders created a lot of fear among voters AND was a easy target. Even after Biden secured the nomination Republicans simply claimed Sanders would have significant influence over Biden because Democrats do want the Sanders followers support. I think this is true, hard to dispute and personally frustrating to me because Bernie is not even a Democrat!
Why does this matter? It matters because for extremism to be successful it needs an equally extreme opposite. The antidote to extremism is the middle and unfortunately that is shrinking rapidly. I think the only way the middle, call them moderates, can be recovered is via a third party but how we finance and run elections in the United States in the 21st century really makes it impossible for a viable third party.
In summary, fear of socialism trumps everything. It don’t matter whether the Republican candidate is authoritarian, unqualified, and incapable of leading, it only matters that at Democrat doesn’t get power and destroy the country.
Voting on its own doesn’t make progress, minds have to change. And we are way beyond the time when a close election meant anything to those who won because it’s no longer about governing, it’s about ruling.
Looks like a straight ticket, rural versus urban vote outcome to me.
The 7 day average of daily cases of COVID-19 in my county has now passed the rate in April. Not good.
“My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So, then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.”
— John 18:36 The Kingdom New Testament, eBook: A Contemporary Translation by N. T. Wright
We didn’t know that George W. Bush was elected in 2000 until December. Under federal law states have until December 8 to count ballots and settle disputes. CNN
Woke up this morning with the lyrics to California Dreamin' in my head. I’ve never lived in California.
All the leaves are brown (All the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (And the sky is gray)….
Which iPad is right for you? We break it down
I agree with CNN’s high level use cases of each class of iPad in this article. For me, the iPad Mini is most used of the computing devices I own while the iPad Air will be used every work day and whenever I want to use a large screen device.
Today is the first day that I will be using the iPad Air full time in place of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro that it is replacing. Not sure whether I am liking the placement of the Touch ID sensor at the top on the power button. Having been using the iPad Pro 10.5 for three years and using the iPad Mini 5 muscle memory is trained to press my thumb at the bottom of the screen to turn on and unlock the device. I’ve caught myself picking up the Air and putting my thumb were the home button used to be only to realize that does nothing but turn the screen on. No doubt I will re-learn a new behavior, but I can see how Face ID would be a better experience.
“I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions,” he wrote in an 1816 letter addressing what he perceived to be weaknesses in the new government, “but … laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” –Thomas Jefferson
Amy Coney Barrett’s Judicial Philosophy Doesn’t Hold Up to Scrutiny
It seems to me that in order to have progress we need some agreement on what are the big problems. Many people think government itself, it’s very existence, is the big problem, and they equate Democrats with pro government and pro big government. Others see that government as necessary, the problem is that it is not as effective as it should be. These others are Democrats and used to be a good number of Republicans too.
Since October 19 the number of new COVID-19 cases in the county I live in has been in triple digits, which on average had not been the case all summer.
And here is my original home page, complete with an animated GIF.