General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenate vote totals are revealing
As of 8am this morning:
Senatorial Candidates:
Democratic 44,900,466 56.8%
Republican 32,908,523 41.6%
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/us/elections/calendar-primary-results.html
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)America really does not want republicans in any way, shape, or form. But the republicans and foreign allies against democracy have their skeazey occult ways.
UCmeNdc
(9,602 posts)How do we get the power of the senate control back?
BannonsLiver
(16,556 posts)This was an extremely challenging map this cycle, unusually so. I think we have a decent shot in 2020 to get it back, along with the WH.
KPN
(15,694 posts)the balance in that chamber. Democracy is being/has been hijacked. This is and has always been (since 1980) a coup detat.
still_one
(92,596 posts)propositions on the ballot that called for an independent non-partisan commission to determine redistricting, and those propositions passed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/gerrymandering-has-voters-incensed-how-fed-constituents-are-fighting-back-n896536
KPN
(15,694 posts)way to stack the independent non-partisan commissions regardless. They will not let go of their grip easily. Certainly, laws alone won't make them. It will take focused watch-dogging and then enforcement.
The Senate will be a difficult one. How do we deal with a construct that is counter to the basic "one person one vote" concept in the first place? My view is things will need to get substantially worse for the average person before things get better politically and democratic ("all men are created equal" governance-wise. That is, if they get better. I'm trying to be optimistic about that, but people disappoint me no end.
still_one
(92,596 posts)rzemanfl
(29,589 posts)still_one
(92,596 posts)for disappointment. It would take a Constitutional amendment. Highly unlikely.
What needs to be done is the Democrats will need to fully embrace a Howard Dean 50-state strategy. There will be Democratic candidates in red states that won't align with the party consensus on some issues, and that needs to be understood and worked with. Change in those states will occur, but it won't be overnight. West Virgina is not California. We push the issues we can agree on. Healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, infrastructure, Civil Rights, minimum wage, etc.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)and the 7 additional governorships we picked up will go a long way toward un-gerrymandering a good part of this electoral corruption.
Looks like we'll have 23 governors and Repubs 26, compared to 16 and 33 right now.
We've gained some important ground in midwest states. I'm looking forward to a full summary of all our gains in state legislatures that are currently controlled by Republicans or held in a split.
Plus, there are all the gerrymandering and other election issue cases in the courts.
But one election at a time. This one isn't over, and when it is our people will be newly empowered and have big work to do in many governments across the nation.
still_one
(92,596 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)48.4 to 47.1% with 93% counted.
Fingers crossed.
still_one
(92,596 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Analysts Charlie Sykes and David Jolly both said this morning that we actually had a very good night last night, that our expectations had wandered off course and we should be very pleased.
Besides our big, real goal, a house majority, in "the upper midwest" we won 7 out of 8 key governorships and senate seats in PA, OH, MI, WI, all states the GOP must win in the electoral college to hold the presidency in 2020.
still_one
(92,596 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)insert in every conversation that touches on politics.
joshcryer
(62,287 posts)Just relocating a million liberal voters would flip all these states.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Article in this morning's New York Times
They havent stopped trying to influence our elections.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/opinion/midterm-elections-russia.html?emc=edit_th_181107&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=479430271107
"...a senior analyst for our cybersecurity company, suggests that while these measures may have rendered some of the Russian tactics of 2016 less effective, they havent fully stopped Russian influence operations. In many instances, they seem to have merely caused Russia to shift or develop new tactics..."
yardwork
(61,856 posts)The caravan of refugees, for instance - a story designed to stir up fear among rural and suburban whites.
Lots of false stories on social media about Democrats supposedly planning to do outrageous things. Lots of lies that low-information voters believe.
KPN
(15,694 posts)small minded, self-serving people. What is wrong with us ... especially the so-called "Christians"?
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)The shifting demographics of the country, combined with the structure of our federal government, are empowering a minority over the majority. A country cannot last for long in this arrangement. The House was supposed to represent the population, but it no longer does. Gerrymandering is a big problem, but so is the fact that the smallest states have a disproportionate representation because they get a minimum of 1 congress critter, so California has to give them up. And there are two senators for every state, so large states end up vastly under represented.
We have a President elected by a minority over the majority vote. We have a Senate that represents maybe 30% of the population and yet controls majority power. We have a Supreme Court that represents and extremely small point of view of the population, and yet for decades has managed to maintain power. This cannot stand. And unfortunately, the possible solutions are not pretty.
KPN
(15,694 posts)zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)The minority will tend to abuse their power in an attempt to maintain control and ensure benefits for themselves. The majority will chafe and typically revolt, usually violently. Look at Northern Ireland in the '70s.
KPN
(15,694 posts)a long series of attacks on American democracy (ergo, Americans) by the GOP. This has been building for decades. I believe things will get worse before they get better (hope I'm wrong, but hard for me to be optimistic in the face of what I've seen and experienced in the course of my lifetime).
It used to be two steps forward, one step back. Now it seems it is one step forward, two steps back.
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)We're a country founded on Enlightenment principals by a bunch of very racist men. We have worked hard to expand our democracy to include all humans, but it is still run on a constitution designed to keep white male landowners in control. We've tinkered a bit with it, in part to try to let in blacks and women. But we've also tinkered with the system such that the majority isn't needed to control government. The changes that need to be made are ones that the original authors made almost "unchangeable".
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)elocs
(22,673 posts)in the games played than the winning team that it is somehow meaningful as a result of their blowing out the other team in a couple of games. It matters where the runs occurred.
Just because Democrats can run up a big score in states like California doesn't make the grand vote total meaningful when the elections are in individual states or individual districts. Even the presidential election is not a national election vote but a 50 state election vote.
Thew
(162 posts)we are talking about representation. The government is increasingly out of sync with the population and that poses real problems long-term.
There aren't easy fixes for the senate as it's constitutionally "gerrymandered", we could pursue statehood for Puerto Rico, Pacific territories and DC to help balance.
The house needs to be increased in size, if our unit of measure is Wyoming, then the house is about 24% too small.
FreeWheatForever
(53 posts)The fundamental structure of the US government not withstanding, of the 77 million people who had the opportunity to vote in a US Senate race nearly 57% chose the Democrat. The 2020 Senate map will be more to the Dems liking. These numbers portend a brighter future for all.
KPN
(15,694 posts)Not sure 41.6% of votes determining the make-up of SCOTUS over the other 58.4% is best. (That doesn't include ANY of the suppressed votes). Feels like oppression.
I'm beginning to understand better my kids' contention that our votes don't really matter and they never will until we blow the whole frigging system up. Maybe they are right.
The Mouth
(3,175 posts)If you checkmate me, it doesn't matter if I had more pieces on the board.Complaining about that after the fact just makes me look like an idiot who didn't understand the rules.
It's like hearing people say 'we ought to change the electoral college'- hello- it is *NOT* going to change without either a revolution or constitutional amendment, and about 30 states would LOSE influence without it, so anyone thinking it's going to happen is flat out too stupid to understand anything about American politics.
jcgoldie
(11,674 posts)Why the fuck does South Dakota get two senators?
KPN
(15,694 posts)RockRaven
(15,138 posts)Also, this data needs to be taken with a grain of salt if one is going to use it as an argument about unfairness -- this year the CA Senate general election was Dem vs Dem (after a "jungle primary" ) so every single vote cast in the Senate race in the most populous state went into the same category.
What would be the consequence of the Senate being voted in by the electorate as a whole, like the President?
I think the Senate should be balanced by population and not state, forget about the nice round number 100.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,406 posts)It would be another form of the same imbalance in voter influence.
dlk
(11,623 posts)We all have heard evidence of voting machines flipping totals, how easily many of them are hacked, how many polls are moved or closed, how many hundreds of thousands of voters are purged from the rolls, how many thousands of votes are pulled and discarded. What is it going to take for us to collectively address this clear and present threat to our democracy?
Garrett78
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