Honestly? I kind of agree.
It sucks, but part of the problem American's have, and have had for ages, is the mentality that "I have mine, so I don't care what others need". A lot of older people on medicare vote versus expansions to medicare because as long as THEIR medicare service isn't impacted, why add new people to the plan?
Abolish it, and watch how fast a lot of those same people go scrambling for M4A.
Given that I live in a.) Arizona and b.) a 55+ Mobile Home Community, you're right on both accounts.
Just waiting for Joe Rogan to go "You know what? Fuck'em all. I'm voting Trump and you should too!" to complete this shit storm.
While I agree that Election Day should be a holiday, that is still not an excuse. My dad was a construction worker. He had a 45+ minute drive home from work. After a day of back-breaking work and a long drive home, he still went to stand in line to vote. Because voting was that important to him. Your barista is just apathetic and/or lazy.
....did your dad have to drive 2 hours to stand in line for 5? Because that story keeps happening.
People have different levels of tolerance and drive. It's a bit much to call someone lazy and/or apathetic if they can't vote, for whatever reason.
Did your dad stand in line for 5+ hours? Does he also have to take care of children? Does he have to worry about day care? A sick mom? Does he even have a car? Can he drive / bike / walk two hours to the nearest open polling station? My barista was a simple hypothetical, but I should have been more clear that not going to vote after a long day of work isn't always just because of "laziness". Everything can stack on you and prevent you from making that push.
Real talk here, but even with all my discussion in this thread, I didn't vote in the primary yesterday.
Not from lack of wanting to, I found myself missing early voting due to work and planned to just take time off to put in my vote on Super Tuesday. This last Sunday my son came down with a fever of 103.6 and had to stay home, vomiting, unable to eat, until just this morning. My wife is paid by the patient, and couldn't afford to miss work, and my mother in her 70s, freaked out by the coronavirus, was not going to take him. I was also not going to drag him, still burning up and upset, in the car out to a polling place just so I could cast a vote. It was not in my control by that point. Fate stacked on me and I had no options that were acceptable to me.
If the day was a paid holiday, it wouldn't even really help me, since I am self-employed and my wife is only paid by the number of sessions she can handle as a therapist, but I know it would help a lot of other people, so that's okay with me.
And yet, most of the menial jobs that exist don't close on holidays, so what would it really solve? The people who would get off would probably be a lot of people who don't actually need it to be a holiday. I think it would be better to extend the voting period than still keeping it to one day.
This could be solved by simply holding the vote over two days, rather then one. Start on a weekend like Sunday, then have Monday as the voting holiday. This would allow people to split shifts between the two days and companies wouldn't find themselves without anyone to work on those days. We really don't need to rush it in a single day, and I never really understood why we do.
I see you added an edit towards that...
Why not both? The point is to get as many people to the polls as possible. While the people that "don't need the holiday" might be substantial, there are still going to be some that really could use it, either due to lack of PTO or other factors. We really don't need to pick one or the other.
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Did I happen to mention that I already voted?
And that the Arizona (Democratic) Primary is on the 17th?
Have a two-three week open voting period, with a signature required on the back of the ballot. If you have a mailing address and are registered, you get a ballot. Can't get to the polling location? Drop it in the mailbox. On Election Day, everyone who prefers to vote in person can do so. At 8:00 PM local time, polls close and they start counting the votes.
And that the Arizona (Democratic) Primary is on the 17th?
Have a two-three week open voting period, with a signature required on the back of the ballot. If you have a mailing address and are registered, you get a ballot. Can't get to the polling location? Drop it in the mailbox. On Election Day, everyone who prefers to vote in person can do so. At 8:00 PM local time, polls close and they start counting the votes.
On the one hand - sure. On the other hand - there were literally hundreds of thousands votes "lost" to Klobuchar, Buttigieg and even perhaps Yang or Steyer because of the duration of voting.
Of course, I think the whole 8-months-long primary system needs a good old kick in the nuts, but I'm not an American :-P
Of course, I think the whole 8-months-long primary system needs a good old kick in the nuts, but I'm not an American :-P
Your butwhatabouts do not explain the widespread problem of young people not getting off their asses to go vote. Not every region has polling screw-ups that have 5 hour lines. Not every polling place is a 2 hour drive away from everyone's house. Not everyone has a sick kid on election day. And those problems DO NOT target only young people. If there is a problem with polling, then it affects all ages in that district equally. Blue collar and service industry workers have been dragging their tired asses to polling places for decades. You would think a twentysomething person would have more energy to go to vote than a middle-aged person (who is also more likely to have children to deal with), but apparently not.
Thirty-nine states have Early Voting (some by mail), which is available to all ages. While there are instances like yours where life screws up both opportunities for in-person voting, that is not a widespread problem that explains why young people don't vote.
"Low tolerance and drive" is still not an excuse, because that's what is going to get us another four years of Trump. Fuck those lazy kids, they should be crawling to the voting booth on hands and knees if they're too tired to walk, because they're going to have to live with the consequences of Trump screwing up the planet the longest.
Preach it!
When my step son and his wife were living with us, they were like most young people: Super vocal about how fucked up politics were. We lived in an area that was very 'swing'...there was one election near us called by coin toss because it was a dead tie.
I impressed upon them how critical their votes were because of it. That, unlike say in Texas, their votes might actually matter because of how close the races are here. No matter which side of the fence they fell on, their vote would have an impact.
Our polling place was a literal 1 minute drive or 7 minute walk from the house.
On voting day, when I got home from work, I'd asked both of them if they'd voted. Of course, they hadn't.
When my step son and his wife were living with us, they were like most young people: Super vocal about how fucked up politics were. We lived in an area that was very 'swing'...there was one election near us called by coin toss because it was a dead tie.
I impressed upon them how critical their votes were because of it. That, unlike say in Texas, their votes might actually matter because of how close the races are here. No matter which side of the fence they fell on, their vote would have an impact.
Our polling place was a literal 1 minute drive or 7 minute walk from the house.
On voting day, when I got home from work, I'd asked both of them if they'd voted. Of course, they hadn't.
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In Belgium, you're legally obligated to vote, or to have a doctor's note saying you're too ill to go out. Voting's always on a weekend day to allow people to vote, and those who have to work can vote by proxy.
It's not a perfect system, and tends to favor extreme anti-parties, but at least there's a lot less disenfranchisement. Also, politicians don't get a say in districtapportioning, so gerrymandering is pretty limited, too.
It's not a perfect system, and tends to favor extreme anti-parties, but at least there's a lot less disenfranchisement. Also, politicians don't get a say in districtapportioning, so gerrymandering is pretty limited, too.
I've noticed that no candidate ever courts the ADHD voter, for what I assume are self-evident reasons.
--Patrick
Honestly, I think Hillary screwed her over by proxy here. By and large she felt like the most balanced candidate between the various democratic extremes, but people are too scared a woman can't beat Trump that they felt they had to gravitate towards Bernie or Biden. I honestly think Warren would have eviscerated Trump in the debates.
Of this I have no doubt. But FWIW I feel like people consider her and her ideas as "too radical" ... yes, even compared to Bernie.
Plus there's the more likely reason that the people involved don't want to be told what to do by a woman (gasp!), and Warren very much comes across as a woman who will frequently be demanding and not back down about it, and that makes all the old, powerful White men's weiners shrink in horror.
--Patrick
Gross, don't say that even ironically....And Warren is out. That leaves only three candidates. Go Tulsi!
In a way, sure. But in theory, if you're trying to make a unifying broad coalition ticket, it'd be even more logical to make her Biden's VP (and take over 2 years in when he steps down for health reasons). Sanders/Warren may increase Bernie's reach amongst women, but won't help much for the black vote, or for the older/more conservative side of voters.
They're a good pair, but both North East liberals. Usually running mates are strategically best to be from big states that need the push. I dunno, we will see.
I'm afraid it'll bump into the main problem Bernie has: his revolutionary, uncompromising style. Sanders/Klobuchar might make a good combination, or Sanders/Harris... But I don't think he'd like either.
Yeah, i dont know anyone who would be the perfect running mate for Bernie.
I think Stacey Abrams would be an interesting VP choice.