Barackface: Senate

Showing posts with label Senate. Show all posts

Saturday, November 06, 2021

Reorganize The US Senate

DC and Puerto Rico ought to become states.

All 52 states should get a minimum one Senator each. After that, it should be based on population for a total of 200 Senators. So it would be roughly one Senator for about two million or less Americans. That would give California something like 20 Senatorial districts.

It would help to have open primaries. So the two top vote getters might both belong to the same party. And then they go compete in the general election. That should also be true for the House races. Open primaries would kill gerrymandering.

As for president, might as well directly vote. Get rid of the electoral college.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Why The Wall Is Stupid, Cruel And Dumb

Let's start with stupid.

That is like saying, I am against the death penalty, but if you are going to do it anyway, let me explain to you why giving someone an electric shock at 150 volts for two hours is a really, really bad idea. They will still be alive at the end of those two hours. And, in the meantime, you just engaged in torture. Which is inhuman.

The Wall idea is stupid. It will not stop people. It will not stop drugs. It will not stop criminals. The only thing it will do is give legitimacy to racist demonizations of people from the South. Or maybe that is precisely the idea. The Wall is but a hate project.

The cruel part is explained by the lady standing in the New York harbor. That lady in green is beckoning the persecuted of the world to come hither, come now. America is supposed to take people who have nowhere else to go to. It is the oldest modern democracy of some size. The cruelty is not just towards those who seek asylum. It is also towards the very idea of America. Trump wants to be the new Founding Father to America. Guess what, democracy did not work. Let's now switch to fascism.

Dumb, as opposed to stupid?

Japan suffered for decades, then it realized it really needs to open up to immigration if it wants a vibrant economy. And it has been opening up. Immigration is not America doing favors. Large scale immigration is the only solution to America's Social Security crisis. It is the only way to keep the American economy vibrant.

But then Hitler needed to torch the parliament building. Trump needs to push America into a Great Depression to realize his dream of becoming president for life.

The stand to not fund the Wall must be taken. The longer Trump slugs it out, greater the chances Trump will lose both the Senate and the White House in 2020, if America is still a democracy. He might lose the White House well before that. Which means, when he has lost the Senate, he gets impeached. Taking the stand against the Wall is the right thing to do. It is also the right political thing to do.

Why The Wall Is Stupid, Cruel And Dumb https://t.co/ZPyUt9EyMw @AOC @_waleedshahid @saikatc @SenWarren @KamalaHarris @RepJeffries @RepAOC
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) January 24, 2019

Saturday, January 05, 2019

The US Political Gridlock Can Be Fixed

The narrative often peddled is that Americans have in recent times become bad people. They just no longer see eye to eye. The country is so divided. That may well be.

But there is a more concrete reason for the gridlock. And there are concrete solutions available. Fix the political structure.

Fix the Senate. California deserves 12 Senators. The arguments are compelling. Fix the House. Bring the gerrymandering to an end. It is the people who should elect their representatives, not the other way round. Fix the presidency. Let the president be directly elected.

Monday, November 03, 2014

If The Senate Goes Republican

President George W. Bush (right) is greeted by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (left) and his wife, Supriya Jolly Jindal (center), on his arrival to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport Monday, April 21, 2008, where President Bush will attend the 2008 North American Leaders’ Summit. White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have not been following this election, but there is no missing the headlines. There is talk the Senate will go Republican. The Clintons have shown up plenty on the campaign trail. If the Senate goes Republican, I think that might be the end of Hillary 2016.

Maybe Hillary never intended to run in the first place. I think she is eager for family time.

Right now I don't see me following the 2016 election with any intensity, other than grabbing headlines here and there.

But I do watch elections. I will be watching Bihar next year with utmost interest.

I think of Bobby Jindal as the dark horse of 2016. The pendulum of democracy might swing, and after eight years of a Democrat, the country might opt for a Republican. That is not to say Obama has not performed well. He has. But the democracy pendulum likes to swing.

Elizabeth Warren is the dark horse on the Democratic side.

Will Hillary run? That still is the million dollar question for 2016.

Bobby has already said it is the White House or bust. Should Hillary run, I wonder what that match up would be like.

Should Bobby make it, I think a lot of people will take a fresh look at the conservative philosophy. Because, going by his face, Bobby should have been a Democrat, right? Not so fast, pal. The guy is whip smart. I find some of his social positions bizarre to fascinating. But as long as they stay in the live and let live category, I am just plain eager to see someone who will help create the industries of tomorrow.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pelosi Should Pass Election Reform To Keep Job

The Huffington Post: Election Reform As A Way To Put Republicans On The Spot: pass the Fair Elections Now Act, which likely to be voted out of committee next Thursday .... 165 co-sponsors and at least 40 more supporters, would give matching money to candidates who agreed to raise only small donations. It even has three Republican co-sponsors. ...... So far in this election cycle, House and Senate candidates have raised $1.2 billion dollars, and the money arms-race only grows. ..... Under the proposed Act, a candidate who raised small donations from at least 1,500 small donors contributing no more than $100 each for a total of at least $50,000 could get matching money, at a 4-to-1 ratio ..... As much as $3 million in public financing would be available -- enough to be competitive on most House races. The money wouldn't come from tax dollars, but from a special levy on the auctioning of broadcast spectrum

Of all things Pelosi could do between now and the November date, this would top the list. This is smaller than immigration reform and bigger than doing nothing. This is just the right size thing to do.

And with Charlie Rangel sleep walking to jail time after Bill Clinton sent out a robocall on his behalf right before the September 14 primary, the Dems badly need something that shows they stand on the side of politically clean. This bill would be it.

Pelosi can't do the stump speech thing that Obama does. That we should leave to Obama. But this House thing is Pelosi territory. She can get this done just like she got health care reform done and she got finance reform done.

The Dems need this bad.

The fear is not that the Tea Party might out think Obama. They have no plans to out think. Their plan is to numb the American people to not think anything. Their plan is to use racially coded language and imagery to get the American people to think that perhaps the guy in the Oval Office is not one of us.

If the Dems can turn this into an election about ideas and the future, that will lead to victory.

Obama does not need a victory in November. The Dems losing in November puts him in a better situation to win reelection in 2012. It is the American people who need Obama to win, who need Pelosi to be able to keep her job. And this election bill will help.

The Huffington Post: Obama Challenges Tea Party: 'Specifically, What Would You Do?': Obama, in no uncertain terms, accused the movement's members of refusing to talk in specifics. ..... We had two tax cuts that weren't paid for, two wars that weren't paid for. We've got a population that's getting older. We're all demanding services, but our taxes have actually substantially gone down." ..... What you can't do, which is what I've been hearing a lot from the other side, is we're going to control government spending, we're going to propose $4 trillion of additional tax cuts .... Obama does seem to operate at his best when facing inherently adversarial questions (recall the positive coverage he received for going to a Republican conference in Baltimore during the height of the health care debate).

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Reshma's Is Top Primary Race To Watch In America: BusinessWeek In May

Image of Reshma SaujaniMay 6, 2010: BusinessWeek: Key Primary Races Worth Watching

Reshma Saujani Vs. Carolyn Maloney (New York, House, D)
Alan Mollohan Vs. Mike Oliverio (West Virginia, House, D)
Trey Greyson Vs. Rand Paul (Kentucky, Senate, R)
Blanche Lincoln Vs. Bill Halter (Arkansas, Senate, D)
John McCain Vs. JD Hayworth (Arizona, Senate, R)

Reshma Saujani is the top political news in America this election season. 2010 is to Reshma what 2004 was to Barack Obama. She has not reached that mainstream imagination yet, but consider yourself lucky if you know her already, either in person or in name.

It is amazing she topped this poll in May when the list includes also Senate races including the Senate race of the guy who I think just ran for president not long ago.

This list includes all races for both the House and the Senate and Reshma is top of the list. This is Reshma's year. And if Barack Obama recognizes that fact, he gets to keep the House in November. I say starting from September 15 just completely take over her schedule. Call her up and say, Reshma you are coming with me, you are crisscrossing this country with me. Last I checked I was still leader of the party.

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