Isn't this kind of missing the point, though? The reason neither party wants to change a thing about the current system is the whole point of abolishing the electoral college is to remove the spoiler effect that eventually leads to a two party system. If the electoral college ends, there's no such thing as swing states, gerrymandering will be moot, candidates will actually have to have policies that people want, they'll have to actually campaign, and many corporate "Democrats" will probably get outed by more progressive candidates.

There are other benefits, but I really don't see this getting any traction, regardless, until we can get money our of politics and a wealth tax that makes sense (like 70%+ on the ultra wealthy).

I agree with your sentiment that Democrat ideas -- more likely the progressive Democrat ideas -- will likely be the candidates that win the most. However, we'll likely never find out cause both parties will fight this with all of their being and financial ghouls.

The band TOOL exists.

The last time the Democrats ran a progressive candidate allowed Nixon to sweep every state except a few in that election. I mean, just look at this shit!

So yeah, if anyone is wondering why the Democrats don't run progressive candidates, this is why! They've only moved further to the right since then. Expecting Democrats to run a progressive would likely sweep the whole nation blue, but if you thought tRump was bad, a progressive would be just as bad for monied interests, which have only grown more emboldened and enriched the last 40-45 years.

It will take a lot of time, I'm afraid, to undo the damage Republicans have have done with their shitty ideals and politics, starting largely with Reagan's racist, homophobic, anti-union, and regulation gutting bullshit!

Sucks for Germany and their recent resurgence of coal plants and decommissioning of nuclear.

Discourse evaporated when the rightwing and Faux "News" declared "compromise" as blasphemy. That's why so many moderate Republicans will still vote along party lines, despite knowing the candidate is batshit crazy. To vote Democrat is to commit suicide to those people.

Edit: was trying to get this comment done before kid woke up from nap and barely made it. Fixed the faux pa.

I think our two party system is two sides of the same coin. One is just better at doing the bare minimum to appease the masses. They're both right of center in terms of politics.

I feel like you may have taken my comment the wrong way. I was agreeing with you and adding personal observations of friends and family and their polarization based on the rhetoric spewed by Fox News. There's a reason Democrats don't get primaried by their own party for collaborating with Republicans. The opposite is not the same.

It's really hard to get through to these people after years of hearing, "liberals want to eat your babies," and some such shit. I've tried. The idea that progressives want what they want, but actually govern toward those goals when elected, is what is hard to convey when one side sticks their fingers in their ears and yells, "LA LA LA LA LA, SOCIALIST."

I'm definitely not saying to give up, but moderates are just closeted Republicans that want an "out" whenever the Republican caucus starts shouting fascistic rhetoric. Getting these people out of their echo chambers will take generations if we still have a society by then.

My question is, when this shit passed, why did no one tell those fucks, "ok you're people too, which means the laws that pertain to a person are now applicable to whatever CEO and board members approved decisions that broke those laws." As it is right now, those fuckers get their cake and eat it too and it infuriates me to no end.

::gestures broadly::

I mean back when the lifetime appointments were put in place, the average lifespan ended at 50, or some shit. They probably expected someone to die before they'd get anywhere near this level of cognitive decline.