Call to Sen. Al Franken

I recited the message below to Sen. Al Franken's Duluth office.  Supposedly, a call is more effective than a letter or an email.  Surprisingly, the office worker didn't take my name or address.  Maybe the caller ID on her screen showed that I was local.

I hope you can keep up your opposition to Donald Trump.

I hope you can convince some of your more realistic Republican colleagues that it is not in their interest to give Trump carte blanche.

I enjoyed your books “Lies and the Liars Who Tell Them” and “Why Not Me”.  When I finished the latter I thought that a comedian would make a far better President than a clown.

I hope you, dear reader, can think of something similar to send to your Representative or Senators.

I plan to call something similar Rep. Rick Nolan and Sen. Amy Klobuchar later.  It kind of exhausted me just to say the above.

See also http://magree.blogspot.com/2017/01/thousands-of-phone-calls-are-better.html.

Quote of the day: Real Cause of "voter fraud"

"Yet, in many jurisdictions politicians cry potential fraud... when the fault actually lies with underfunded and poorly constructed registration and voting systems."

- "Electoral Dysfunction", Victoria Bassetti, p.138

Could lower taxes be a ploy to discredit voting so that only the chosen few will run the country to the benefit of large corporations?

Donald Trump wins!

With a dismal 50% turnout across the nation, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States.  He received about 40% of the votes in states with a large number of electoral votes, but given the “winner take all rules for the electoral college he easily won the Presidency.  Otherwise, he only received 30% in the other states.  Hilary Clinton received 50% in these states, and the last-minute Republican alternative candidate received 20%.

This means that Donald Trump received the votes of less than 20% of the eligible voters.  Once again, “None of the Above” really won because of the 50% no-shows.

Almost as soon as the projections were made on national TV, the border crossings at Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Niagara Falls, and others started filling up with U.S. citizens seeking resident status in Canada.  The websites of all the airlines with trans-Atlantic flights crashed with  thousands seeking one-way tickets to Europe.   Scandinavian Air and Icelandic Air were hardest hit because of an extremely large number of U.S. citizens wishing to move to Scandinavia.

The Scandinavian countries experienced many demonstrations of Syrian refugees.  They were upset that after all their trials and tribulations to get safe haven in these countries well-off Americans were welcomed with open arms.

The stock markets had a 25% drop because so many sold their stocks and put the proceeds into foreign banks.  This major sell-off also caused a 25% drop in the value of the dollar against other currencies, especially those of Canada and Europe.

Surprisingly, many multi-millionaires moved to their villas in Switzerland, Mexico, and the Bahamas.  Most company boards were not meeting in the U.S., but were conducting their meetings by secure video.

Many Chinese immigrants went back to China, to the “devil” they understood.  They could plan their lives and careers much more easily under the Communist dictatorship than under the Trump whimsyship.

H1-B workers left in droves.  They thought it would be best to plan when to leave than suddenly have their H1-B status removed.  This “brain drain” worsened even more the value of tech companies already hit with the stock sell-off.  Software updates and new products were delayed for months if not years.  The upside was that older tech workers were suddenly in demand even though their skills were “outdated”  Tech companies realized that these workers could be trained in-house for less money than lobbying for H1-B extensions.

Fruits and vegetables became scarce because the migrant workers disappeared.  Meat processing almost ceased.  Office workers had to vacuum their own floors.  Like the H1-B workers, the migrant workers also thought it would be best to leave on their own terms.  Unlike the H1-B workers, they could suddenly be put into detention centers.

Many countries around the world sought loop-holes in their treaties with the U.S.  Not only did they not think the U.S. would be a reliable ally, but they thought the “toughness” proclaimed by Trump would make them even more vulnerable to any threats by other countries.

This threatened closure of bases also put the U.S. military-industrial complex in a tailspin.  Investors sold their shares at steep discounts because they foresaw a much smaller market for military wares as U.S. bases were closed.

Things got so bad that the Republican-controlled Congress was desperately looking for ways to impeach Trump.  But even as they considered impeachment, the Capitol was besieged by thousands of Trumpistas who saw their hero threatened.  The Capitol police staffing the metal detectors were overwhelmed by protesters carrying pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons.

You did note the date of publication of this post, right?

Oligarchy by apathy

Many are worried about corporations running our government, giving us an oligarchy, government by the few.  But we already have an oligarchy because too many eligible voters don’t bother voting.

In the Minnesota primary on August 12, the turnout was about 12 percent.  That means 88 percent didn’t give a damn about who was elected.  In other words, that 88 percent is giving government power to the 12 percent who showed up.  That is no democracy, rule by the people, but an oligarchy, rule by the few.

If you were one of the few anywhere, remind everyone you know to vote in the next and every election, no matter where in the world you live.

Always vote because every vote always counts. If you stay away you give the election away.

See also “Politics: Don Givadam wins again”.

Bye, bye, Democracy!

Today is the primary election for Duluth School Board and City Council.

At 10:30 I was the 36th voter in my precinct.  My wife is an election worker in another precinct.  At about 11:00 she said they had about 45 voters.

In the 2012 election, Duluth had an average of over 1600 voters per precinct, and that was with a turnout of over 70 percent.

If we can't even show up for local elections, do we deserve a democracy?

And this happens all over the world.  George W. Bush was elected because many Democrats didn't show up in Florida in 2000.  Morsi was elected in Egypt because many boycotted the elections.  North Carolina has a Republican legislature because only 44% showed up in 2012, probably mostly Republican activists.

If you don't vote, please don't complain about potholes, taxes, schools, or anything else that government does.

See also "If you don't vote, you have only yourself to blame", Reader Weekly, 2004-10-28.

Why do the "media" call losers "winners"?

Letter to the Editor, Reader Weekly, 2012-05-17 (not published online)

Jim Hightower's comment about Newt Gingrich's "repeated humiliation at the polls" ("A sham for Wal-Mart's Scam: Newt's denouement", Reader Weekly, May 10), reminded me that even his one "victory" was a humiliation.  Unfortunately, in the horse race mentality of election reporting, few noted that Gingrich came in far behind a de facto "none of the above".

Several news sources pointed out that turnout was low in the 2012 Presidential Primary in Georgia, but few if any reported a context of Gingrich's "win".

According to The United States Elections Project of George Mason University, Georgia's turnout was 15.8% (see http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2012P.html).  According to the US Election Atlas, Gingrich received 47.19% of the votes cast in the Republican primary (see http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2012&off=0&elect=2&fips=13&f=0).  That means he received the support of about 7.5% of the eligible voters.  I would not consider that a "win"; Gingrich came in a really distant second to a de facto "none of the above".  In horse racing terms, he didn't even make the first turn!

Vote rigging - much ado about nothing?

See "How Republicans are rigging the next election", Harold Meyerson, Washington Post, published in the Star Tribune 2011-09-22.

Republicans are all aflutter about voter fraud. Democrats are all aflutter about "disenfranchising" poor and minority voters.

Republicans – your efforts will be meaningless if…

Democrats – you can make the Republican efforts meaningless by making a really serious effort to get out the vote.

Minnesota had the highest turnout in the nation in 2008 with 77 percent. Does that mean that 23 percent of the eligible voters were disenfranchised poor and minorities?

Wisconsin had 50.9 percent turnout in 2010, and the Republicans claimed a mandate as they took the governorship and control of both houses of the state legislature. Does that mean that 49.1 percent of the eligible voters were disenfranchised poor and minorities?

Come on, folks! Get real!

A too large percentage of eligible voters don't give a damn about either party. A too large percentage of "Democrats" get mad at the Democratic Party and don't show up at election time. Look what happened in New York's Ninth Congressional District. The no-shows gave the seat to the Republican candidate. Were all these no-shows disenfranchised poor and minorities?

Republicans – you're wasting time and money with your voter fraud campaign. In these "hard economic times", you're probably making local governments spend thousands of dollars for each suspected fraudulent voter. Is that efficient use of taxpayer dollars?

Democrats – you're wasting time and money fighting the wrong enemy. Your biggest enemy is voter apathy. Wouldn't a get-out-the-vote campaign be a more efficient use of party funds?

So-called "Democrats" handed another U.S. House seat to the Republicans

Republican Bob Turner had "an upset win" over Democrat David I. Weprin in the Ninth Congressional District of New York. Many who call themselves Democrats just didn't show up! According to the Associated Press it was a "light-turnout election". I haven't seen any exact figures yet, but I would guess that it was way less than fifty percent. Yet here are three times as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans. Supposedly, many Democrats were dissatisfied with President Obama and didn't vote. Don't these people realize that a no-show is really a vote for the opposition?

Wisconsin - "I don't give a damn wins again"

From all the hoopla about the recall elections in Wisconsin, one would think really large numbers of people would turn out to keep or replace a senator.  Think again.  Wisconsin voters were even more apathetic than they were last November, when the overall turnout was 50.9 percent.

"About 44% of voting-age adults in the six districts combined went to the polls Tuesday, approaching the 49% combined turnout rate in those districts in last year’s race for governor." - "Was Tuesday's big recall turnout too big for Democrats?", Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2011-08-10.

I glanced at some of the results posted by Wisconsin's General Accountability Board.  I remember in one race that the winner had a two-to-one lead.  Generalizing from the above turnout, the "winner" had the support of one-third of the eligible voters.  If precedent is a guide, the winner is probably gloating over a "landslide" and thinks he or she has a mandate from "the people".  Unfortunately, few political winners have the humility to admit that they came in second to a de facto "none of the above".