dagblog - Comments for "Appomattox"

I thought of you using the

artappraiser — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 23:21:26 +0000

In reply to We make this myth that the US

I thought of you using the example of California when I just now saw this tea-leaf reading piece

NEWS THIS MORNING THAT GOLDMAN SACHS may move its asset management division from New York City to Florida got us thinking about the major political shift that will come after this year's census. The winners in the 2024 election - and in upcoming congressional redistricting - will be Texas and Florida; a high-profile loser will be California....

It really got me thinking that most of the arguments on this thread are very much passe, history themselves.

The only constant we have right now is massive change.

If one is going to use a historic analogy, try early 1869, a new President Grant is going to be inaugurated in March. What happens next? That's really where we are...

Not unless that Rhode Island

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 19:25:21 +0000

In reply to We make this myth that the US

Not unless that Rhode Island bunch had a modified AR-15 to 2nd Amendment their asses. Different ways to compromise. ("in all the excitement of signing the Constitution, i forgot - did i fire the whole clip or just half. Make my day, punk...")

We make this myth that the US

ocean-kat — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 19:03:54 +0000

In reply to They could even it up

We make this myth that the US constitution was the greatest document in history and a template for all other democracies going forward when it was the result of tough compromises that weren't liked but accepted as the only choice. The population difference in the 13 colonies was not that great. Except for Virginia most of the states were relatively close. Virginia had about 10 times the population of the smallest state and they bit the bullet to get the constitution passed. It was a tough fight that Virginia didn't like but they gave in to get the 13 colonies to unite That wouldn't have happened if Virginia had 80 times a populated as California is today compared to the least populated state.

One person, one vote for

rmrd0000 — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 18:17:06 +0000

In reply to They could even it up

One person, one vote for President.

They could even it up

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 17:59:00 +0000

In reply to The electoral college is the

They could even it up tomorrow and we'd figure out a way to lose by Thursday. We are not winning at state level. GOP and Dems both have 6 low population states with 3 or 4 electoral votes. The biggest issue is California, which at 55 dwarfs the next state, so should have an extra pair of Senators. Maybe New York with it's 29. But the GOP has Texas with 38. That's about it; the rest is based on apportioned representatives. Guess the founding fathers didn't anticipate huge unoccupied stats, but they basically average out. But they did anticipate the urban/rural divide, and decided not to let the cities overdominate. But I still figure we need to be more persuasive while getting laws enforced.

USA Today has an article

rmrd0000 — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 17:39:11 +0000

In reply to Appomattox

USA Today has an article about the ongoing crap thought about Slavery and Civil Rights in high school classes. This leads to resistance to accepting new data when it is presented.

The same forces that took over public spaces to erect monuments to the Confederacy and its white supremacist tenets also kept a tight grip on the history taught to Southern pupils. The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) spent decades shaping and reshaping textbooks to put a strong emphasis on Lost Cause views of the Civil War and Reconstruction, which glorified the white supremacist foundations of the Confederacy and was used to justify segregation and authoritarian Jim Crow governance.

“With all the attention they received in terms of reference to the monuments, I think their most lasting impact was in controlling and censoring textbooks,” said Kevin Levin, a historian who has written on the Civil War in American memory. “That’s often overlooked.”

But Black Southerners refused to accept these distortions. Black historians mounted challenges to Lost Cause mythology as early as 1913. Parents and grandparents pushed back against the school lessons given to their children. They passed family stories onto children and grandchildren. They took ordinary moments, like preparing food or fixing hair, to tell stories of Black achievement.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/12/07/southern-history-textbooks-long-history-deception/3809954001/

The electoral college is the

rmrd0000 — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 17:33:56 +0000

In reply to It still bothers me we write

The electoral college is the problem.

Each state has two Senators.

Let the entire voting public decide the President.

Otherwise, the future could be repeated Republican Presidents who lost the popular vote.

It still bothers me we write

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 17:24:47 +0000

In reply to We have to look at history to

It still bothers me we write off these "disproportionate" states, though we have enough tiny ones as well - Delaware, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island... And the states we're really talking about are the bigger ones we're halfway there on.

Biden flipped Arizona and Georgia. North Carolina was very close (with Michigan & PA tight the other way). Biden was competitive in Texas. Florida is a mystery soup still to be deciphered - every single time. Iowa's within striking distance, Ohio a bit further.

The electoral college is not a problem. Voter disenfranchisement is. Messaging and the acceptance of pure disinfo/false facts are the biggest challenge, but we still haven't decided whether we want these voters, or we just call them deplorable a and pursue GOTV with our split progressive<=>left-centrist base. Lincoln Project showed some fun side, but is that enough? And how about engaging at state level, cuz that's where federal candidates come from usually...

We have to look at history to

rmrd0000 — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 16:51:44 +0000

In reply to Thanks for the book reviews.

We have to look at history to understand where we are today.

At some point, the fact that a political party wins the majority of votes in a state, but has less seats in the legislature will come to a head.

The same thing will happen at the Presidential level.

People like McConnell actually laugh at the carnage they leave behind.

Thanks for the book reviews.

NCD — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 16:34:52 +0000

In reply to Slave Nation tells us that

Thanks for the book reviews. Both by eminent scholars.

Bottom line, we got the undemocratic obstructing oath defying all powerful Senate, now run by a power obsessed scoundrel elected by 1.2 million rubes, hillbillies, bigots and grifters in a state in the top ten for poverty, and number one for folks on federal disability, BECAUSE the 'Revolution from tyranny' depended on giving the Deep South not only 3/5 slave count power in the House, but the obstruction power of 2 senators for each slave state, done regardless of population.