Don’t know about or give a shit about Carl Bernstein. I find it hard to believe he is the sole barometer for other people’s knowledge though.
Then your ignorance (about this subject) is getting in the way of having an intelligent take. Sorry, but true.
“ Don’t know or give a shit about Carl Bernstein “ This speaks volumes. Probably never heard of a guy named “Woodward” either?
We have numerous parties now that are registered and have websites.....they get no ink. I believe they should have equal debating and air time and I believe money should not be the driving factor for running for office....most of the alternative parties have been around since the 1970s but just have no way to compete because of....money....the big 2.....I don't think it's a stretch to have more choices..to form a party you need a base...they already have these checks and balances in place so it's not like Joe Homeless Nazi is going to run for office
History does not agree with this idea. https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/nation/creative-virtual-party-ideas-for-having-fun-indoors I am sorry, but there is already too much information in the world and no-one can process it efficiently - which is why funnel systems were created before AI - and by definition, a republic is a funnel system for democracy, so having a funnel system for election of the republic representatives is a very reasonable system. We already have access to every piece of junk out there thanks to the web and social platforms - so what you want is already out there, everyone can create a presence for whatever ideas they have. If you want to have meaningful discussions by a large population - you need a way to sift among this junk. The options really are hierarchical funnel systems (like the old Yahoo, for example) and AI (modern day Google). Since AI is very good for very specific problems - but still not really good for everything (as we see from all the stuff that social platforms surface because their AI systems are not good enough yet) - it makes sense to have elections done using a funnel (hierarchical) system. The only thing that makes sense to discuss imho is maybe demanding that the top-level of the funnel is 3, 4 or 5 options instead of 2, but anything over this is an exercise in futility.
how about no more primaries with the addition of ranked choice voting in general election. additionally the two major parties may select 1 official candidate. to make each vote more valuable congressional districts become larger with more representatives to try to eliminate/limit partisan gerrymandering. i would predict coalitions forming to include less of the purity standard by extreme view points in the center candidates and a more diverse party make up. i would venture that newer parties would gain more influence over the original pair?
Well, I can tell you that after feuding with him for awhile, I realized that though we may disagree politically, he at least seems to know the issues. Maybe he doesn't always articulate his stance as well as some, he also is not as trollish and bombastic as some. He also doesn't whine and complain to the mods and try to portray himself as the victim and then suck up to the mods when the Mods try to explain the facts of life and the rules of this board to him. JB also doesn't waste nearly as much of his time on this board as many of us and so he does not seem so concerned about his "message board persona".
I've met @jonnyboy and his family. Very nice guy. He definitely married up. I'm guessing blackmail or maybe a large dowry to his wife's family.
My #1 rule for the phone is, if I don't recognize the #, I don't answer. And my #2 rule is if they don't leave a message, I made the right choice.
Rule #3 If I do happen to answer they need to introduce themselves before asking if they have reached the person they are calling for. If they don’t I will ask who is calling?