Yes AND...
I'm standing over here with @rbreich wAiTiNg for the editorials to tell #Republicans they need to choose a non- #felon non- #Election interference candidate
1/ Okay, while the Trump verdict has been very riveting, I'd like to talk about failure states in democracies for a bit.
Any stable democracy needs peaceful transfers of power. If a ruling government loses in an election and thus loses power, they are free to moan about it - but in the end, they should leave office without violence because (unless they screwed up bigly) they realize that they will likely return to power one day. They are invested in the system, and do not want to overthrow the basic democratic order of their country - because it works for them.
Thus, a country needs multiple parties with an investment in democracy, who are willing to form a government - but who are also willing to leave peacefully. If this is not the case, then the democracy in question is in a failure state.
An good (or rather, very very bad) example of a "proportional representation" democracy in a failure state was the late Weimar Republic. Starting in 1932, the NSDAP (Nazis) and the KDP (Communists) received a majority of the vote and thus representatives. Both wanted to overthrow the Republic and its democracy in its own way, and thus it became impossible to form a democratic government - let alone switch between different ones. But the Weimar Republic had problems in this regard even earlier, since there were numerous miniscule parties with only a very small number of candidates. They only cared about a small number of issues, had no motivation to compromise, and thus were not willing to join a working government.
3/ Meanwhile, First Past the Post voting systems - as seen in the #USA and the #UK - massively favor a two-party system. That means that if one of the parties is no longer committed to the democratic order of the nation, its democracy automatically enters a failure state - as there can no longer be a peaceful transfer of power. If there's one party which is willing to overthrow the democratic order of the country when they get into power - as the Nazis did during the Weimar Republic - then they must not attain power, or else it's game over for democracy.
But then the other party - which is (hopefully) still committed to democracy - must not lose power, because then it's game over for democracy. But when one party has to be constantly in power in order to save democracy, then a peaceful transfer of power is no longer possible! Thus, this democracy has entered a failure state. It is inevitable that frustration with a particular government will grow over time, yet this frustration cannot find release because the government must not be voted out of office if democracy is to survive.
Thus, the only way for democracy to survive if the not-democratic party either reforms itself or is displaced by a new party - and the latter is extremely difficult to pull off under a FPtP voting system, since such voting systems massively discourage first parties.
Jenna Ellis: “Guilty, Your Honor!
Kenneth Cheseboro… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Sydney Powell: “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Michael Cohen: “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Allen Weiselberg… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Rick Gates: “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Paul Manafort… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
George Papadopoulis… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Roger Stone… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Michael Flynn… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
George Nader… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Elliot Broidy… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Steve Brannon… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Chris Collins… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Sam Patten: “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Imaaz Zuberi… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
The Trump Corp., “Guilty Your Honor!”
Trump Payroll Corp. “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Trump Foundation: “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Trump University: “Guilty, Your Honor!”
DONALD TRUMP… “Guilty, Your Honor!”
Republicans are the largest criminal organization in the US, as they work to seize control over our government and turn it into a Theo fascist, Christo fascist, white nationalist crime org. #election#vote
Update: Florida was one of four states with a lifetime ban, the others being Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia. On November 6, 2018, 65% of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, which automatically restores the voting rights of people convicted of a felony—except murder or sexual offenses—after the completion of their sentences.
The Labour Party, selecting General Election candidates, should be wary of ignoring the voters of 2019 - 10,295,912 who voted Labour, “for the many, not the few.” The House of Commons arithmetic disguises the fact that more people voted against Conservatives than for them. If the party does not welcome Corbyn or Abbott, how much of a home will it be for the voters it needs? Please don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, the UK needs change! #ukpolitics#labour#KierStarmer#DianeAbbott
@MadeyeTheCarnaptious Democracy is a pretty slippery term, but a voting system which puts the power of elective dictatorship into the hands of a party which doesn’t even achieve a majority of votes cast does nothing but deepen a sense of alienation and distrust. #UK#Election#FPTP
If you ignore the blathering, low-bandwidth CNN host, and focus only on Dr. Lightman in this video, you'll get:
a) a persuasive, nuanced argument in support of the proposition that #Biden is indeed in the driver's seat in this #election, regardless of the latest Poll Freakout of the Day;
b) a viable model for predicting presidential popular vote outcomes accurately (which Lightman has done 10x in a row).
Don't get me started on the Electoral College. Different topic.
Israeli war cabinet minister #BennyGantz's #centrist party has proposed holding a vote to dissolve #parliament in a bid to bring about an early #election, his party said in a statement on Thurs.
Importantly, it touches not just on the value of the presence of #information from from election campaigns, it reflects on the (negative) value of the absence of information.
"[T]he US government is...trying to break up #Google, the largest #tech#company in the history of the world, and there has been virtually no press about it.
" #Biden's comms team isn't bragging about the administration's accomplishments, because the senior partners in this coalition oppose those accomplishments. They don't want to win an #election based on the promise to prosecute an anti-corporate revolution, because they are counter-revolutionaries."
As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to jobs and religion, the residents of a tiny, ecologically sensitive island have only one concern: Survival. As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to...
The African National Congress appeared on course to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, partial results from South Africa's national election showed, in what would be the most dramatic political shift since the end of apartheid....
The early results declared in South Africa’s election suggest the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time in 30 years. With results in from 13% of polling stations at 10 a.m. local time, support for the ANC stood at 42.5%....
For Ghoramara islanders, India election is about climate change and survival (www.reuters.com)
As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to jobs and religion, the residents of a tiny, ecologically sensitive island have only one concern: Survival. As voters across India cast their ballots in the general election on issues ranging from the cost of living to...
South Africa election: ANC seen losing majority, DA and Zuma's party performing well (www.reuters.com)
The African National Congress appeared on course to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, partial results from South Africa's national election showed, in what would be the most dramatic political shift since the end of apartheid....
First results in South Africa’s election suggest it is heading for biggest political shift since apartheid | CNN (edition.cnn.com)
The early results declared in South Africa’s election suggest the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time in 30 years. With results in from 13% of polling stations at 10 a.m. local time, support for the ANC stood at 42.5%....