[extropy-chat] Politics: US talks of suspending elections

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On Jul 13, 2004, at 9:14 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> May I suggest my candidate? http://www.cthulhu.org/
>
> Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?


My candidate too.  I'm hoping that we'll get enough votes to get 
matching Federal funds.

Actually, that does bring up a weird question.  What would happen if a 
fictional entity got enough votes to qualify for "major party" status?  
Hmm....


> I disagree. Shrub is definitely a greater evil.


<shrug>  Its arguable.

To put it another way, would we be better off with a Kerry and a 
Republican Congress or Bush and a Democrat Congress?  The outcome is 
virtually identical.

But since a Republican Congress is all but a sure thing, that changes 
the calculus a bit.  But it also indicates that Bush will likely win 
(ignoring the more complex demographic details of why this is).  If the 
Democrats choke in this election, and there are better than even odds 
that they will, they are politically finished as anything resembling 
their current form.  The Republicans have managed to dodge all the 
political third-rails that would erode the support of their base.

The real problem with the Democrats is that they are now not much more 
than the Baby Boomer party, which automatically marginalizes them (and 
for good reason).  The Republicans are currently controlled by a 
Christian Right faction, a minority faction within that party.  GenX, 
which is becoming one of the most important voting factions, is a 
generation without a party to call home.  The next big political shift 
will be when GenX starts taking control of the political structure 
independent of current ones, possibly built in the carcass of the 
current Democrats.

Every reasonable analysis seems to indicate that we won't get a real 
political shift until 2010-2012, and then it will be toward a much more 
libertarian political perspective.  Until then, not much you can do 
about it.


> What is the alternative? Not to vote? Blow up federal buildings and 
> send
> anthrax in the mail? Found the transhumanist party?


Neither being a cog in the current system nor attacking the existing 
power structure directly is a constructive action.  The power 
structures are largely immune to conventional attack, at least on any 
relatively short-term basis.  Well-conceived clever and subtle 
approaches, on the other hand can gain some traction, though it still 
takes years.


> I think it is time for some damage containment and control.


Wishful thinking.  The problem is that Kerry is just a different type 
of damage.

Things will shift, but it isn't going to happen overnight, and probably 
not in this election.  Policy doesn't move that fast.  By my best 
estimates, and the estimates of a number of others, we won't have real 
meaningful change until the current power structure made up of Boomer 
clowns in both parties goes into decline.

j. andrew rogers