this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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politics

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top 36 comments
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[–] etherphon@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

Every person in America is entitled to take a giant shit on his grave.

[–] Binturong@lemmy.ca 11 points 7 hours ago

Oh NOW these fuckers are okay with entitlements. What a fucking joke of a country.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 27 points 9 hours ago

You're not entitled to any seats. That is supposed to be for voters to decide. You're supposed to earn seats by appealing to voters

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 15 points 8 hours ago

Gerrymandering needs to be undone, not worsened.

[–] officermike@lemmy.world 98 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Fun fact, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Texas by 1.5M

https://independentvoterproject.org/voter-stats/tx

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 39 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Less fun fact, the GOP still wins statewide elections. That's the power of voter suppression.

I personally believe in mandatory voting. Not because more people agree with me, but because voter suppression is undemocratic. And I'm including gerrymandering as a type of voter suppression.

Depressing fact, native born Texans are more liberal than the average Texan. If it wasn't for these damn immigrants (from other states), we'd be much closer to being a blue state.

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 11 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I personally believe in mandatory voting.

Yes. With a mandatory "none of the above" option for every office, and an actual majority of eligible voters is required to win, and if "none of the above" wins you get a new election with new candidates.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I've heard of a completely different idea that is designed to get politicians to appeal to everybody as much as possible, but because it is not repeatable, I think it's an infeasible idea.

Anyways, it's called "random ballot". The idea is that, either for the entire election, or for one candidate at a time, you simply choose one random ballot, and that person is the winner.

The upside of random ballot is that, no matter what percentage of a politician's constituents approved of them, it would never be enough unless it was 100%. Even if they had a 99% approval... well, even in just the federal house, there are 435 reps, so on a nationwide level, you'd regularly see things happen that only had a 1% chance.

But the huge downside is if there was any problem with the ballots or with collecting them, even if you missed a single ballot, it can completely change the results, and there would be no way to fairly recount or rerun the election.

But I do like any scheme that incentivizes politicians to try to appeal to as many constituents as possible, not just to beat other candidates.

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

There's still incentive an to obstruct and suppress certain demographics from voting with a scheme like that. Not to mention the whole possibility that the winner could have literally received only 1 out of 17, 000, 000 votes being pretty horrible.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Oh I was thinking about it as alongside mandatory voting. I honestly don't know that democracy really works at all without mandatory voting.

Also, the problem with a very unpopular winner isn't really too different from what we already have. How many times has a candidate won unopposed? How many times has a candidate been elected saying that they'd vote one way, and then immediately start voting the opposite way?

It probably wouldn't be great for an executive position of great power, like president or governor. Like, imagine what one moron could do with the power of pardons. But for positions where they are just a member of a large legislative body? I think the amount of damage they can do in a single term is usually somewhat limited.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

mandatory voting

I forget the name of it, but one option I really liked is a kind of default voting. You register with whichever party you choose, and if you don't actively vote, your vote goes down-ticket with that party. If you do actively vote, the default gets overridden with wherever you submit, to include abstentions. So, you can still 'not vote' or vote outside your party lines, but doing either requires you to actively show up.

Still not a perfect solution, but the people's preference would be way more accurately reflected by the results.

Combine that with some ranked choice, and... - chef's kiss -

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago

I don't trust any political party enough to give them that sort of power.

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds like an invitation for those in power to make the act of voting difficult.

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

And to suppress registration within blue areas even further, yes.

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 12 points 9 hours ago

Funner fact, Texas doesn't have party affiliation on voter registration!

https://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/voter-registration-certificate.html

https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/advisory2020-05.shtml

We do have party affiliation. It's automatic by voting in a party primary and expires at the end of the calendar year. It's only there so that you can't vote in a primary runoff unless you voted in the original primary.

Your own link even says "Voters do not officially register with a political party."

So where are they getting these numbers?

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 22 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Also fun (and sad) fact, in 4 of the last 5 Texas Gubernatorial elections, the Republican nominee and winner received fewer votes than the Democratic nominee for President from two years prior.

We can absolutely take the governorship from Abbott. We just can't be bothered to try.

[–] atticus88th@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

I think last election the top google search was "excuses to not vote"

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 104 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You're entitled to release the complete Epstein files.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 21 points 13 hours ago

As t the very least we are entitled to see the complete Epstein files.

[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 30 points 10 hours ago

You aren't entitled to shit, lil snowflake bitch

[–] FiremanEdsRevenge@lemmy.world 75 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You're entitled to these nuts.

[–] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago

I hate you. I open the thread and what do I see? The comment I would’ve made if I was an hour ealier

[–] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 42 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

An enlarged sense of entitlement is a classic sign of narcissism.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 18 points 12 hours ago

Trump is past narcissism.

Trump has been at despotism for at least six months.

[–] Hayduke@lemmy.world 31 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

“We” huh? This fucking guy. Doesn’t have a clue what his obligation to the American people is.

I am glad he is as old as he is. Tick, tock

[–] zwerg@feddit.org 10 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Vance will be worse. Much, much worse. And it won't matter that he's not charismatic because the next elections will be rigged.

[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Vance walking around his Gulag:

"How long have you been in here?"

"3 years sir"

"OK. Good."

[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 7 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

You forgot that he would ask them the following question.

“Have you ever said THANK YOU?!”

“We” is “me and my buddies”

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago

Yeah, if he was like 40 years old, i think there'd be a lot more attempts on his life. As it is, people are just wondering when his body is gonna fail.

[–] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 14 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

His sense of entitlement is insane.

As a US convicted felon, he’s entitled to three hots, a cot, and daily access to a yard. He deserves nothing more.

[–] Aeao@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

As someone who spent time in jail and a looney bin I can guarantee not all meals are hot. I see generally 2 cold and 1 hot. More than trump deserves. I went to jail for having an expired license. Not suspended, expired. I was in jail for three days because it was the weekend.

Trump is a felon walking around free.

[–] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 minute ago

Yeah, I knew it was too good to be true, but figured I’d use the old expression anyway. Regardless, may Individual 1 get what he actually deserves.

Yup, was about to say something similar. In some prisons, you’re lucky to get a bologna sandwich for lunch, which is just a single slice of bologna and cheese on white bread.

[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 12 points 12 hours ago

Just like republicans are entitled to rape kids.

[–] AngryRobot@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

I thought Republicans hated entitlements...