By Any Other Name

6 Responses to By Any Other Name

1. Ben Emery says:

   September 5, 2014 at 9:21 pm

   These days when we hear bipartisan coming out of politicians mouths we know we are doubly screwed.

   We need to abolish the two party system along with the electoral college and join the late 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

   Here are two other ways of voting in a democratic republic. Personally I think a new form of democratic governance is on the horizon but I can’t quite wrap my brain around what it will look like yet. The same goes for capitalism but that I am confident it will be cooperative economics and economies along with bio regionalism out of necessity and distrust of large corporations/ institutions.

   IRV- http://www.fairvote.org/reforms/instant-runoff-voting/

   Proportionate Representation- http://www.fairvote.org/reforms/fair-representation-voting/

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2. george rebane says:

   September 6, 2014 at 7:20 am

   With our democratic republic and capitalism are we again following the MO wherein we have reformed/abandoned the process but kept its name. Then when the new process with the old name doesn’t work, we conclude that the old process no longer worked, giving reason to toss out the old name and discredit the old process.

   This has also been the been the MO that invites ever more laws and regulations from ‘productive’ legislatures. Don’t enforce the existing/old laws, then claim that they don’t work, and go on to pass even more laws while leaving the old ones to confuse the new on the books. Everybody wins – everybody except the people who pay the bills.

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3. Ben Emery says:

   September 6, 2014 at 8:04 am

   George,
   Agreed on almost all of your points. The two party electoral college system needs some strict rules in place to secure the people from crony capitalism and corruption. But that has been tried and actually we have been going in reverse for decades now on such attempts since SCOTUS has taken powers upon themselves not granted in the US Constitution. Virtually SCOTUS entire existence for as long as I have been alive or of voting age has been judicial review, which is not one of the powers/ duties outlined in the Constitution.

   As we are seeing around the globe transnational corporations and their front groups such as WTO, World Bank, and IMF(turning a new leaf recently) create these Free Trade Agreements that circumvent democratic governance. The US needs to end the two party tyranny so we can actually try and secure our democratic republic from such corruption.

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   • george rebane says:

     September 6, 2014 at 10:18 am

     As you know Ben, on RR I have long been an advocate of expanding our two party system to four or more parties. We all know that introducing only a third party, on either the Right or Left, won’t do. The tea party or libertarian wing of the Right needs to get together with the socialist or green wing of the Left, and both agree to concurrently enter a major election with the Republicrats.

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     • Greg Goodknight says:

       September 6, 2014 at 3:08 pm

       George, the right wing of the Libertarian Party is already united with the left wing of the Libertarian Party, and they both agree they want everyone to mind their own business.

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4. Ben Emery says:

   September 6, 2014 at 12:36 pm

   George,
   That sounds about right, my guess is you might be a little more of a Republican than I am a Democrat but not by much. If I have any other choice than the big two I go with it for the most part unless I really like a candidate. I have only voted for Democratic Presidential candidates twice in my life and almost Republican Dole in 96 if Nader wasn’t running. I couldn’t stand what Clinton and his brand of Third Way politics did to the Democratic Party. Obama is a Third Way Democrat but didn’t campaign as one in 2008 and that is why I voted for him. By 2010 I was calling for his impeachment of the Nobel Peace recipient for “Crimes Against Peace”.

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