Am I the only one that sees the subtle racism in thanking a black person for voting a certain way?
"Thank you black voters" What...? Lol. Why not something like "Good job, Alabama!" "Way to go, Democrats!" "We did it!"
Nope. Thank you for the color of your skin. Thank you for being a dependent voting bloc for us even though we never do shit for you. We will go back to ignoring you and your issues now. I mean what the fuck?
I'm up in Canada, and I'm big into working for electoral reform up here.
One of the main arguments that I use is that there are a massive amount of people who have NEVER actually been represented in our parliament, because they live in places where their vote doesn't count.
In our last election over half of all voters voted for a candidate that lost.
That's messed up. If your political system is designed in such a way that so many people just have to live with never actually being able to elect someone... well maybe it's time to change the system.
In Denmark something like 95% of voters actually contribute to electing someone. That's the dream...
Well pretend you had a ranked ballot and got to put in a 2nd and 3rd choice. Chances are, you would then be able to say you voted for the winner. You would then also be able to say that the winner wasn't your first choice. Problem solved.
Although what we're advocating for up here is multi-member districts. The idea of a single person representing an entire geographic area is pretty silly. Cities and towns are diverse. One single person can't be expected to accurately represent every individual, with all their different opinions.
That's why the US and Canada are two of the very few countries left that do it that way. Most of the rest of the world has changed away from that method.
I think it's actually in the US constitution somewhere that you guys aren't allowed to have multi-member districts though... which is a real bummer.
I think it's actually in the US constitution somewhere that you guys aren't allowed to have multi-member districts though... which is a real bummer.
The constitution allows states to establish multi-member districts with their House delegations. Some states used to have at-large districts which were technically multi-member but even less proportional. Congress passed a law in the 60s requiring single member districts for this reason. But it's much easier to overturn that law than it is to change our constitution.
A lot of our states only get one representative so they wouldn't get anything out of proportional representation, and for the ones with two districts proportional representation would be questionable. But the delegate allocation is also not specified in the constitution and has merely been fixed by a century old law that can also be changed.
That 60s law must be the one I was remembering then, thanks for clarifying!
Yeah those single-delegate states are unfortunate, difficult to know how handle those. It would require either increasing the number of House delegates (which I don't think is a bad idea at all) or allowing them to remain unproportional (which is unfortunate, but would only affect a few states).
The rest of the country, at least the non bat doo-doo crazy Republican segment, thanks you for getting out to vote. Your vote had ramifications that will affect policy for the entire country, not just your state.
I am not going to lie, I had an extremely pessimistic outlook and thought Moore would definitely win, due to black voters not mobilizing in decent numbers considering past election trends. I am glad that my pessimism was way off.
Just make sure you keep voting in future elections!
And now you guys have a voice and can threaten to remove support if you aren't getting considered as a community. I hope you use this opportunity to get what you guys need as a community, and that you do it without shame, because this is how the system works, and this is why you guys should do it.
Remember that you are facing opposition that is ready to move from States to States just to change votes in their favors. Votes must count for something to them at least if they are willing to completely change their life for it... The minimum we can do to counter those people is to vote!
As someone throwing money at Jones from the NorthWest, thanks for saving our white asses again...the turnout last night really made all of the difference.
You guys are literal heroes in my book - the only redeeming quality of that state. This election shouldn't have even been close. I'm tired of seeing people like Moore and Trump stomping all over anyone who isn't a rich, white, Christian male and hiding behind "God's will".
When I got the notification on my phone last night that Jones won, I literally let out a sigh of relief and smiled.
I hope that is how every single black voter in the US feels. It's time for politicians to stop ignoring black people. By becoming a voting block, black people will put the issues facing their communities on the table.
I appreciate what you guys and gals did down there. Thanks!
Out of curiosity, did you see any signs of voter suppression? Were you in a predominantly white or black area? The current GOP is a fucking cancer on America. I don't think we can treat it with polonium though.
Thank you all for your votes against Moore. I am all the way across the country, but there is no way I wanted to see that pedophile in office. It is sick and disgusting that he even had a chance to run in the first place, but that is another issue.
From the bottom of my heart I want you all to know that this man is proud of the Alabama electorate right now. I hope this is a sign of things to come, where all peoples and creeds can be united for the right thing, for a better, accepting, and tolerant America.
Dude, shut the fuck up! If you reinforce the idea that black voters can be decisive, the establishment (Republicans in primis) will do whatever it takes to disenfranchise you guys...
As a white American from the other side of the country I thank you for voting. The white southern conservatives are always surprising me with their hate and hypocrisy.
"Only two things are truly endless, the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about one of those." - Albert Einstein
I live in Oklahoma where a once democratic state has long been turned very republican for a very very long time much like the similar history of your state. Personally wanted to thank you and all the others that saved us from that child molester taking a seat in the senate. This is the start of a movement to take back politics from corporations and corruption and give it back to the middle class where it belongs. You have inspired me to not give up on the power of my vote here. Thanks again!
Read some of the articles about the voter suppression from just yesterday. Black voters have been putting up with fuckery in elections for a while and for once I'm glad to see that it didn't work.
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u/qwilliams92 Dec 13 '17
As a black voter in Alabama I never truly thought my vote would count, I’ve been proved wrong