Quoting John Krivitsky (jk(a)smartguide.com.au):
> Rick, thanks so much for explaining the subtleties and strategies
> behind the US electoral system. It's really quite fascinating.
You're most welcome. Many parts of it are mind-bogglingly _haphazard_,
partly because of the early date when it was all improvised. E.g., the
US Constitution was written and adopted in 1789, following independence
and (in effect) a provisional government 13 years earlier.
This was all so early that when that flamboyant character the Marquis
de Lafayette came home to France from America to help lead the
French Revolution and help write the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen),
he was able to jest -- with factual accuracy -- that he'd become
an (American) citizen before the concept of (French) citizenship existed.
(The brand new US states of Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and
Virginia conferred citizenship on him in gratitude for his help in the
war of independence.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette#Hero_…
Part of what makes the US arrangement complex will be familiar to both
Australians and Canadians, i.e. federalism -- as will diversity among
the country's states.
But anyway, something invented in the 1700s can be understood to likely
contain some peculiarities and utterly puzzling features. And I didn't
even get to that infamous, totally screwball 18th Century holdover, the
USA's Electoral College, which will become relevant for the November
general election. And, if the US is _really_ unlucky, and the Electoral
College doesn't return a majority choice for President and VP, the
Fourteenth Amendment will kick the whole election to the Senate and the
House of Representatives, and you'll never believe the stupidity of how
_that_ works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)#Fourteenth_…
Trent W. Buck really nailed it: The US setup has horrible kludges
because it was created over 200 years ago, when it took months to get
anywhere, and the people who should have revised those kludges punted on
the responsibility because the kludges are what put them in power.
> The Australian system seems to be much more straight forward.
Absolutely. _And_ Oz's working IRV implementation is a blessing to the
world, that should be more widely emulated. Not perfect, but a huge
improvement on anything architected in 1789.
Craig, you have an ongoing pattern of abusing people who disagree with you.
Whether by accident or design this imposes a cost for people who wish to say
anything that you disagree with (and to some extent to say anything at all on
mailing lists you use). You seem to believe that you are entitled to send a
stream of profanity to anyone you disagree with and have them just accept it
without even disagreeing with you.
It may seem like harassment to you to have someone resolutely disagree with
your opinions and your behavior. This doesn't mean that it is harassment,
merely that your tactics have worked well for you most of the time and you
have become used to "winning" debates in this manner over the course of
decades of mailing list discussions while other people have become used to
receiving profanity.
I don't believe that you are more important than me. I don't believe that I
should be silenced by your abuse.
I am not arguing for an entire absence of profanity on this list. The topics
that are discussed tend towards heated discussion. But when messages have
profanity without arguments supporting a case it becomes a problem.
Anyone who doesn't want to receive mail from me can easily achieve that
objective by not sending mail to me. If you send mail to me there is a
possibility that I will disagree with you, if I do disagree there's an almost
certainty that I will tell you.
<cas(a)taz.net.au>: host taz.net.au[203.16.167.1] said: 550 5.7.1
<russell-sender(a)coker.com.au>: Sender address rejected: FUCK OFF RUSSELL
YOU ANNOYING CUNT! (in reply to RCPT TO command)
Sending me nasty mail and configuring your MTA to reject a reply in the above
manner is not acceptable behavior.
--
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
I’m attending a Meetup with Open Knowledge Melbourne http://meetu.ps/e/BlCz8/8BKq/d
This looks like a fun event. The book is freely available from the author's web site and there's time to read it before the meeting.
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