FROM 2012 INTO 2013 POLITICS THREAD

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

If your party is facing long-term losses, you can focus your efforts on how to appeal to the emerging population. Or, you can try to stack the deck in your favor.


The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson County), said he wants to give smaller communities a bigger voice. “The last election, constituents were concerned that it didn’t matter what they did, that more densely populated areas were going to outvote them,” he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-in-virginia-other-states-seeking-electoral-college-changes/2013/01/24/430096e6-6654-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html?hpid=z1

This part in a particular is a real howler.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson County), said he wants to give smaller communities a bigger voice. “The last election, constituents were concerned that it didn’t matter what they did, that more densely populated areas were going to outvote them,” he said.

“This is coming to me from not just my Republican constituents,” added Carrico, whose district voted overwhelmingly for Republican Mitt Romney in last year’s presidential election. “I want to be a voice for a region that feels they have no reason to come to the polls.”

Tell your constituents that densely populated areas are going to outvote them because MORE PEOPLE LIVE THERE!!!!!! It also says a lot that they don't see him and his office as a reason to get out of the house to vote.

I can see dumping the Electoral College and going to direct vote, but widespread apportionment of electoral votes by congressional district? Is there justice, no matter what the party, if the presidential candidate who gets 3 million more popular votes loses? (Which wouldn't happened if the Republicans' apportionment plan was in place in 2012.)

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

They're facing long term losses because party-soaked college brats, programmed to think as their politically-motivated professors train them to, opt for weed, no laws, no limits.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Sounds like most jobs in retailing or fast foods. Your equanimity w.r.t. adjuncts' employers is admirable. Would that such humors obtained in discussions involving other employers of note.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Damn libertarians.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Not that you meant to, but you highlighted why Republicans are pushing these bills -- because Good Americans like their rural white constituents are on the losing end of a political landscape that is increasingly more diverse and more urban, full of what they might call Bad Americans.

The American Conservative laid out a case for going after city folk, which acknowledging that it would come at a cost of losing "the base" of Good Americans:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/republicans-wont-compete-in-cities/

Moreover, the social conservatism that defines the Republican Party is anathema to urban voters. A party that is loudly opposed to gay marriage and abortion will never be competitive in America’s cities. [Harvard economist Ed] Glaeser dreams of a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republicanism that might win in New York and its inner suburbs. But there aren’t enough votes to make this an appealing strategy on the national level: any gains in metropolitan areas would be wiped out by losses in the so-called base.

The problem for Republicans, then, isn’t that they’re ignoring chances to expand their coalition. It’s that they’re trapped by a dynamic in which serious outreach to new groups alienates existing supporters. As Daniel Larison has argued, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. Don’t expect Republicans to take Manhattan any time soon.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Except my buy-in and training to become "adjunct faculty" is, as you just demonstrated, terrifically expensive. And undertaken on my own dime.

Not so with my fast food job.

Be interesting to measure how many adjunct jobs result in tenure track positions vs how many fast food jobs result in high-paying positions of like security in the fast food business.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Damn you Bob Cook, if that's even your real name, I was about to post that Washington Post link.

Also of note, this was discussed on MSNBC this morning. They referenced an Emory study that said if you do the math on the Electoral College and dividing it up by congressional districts, Romney would have had 276 Electoral College votes and the presidency despite the near-historic loss in the popular vote.

This link says Romney would have won with 273 EC votes and the maps are interesting, extremely interesting to political nerds.

http://news.gnom.es/news/what-the-2012-election-would-look-like-under-the-republicans-vote-rigging-plan

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Ah, I did overlook the "while looking to catch on full time" bit. So adjuncts' employers are even more evil than generally thought, seeing as how they bait a hook with the slimmest of chances at a full-time job -- and, in the vast majority of instances, we're talking pretty damn slim to none. So, by way of comparison, Walmart, McDonalds et al. measure up pretty well. At least when they're paying you the prevailing rate, they don't expect you to pop for an expensive education as an entry fee.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Well those "good Americans" built the damn country and the handouts that the "bad Americans" sense entitlement to.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

By "prevailing rate," do you mean "minimum wage?"

All other things being equal, if life offered you two choices - one a minimum wage entry-level job at Wal-Mart and you debt-free with only a high school diploma; the other an adjunct position at a second-rate state college with no benefits and $100000 in debt for your doctorate - which would you take?

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

See, that's exactly what Democrats want...a low income and a nanny state. Worked well in the Soviet Union didn't it? Yeah, they had 100 percent unemployment, but....

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

You have to listen to public radio to hear any outcry. Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate do a good job covering the plight of adjuncts for WNYC, and Kojo Nnamdi brings up the topic on WAMU.

I don't think the general public really cares about adjuncts or college professors in general.