New Dem Proposed Policies- the Good, The Bad But Fixable, The Ugly

Should the Electoral College be abolished

  • Yes - Good Idea

    Votes: 10 55.6%

  • Yes - Bad but fixable

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • No - Ugly idea

    Votes: 4 22.2%

  • I don't know - need more info

    Votes: 3 16.7%
  • Total voters
    18
TGHusker

TGHusker

New member
Now that Dems have control of the House and now that the Dem primary season is upon us, we  are hearing of new policy positions that are being proposed by House members and by candidates.

Some proposals deserve consideration and thoughtful debate, others not so much.   So, I though we could use a tread to discuss new policy proposals as they occur.  I've created a poll to discuss a few

that I've heard of recently.  I suspect that since there are sooooooo many Dem candidates, we will see more ideas thrown out (mud against wall theory) so that a particular candidate can differentiate themselves from the crowd.  Some will be worth considering, some bad- in their present  form but redeemable with tweaking, and some really ugly.  

Changing the voting age to 16    --  (no poll for this one as the poll only allows for 3 questions) This goes in to my 'ugly' category.  I have to agree wt the GOP on this one - this is  a vote grab by Dems on impressionable young skulls of mush (yes - stolen from Rush).  I'm not willing to have my well thought out vote countered by someone who is more concerned wt how many 'likes' they have or whether their acne med is really working.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-rejects-democratic-push-to-let-16-year-olds-vote

The Democratic-led House on Thursday turned down a proposal to let 16-year-olds vote in federal elections, which Republicans said is a plot to put more Democrats in office.

 
Almost every Republican and nearly half of the Democrats voted against the amendment from Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and it failed 126-305.

During debate on the idea, Pressley argued Congress needs to lower the voting age so "young people can have a say in federal elections."
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Adopt the Green New Deal   This deserves a thread of its own.    I will say this idea in principle is good but so much of what has been proposed is not doable financially, some of it is alarmest while some of it can be good in generating new industries, employment and opportunities to improve society.  Every 'Big Idea" has seeds of good fruit and seeds of weeds that need to be worked out.  So, I say this is Bad (in present form) but fixable - mainly because we do need to do a better job globally (not just the USA). 

Increasing the number of supreme court justices  ---    This goes into my  Bad but fixable category.     I don't believe we should increase the # of SC justices - especially for political reasons. I do, however, believe there should be term limits of 20 years - spanning 2.5 full term presidencies for all federal judges and also a age limitation of 80 years old.  We shouldn't be wondering if Judge Ruth G is going to hold on or not. If the Dems win in 2020 will Clarence Thomas be compelled to hold on until a Rep is elected  to the WH.  The term limits are long enough so that the justice isn't moved by trendy social changes but short enough to allow culture to change as it should- slowly. 

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/2020-democrats-supreme-court-1223625 

After watching Mitch McConnell transform the judiciary over the past four years, liberals are demanding a bold response. And Democrats are listening.

Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand told POLITICO they would not rule out expanding the Supreme Court if elected president, showcasing a new level of interest in the Democratic field on an issue that has until recently remained on the fringes of debate. The surprising openness from White House hopefuls along with other prominent Senate Democrats to making sweeping changes — from adding seats to the high court to imposing term limits on judges and more — comes as the party is eager to chip away at the GOP’s growing advantage in the courts.

“We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court,” Harris (D-Calif.) said. “We have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that.”

Expanding the Supreme Court would amount to a historic power play by the next Democratic president and Congress, requiring an intense legislative fight and the abandonment of many judicial and congressional norms.
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Abolishing the Electoral College -   I get the desire behind this - GOP won in 2000 & 2016 due to the electoral college and not because of the popular vote. More states a moving towards pledging their electors totally to the popular vote winner.  Smaller states argue that they will loose their voice if the electoral college is abandoned.  Others say, the popular vote is the only true democratic vote. 

To me this is a toss up- I can't make up my mind on this at this time.  Coming from a small state I still like the idea that our voice is 'heard' via the EC. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-to-know-about-the-electoral-college-and-why-some-democrats-want-to-end-it/

Two Democrats running for the nation's highest office want to revolutionize the way the U.S. elects its presidents — they're calling for the abolition of the Electoral College. Since 2000, the Democratic Party has seen two of its candidates win the popular vote, only to lose the electoral vote and the White House.  Now, Pete Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, both of whom are running to unseat President Trump in 2020, want to see an end to the Electoral College. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke said Tuesday he sees "a lot of wisdom" in the idea.

"I believe we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted," Warren said at a CNN town hall on Monday. "We can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College."
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Wouldnt fixing gerrymandering mean that a persons vote can actually count?  

Blow up the EC.  My vote shouldnt count for less because I happen ro live in a highly populated area. 

 
Gerrymandering is bad, but how does it effect the Presidential election?  The EC votes go to the popular vote of the state, not by congressional districts....Right?

 
funhusker said:
Gerrymandering is bad, but how does it effect the Presidential election?  The EC votes go to the popular vote of the state, not by congressional districts....Right?
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In most states yes but in Nebraska it does go by district. I'm pretty sure Wisconsin recently passed legislation to divide their EC votes up like Nebraska(and Maine) does. Wisconsin made a huge difference in the 2016 election if I remember correctly. Popular vote was for Clinton but EC votes went to Trump.

 
TGHusker said:
Changing the voting age to 16    --  (no poll for this one as the poll only allows for 3 questions) This goes in to my 'ugly' category.  I have to agree wt the GOP on this one - this is  a vote grab by Dems on impressionable young skulls of mush (yes - stolen from Rush).  I'm not willing to have my well thought out vote countered by someone who is more concerned wt how many 'likes' they have or whether their acne med is really working.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-rejects-democratic-push-to-let-16-year-olds-vote
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This is the main one that just makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I have taught for 19 years and I have seen 16 year olds up close for many years. They are absolutely not ready to make a choice like this yet. I know that there are immature, uninformed people of all ages but I just think this would be a terrible idea. Most 16 year olds are struggling with who they are going to prom with and other high school related issues. This would lead to politics bleeding in to high schools all over the nation and lead to a lot of teachers sharing their opinions more with students. I can't speak for all schools, but our teachers all do a great job of teaching kids about politics rather than trying to teach them about which party they are in favor of. 

 
SandhillshuskerW said:
This is the main one that just makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I have taught for 19 years and I have seen 16 year olds up close for many years. They are absolutely not ready to make a choice like this yet. I know that there are immature, uninformed people of all ages but I just think this would be a terrible idea. Most 16 year olds are struggling with who they are going to prom with and other high school related issues. This would lead to politics bleeding in to high schools all over the nation and lead to a lot of teachers sharing their opinions more with students. I can't speak for all schools, but our teachers all do a great job of teaching kids about politics rather than trying to teach them about which party they are in favor of. 
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I think most people can agree with this, I know I do. 

 
Nebfanatic said:
In most states yes but in Nebraska it does go by district. I'm pretty sure Wisconsin recently passed legislation to divide their EC votes up like Nebraska(and Maine) does. Wisconsin made a huge difference in the 2016 election if I remember correctly. Popular vote was for Clinton but EC votes went to Trump.
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In Wisconsin, Trump had 1.4 million votes to Clintons 1.38 million.

 
SandhillshuskerW said:
This is the main one that just makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I have taught for 19 years and I have seen 16 year olds up close for many years. They are absolutely not ready to make a choice like this yet. I know that there are immature, uninformed people of all ages but I just think this would be a terrible idea. Most 16 year olds are struggling with who they are going to prom with and other high school related issues. This would lead to politics bleeding in to high schools all over the nation and lead to a lot of teachers sharing their opinions more with students. I can't speak for all schools, but our teachers all do a great job of teaching kids about politics rather than trying to teach them about which party they are in favor of. 
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This was already bad enough in 2016.

 
SandhillshuskerW said:
Like I said, I can't speak for all schools, but the schools that I have been involved with have always done a great job of staying unbiased when it comes to politics.
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I was talking more about our students.  I don't know how many times I had to break up conversations/arguments....

We even had parents accuse our school of "brainwashing" because students watch CNN Student News.

 
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