Looks like Biden’s gonna win. Pennsylvania is going his way, his lead in Nevada is expanding, Arizona now looking good, he even has a small cushion in Georgia, etc.
Key question is how long will it take for Trump to admit defeat? I don’t think he will. Hence the importance of Republicans to stand up and tell him it is over.
The Amish are heterogenous.
There are progressives and strict traditionalists. I am aware that among the progressives many things including voting are permitted but under the strict traditionalists this is often considered a violation of the congregation's ordnung.
Quoting from the Wikipedia article linked below:
Because the Amish have no central church government, each assembly is
autonomous and is its own governing authority. Thus, every local church
maintains an individual set of rules, adhering to its own Ordnung, which
may vary from district to district as each community administers its
own guidelines.
You conveniently ignored the fact that the quotation which you quoted implied that there are congregations which do not allow it to be an individual decision. The quote alleged that "most congregations" allow individual decisions but that means that there are some who do not allow it.
And yet they all manage to pay income taxes.
That is completely different from a situation in which the population of the rural communities are hopelessly outnumbered by the metropolitan communities. That is not the result of opinions or philosophies.
It is the overwhelming size of the population of the metropolitan regions which "for all intents and purposes" renders the votes of the rural communities irrelevant.
You continue to make this fallacious argument. The same can be said of any minority group. Should we give extra votes to green party supporters since they're an even smaller group than rural voters? And Trump received 70 million votes, that's hardly irrelevant.
The same can be said of any minority group
Many who are not members of ethnic minorities support the rights of those minorities and are opposed to passing laws which coerce them. Do you support making English an official language and making it mandatory that all business be conducted in English? You want to make voting mandatory!
I am opposed to making English an official language because although English is my first language and although the MAJORITY of Americans speak English unlike you I don't believe that it is right for the majority to trample on the minority.
unlike you I don't believe that it is right for the majority to trample on the minority.
I guess this ends our discussion.
This is probably a bit like how Puerto Rico and Washington DC feel... but they have a legitimate beef. Rural residents don’t really have the same gripe—they have voting rights as well as governmental representation.
They are still expressing an opinion, the opinion that none of the proposed candidates is who they want to lead.
They still have to actually make a conscious decision rather than just ignoring the entire proceedings.
I can get on board with compelling people to pay attention to and be a part of the democratic process, but not with forcing them to choose from a list of defined candidates.
As it is, the main job of each party is to convince/excite their supporters enough to bother making the effort to vote ("get out the vote" efforts). If that effort is mandatory, then the dynamics of campaigning completely changes.
It forces people to turn in a ballot, but it doesn't force them to think about anything. If people don't care, they'll turn in an empty ballot - or worse, fill it out randomly. You can still ignore it. I don't see how that's any different than the way it is. You can also express an opinion by not voting at all. Maybe that means the non-voters can't be analyzed to the same degree as if they were forced to vote, but it seems to me like otherwise the outcome wouldn't be that different.
The data I've seen on Australia had a 6% spoilt ballot rate. A 94% turnout in the US would be unprecedented. Even this election with the huge turn out is only projected to be 66%.
I expect most people in the US who don't vote are simply not bothering to vote. It's not some massive protest.
I wasn't suggesting that low voter turnout was protest. Maybe compulsory voting would fix a lot of problems in the US. I haven't really done much research. But there are almost as many countries that have repealed mandatory voting as there are countries that currently have it. And nearly double the number that actually enforce it. Simply making it easier for people to vote seems like a good way to start. Register eligible citizens automatically instead of just waiting for them to register on their own. Make it so people don't have to take time off to get to a polling station or pay postage to mail in ballots. I agree that changes need to be made.
I may be wrong, but Australia (and most of the world) seems to be a country of more rational people than the United States is right now. By and large, Americans hate being told what to do. I mean we're having protests over wearing masks? So I could see a lot of pushback in the form of protests or spoiled votes if mandatory voting was instituted here. Maybe I'm wrong.
Historically, there have been two parties in Puerto Rico. One is pro-Statehood and the other one is not. My understanding is that there is a third position this year.
I would be in favor of PR either becoming a state or becoming an independent nation. I don't like the status quo.
DC should never have been allowed to become a place for permanent residence by non-governmental workers. But, what is, IS.
DC was created so that no state would have control over the capital. It used to be larger than it now is because the southern part of what was DC is now part of Virginia.
DC should become another state and make DC the very small capital area separate from it. Lots of reasons why that would be a good thing.
Yep - In Aus voting is mandatory. The penalty for failure to vote varies by state and type of election. From $20 to $150.
Whether you cast a valid ballot and put it in the box is up to the individual. But we are required to make a mark either by registered post or in person.
Personally I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. There have been some elections where I've been highly motivated over issues. Other times it's seemed a choice of what colour beige I prefer and have found lining up for it somewhat onerous. But our politics as a whole isn't nearly as devisive.
If the residential area was separated from the governmental area, that might just work, although making the residential area into a part of Maryland might be more efficient.
DC statehood would add two Democratic senators to help balance an unrepresentative Senate.
:)
'Shut the F*** up and vote' will be a slogan in the next election.
Biden's lead has expanded in Pennsylvania and Georgia, holding steady in Arizona and Nevada. Races haven't been called yet by CNN, but this one is basically over. Biden's gonna win. Just a matter of finding out when it all becomes official.
The key thing to look for is whether Biden can escape the automatic recount zone in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Odds are good he will in Pennsylvania. Georgia, we'll see. But yeah, Biden's basically got this.
Yeah, the electoral college is highly controversial. I'm glad it's going to pull through for Biden, but there needs to be a serious discussion about getting rid of it. Sadly, I don't think that's going to happen.
Hilarious and on point.
