Been processing. And .. here’s some interesting bits I’ve seen echoing.
CGP Grey Electoral College and other Voting System videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLej2SlXPEd37YwwEY7mm0WyZ8cfB1TxXa This is a playlist with 17 videos; #7 & #8 are the key ones, however, they’re all excellent sources on how the process works.
But the best bit was his update here:
Which leads us to The National Popular Vote initiative:
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/ pasted from them, my emphasis added:
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. The bill has passed one chamber in 12 additional states with 96 electoral votes. Most recently, the bill was passed by a bipartisan 40–16 vote in the Republican-controlled Arizona House, 28–18 in Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate, 57–4 in Republican-controlled New York Senate, and 37–21 in Democratic-controlled Oregon House.
Link with graphic: http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation which has a lot more words.
And then there is FairVote:
http://www.fairvote.org/ which .. its not obvious, but its the STV system listed in Gray’s videos. Or, better explained with a graphic:
This was a real ballot. And Maine has now voted to make it state-wide. Apparently they did that after a particularly horrible candidate got in due to the previous system. Hopefully this system can grow to other states as well.
There is this note on violence:
A meaningful (for me) excerpt with my emphasis added:
“Not everyone who voted for Trump is a ___ … despite what filter bubbles would have you believe, uh, they’re not, but: All the ___ voted for Trump. And .. the trouble is that now the ____ think the country and the world agrees with them, so as it was with Brexit, the hatecrimes in the UK spiked, and .. no matter how many of his policies Trump actually gets to implement, that spike of intolerance, ____ is going to happen, and I reckon its going to last longer.”
I’m leaving out the word he used so that it doesn’t cause a stir; he didn’t mean it to cause a stir either.
The point being, the violence that will be broadcast… remember folks, its a bunch of deluded individuals. I will hope that they are incorrect, and they will be relatively unsupported, and it will pass, as it did in the UK – its hard to find, but “The peak daily total between May and August was seen on 1 July, when 207 alleged race or religious hate crimes were recorded.” (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/brexit-hate-crimes-racism-eu-referendum-vote-attacks-increase-police-figures-official-a7358866.html)
How It Happened
This article is the best I’ve found on what happened: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/. My takeaway is, there are people who have been ignored: Rural America. And I don’t even like that word Rural there. It almost sounds like “backward”. What I mean is.. Small town, maybe? I didn’t grow up there, but I have many friends who did. And yeah, if they found somebody whom they resonated with, I could see the slight additional turnout on their side.
So, note to future leaders: Please consider the needs of the non-city as well, as you go about your stuff.
OTOH, you can look at voter turnout (in k) – Registered, and Voted, and %:
(this is from an older version of the Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections&oldid=748821487 … the current one has no % for 2016 because numbers are still in flux.)
And Neat Exit-Poll Breakdowns
http://college.usatoday.com/2016/11/09/how-we-voted-by-age-education-race-and-sexual-orientation/
(lots of cool charts)
Not Yet the Stage for a Woman President
My mom had an excellent point. Even if H had won.. she would have been hamstrung by the republican controlled House and Senate. And since everybody seems to blame the president for what everybody else does on their watch .. maybe not the most auspicious.
And there’s the possibilities of change
https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT_FOR_THE_VOTER.pdf
Granted, likely none of the good stuff might happen. However, term limits on Congress … I agree with that. There’s a ton I don’t agree with, but there’s not a lot I can do about that, but that is one thing I do agree with.
However, reading through his 100 days thing – wow, yeah, terrifying. Here’s a line by line analysis of the above: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/10/501597652/fact-check-donald-trumps-first-100-days-action-plan
OTOH, maybe we need more pain before people can see the bigger picture. Hope the planet survives. And I hope people can see the bigger picture and not just scapegoat yet another thing. Wait, I’m going negative, that’s not the intent here.
Ah well. its going to be several interesting years.
Hang in there folks. And if you need a hug, just ask. I give hugs freely, for all.
Addendum: reading up some “news” about the hate-speech going on .. very sad. Hate is so.. powerful an emotion. So viral. And to be on the receiving end of it .. to have that blanket of security ripped away from you .. it hurts. I wish I knew how to love on people such that they didn’t need to hate anymore.
