<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark via extropy-chat<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Even India and Haiti do it better<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>> </span></span><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>which is why it has never been done, even though nearly everyone at that level of power would have cheerfully done so.<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>…I don't think that's true, Washington could have easily made himself dictator but he chose not to…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>This makes me a big fan of Washington. He was the first and perhaps only libertarian to be elected to that high office. He set an important precedent that was followed but not codified into law until a century and a half later. He left office after two terms, as did his successors. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>… But Trump does want to be dictator and he already has the Senate and the Supreme Court in his pocket, not to mention the Attorney General. <span class=gmaildefault>John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Then why didn’t he do it? Because the constitution prevents it. The SCOTUS will swear in whoever it collectively believes wins the EC vote in December 2020.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>What I see as a bigger threat: a seriously disputed election, not by the players but by the voters. You have long known my uneasiness with machine voting, but now with expanded use of mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting, that problem gets worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>We may not know who won the coming election. It was kinda that way in 2000, but it didn’t matter then: the candidates were indistinguishable to most voters. This time around, many voters claim they can tell them apart, but I still cannot. What has either of them said to convince me they know what to do when the lenders suddenly stop lending?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>