Putin didn’t help make chasms from the faultlines of our democracy.

He used the opportunities the founders of our plutocratic oligarchy made available.

Well the system is extremely rigged in multiple ways to massively overrepresent the opinions of a vocal and deluded minority. Were it not so we could be wieldling the very best virus response in the world with "good old American know how" and would have achieved mortality rates better than New Zealand with minimal impact.

@yvilletom ...the pseudo intellectualism of your posts attempt to belay the obvious.. putin definitely had a hand in what’s now occurring. As for your two-century late dig at our Founders, their system was designed to evolve, the direction it’s evolved is ‘our fault,’ not theirs ~

@prometheus The system has been distorted and played by those who never rest. But it still requires a majority, at least in ‘the senate.’ If we play by the rules, and the bad guys don’t … and nobody enforces those rules.. we lose.

@Varn My pseudo intellectualism does differ from yours. Do you know what the founders said in 1787? Do you know what their economic interests were?

@Varn Part of the problem is that while you require a majority of senators, it doesn't require a majority of people to get them.

@prometheus and third world countries like South Africa look to USA for some guidance etc but we took the right steps towards combating covid-19 as we couldn't afford that many tragedies.

@Varn agreed, the Senate is the real issue. When 22 states combined have the same population of the most populous and yet each have the same number of senate seats things get obscenely distorted.

We need to either split the more popular States - which the current Senate would not allow - or we need to get millions of West Coasters to start a democratic diaspora by moving to and occupying those States. It will take a few years to move enough people, and six years to expunge all their Senators but then we can jam through all the reform changes necessary. We can also immediately start on constitutional amendments to make them stick. We'd have to pack the court too to overcome the rigged judiciary that Trump and Moscow Mitch have installed. Term limits on the court would help fix that too.

@yvilletom Your parlor-game analysis and commentary at this juncture is truly irrelevant.

@Varn Period.

@JeffMurray Our Senate is supposed to be representative of the nation, but with their six year terms, accumulated seniority, eastern bias, and access to unlimited dark money, by the time their term is up their tracks can be covered..

Much has changed since the beginning, ‘direct democracy’ has replaced the original selection of Senators. The problem is, unlimited campaign funds and never-ending election cycles are more than the few who do vote can apparently follow or wade through. Maybe Governors and state Legislatures should again appoint US Senators, that way voters could concentrate on fewer players..?

@prometheus What I’m hearing are a lot of very radical amendments and legislation. I don’t think it’ll fly. Not that I disagree with it, but that’s not how we got into this mess. Evil (the Republican Party) played the long game, and hardball at that.

I remember when they began taking over school boards, town councils and county seats. The problem is, they’re Zealots! We’re not; we’re folks willing to look out for others, nature, and future generations. Civilized Socialist nations have not allowed unchecked wealth, or given it the opportunity to unduly influence their people. We have…

@prometheus Exactly. I was hoping Bill Maher would plead with well off Democrats in NY and CA to have summer homes in the Dakotas and such that they could use as little as possible to count.

I suspect you're a wide eyed optimist.
All evidence is against this conclusion.

@Willow_Wisp 🥰 thank you