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Re:Our Political System Is Hostile to Real Reform by RickJWagner on Sunday March 29, 2020 @09:10PM (#22724322)
No way. I'm a resident of a rural state.

The things you probably find crazy: Gun ownership, owning trucks, large houses, etc. we find essential.

It's a big country, with different needs for different people. The day we trash the electoral college is the day we destroy America.

Re:Our Political System Is Hostile to Real Reform by krapp on Sunday March 29, 2020 @09:46PM (#22724488)
>The things you probably find crazy: Gun ownership, owning trucks, large houses, etc. we find essential.

Of these, only gun ownership even has remote relevance to Federal politics, and none of them are actually essential, or even exclusive to rural residents to begin with.

Re:Our Political System Is Hostile to Real Reform by RickJWagner on Sunday March 29, 2020 @10:52PM (#22724800)
Sorry, I should clarify. Those things are essential to our way of life. Our way of commuting, recreating, and living is different than what a large city dweller may be accustomed to.

This is why the electoral college is so very important. Without it, politicians would quickly shift even more focus to populous areas, to the detriment of the rest of the country.

Re:Our Political System Is Hostile to Real Reform by krapp on Monday March 30, 2020 @07:10AM (#22726962)
You do realize that when presidential nominees come to your rural area, eat at truck stops, pose with hunters, and give speeches about how the "real" Americans are the God-fearing people in the heartland doing honest work in the mines and steel mills and factories, that they're just pandering, right? They don't care about preserving your way of life, only the cold calculus of turning whatever states happen to be the swing states that election year.

I mean, the two party process gave you a choice between a millionaire from New York with at least a tenuous cultural connection to rural America, and a billionaire from New York with none, and judging from your former comments, you seem to have voted for the billionaire, and then the electoral college decided whether or not your vote mattered, and chose Kang over Kodos on your behalf. Luckily for you, your state agreed with your vote. But if you happen to be of the wrong party in some states, thanks to the electoral college, your vote simply ceases to matter.

I don't think the electoral college is giving you the leverage against urban cultural power you seem to think it does.

Re:Our Political System Is Hostile to Real Reform by mnm1 on Monday March 30, 2020 @12:37PM (#22729496)
I don't find any of those things crazy as I appreciate most of them too. All three are common place in America. None are in danger of going away. No, what I find crazy is letting millions of fellow Americans die and get sick so that a few people and corporations can get rich off their suffering. And not being prepared for a pandemic because the moron in chief cut the cdc budget and thinks it's a hoax. There's lots of things I find crazy but trucks, big houses, and guns are absolutely not among them.
Re:Our Political System Is Hostile to Real Reform by rat87 on Monday March 30, 2020 @02:56AM (#22725806)
> The day we trash the electoral college is the day we destroy America.

This is a crazy over-reaction.

The electoral college is a stupid mistake of history, that doesn't do anything positive but does undermine faith in our political system by making the loser win occasionally.

Getting rid of it won't do anything but increase stability a bit