Elon wants to start a new party. The problem is, he doesn't understand how the American government works. Which, you know, was the DODGE problem in the first fucking place.

1. You can't start a new party that doesn't caucus with the other parties because you will never get any commitee assignments. The committees are where government actually happens. All you can do is vote "NO" on the house floor, but you will never get to write anything.

2. Look, I wish we had a parlaimentary system, but we don't. I lieu of ranked voting, that means presidential democracy will ALWAYS come down to two parties, because THE ELECTORATE can't possibly negotiate a coalition government. You need the representatives to do it.

Rich fucking South African is going to drop a couple hundred million dollars down a hole, and (prediction) get 2 house seats that don't fucking matter.
Moreover, after these last three elections, does ANYONE actually buy this "Both parties are the same" Ralph Nader shit anymore?

You know, back in the Cold War days, we always figured the appocalypse would take about 45 minutes.

THIS IS SOOOO SLOOOW.

I'm sorry, I'm still just hung up on: your parents didn't teach you how to be an American.

Self governance means you need to vote on what *actions* elected leaders are going to take. It is then your responsibility to determine if those actions will result in *outcomes* you want.

Trump said he would lower prices. That's not an action, that's an outcome. To borrow from Cialdini he's trying to get you to "think past the sale". A guy trying to sell you a Porsche wants you to think about getting laid, not the car.

Trump said cutting taxes on the rich and replacing those taxes with tariffs would make things cheaper, and you never thought through the consequences.

For all I have heard "identity politics" as a slur from the right for candidates and policies that target a particular bloc, cultism is the ultimate identity politics.

Today I find myself thinking about an episode of "The West Wing". Christopher Lloyd plays a fictionalized Lawrence Lessig (#lessig4scotus) who is consulting with a group of Belarusians on drafting a constitution.

The Belarusians are convinced they need a strong set of "Emergency Powers" in their constitution and Toby is trying to explain to them that is dangerous. Sure your president is a good man, "He needs strong security authority like the American president." Toby explains to them you have to draft a constitution for the guy who isn't. As April 20 approaches, we see the president using "War" powers to intern people in gulags and fuck up the global economy, I find myself thinking about how shitty our Constitution really is.

I have joked about Parliament envy. We can't ever have more than two parties in the US, because the winner take all presidency proscribes the idea of a coalition government. we have 250 years of shitty "wartime" laws and we can't just "Liz Truss" these people. We are buckled in.

How many years have we been hearing about the weaponization of the DoJ, now this fucker signs an EP directing the DoJ to investigate Chris fucking Krebs?

I swear to God, I really think anything they accuse someone else of doing is just projection because it's what they really want to be doing.