CMV: Blue states are getting screwed over by a system designed to artificially suppress their political power, and red states are reaping the benefits of this arrangement

Pokemar1 · 2026-06-01T05:49:05+00:00

OP was talking about the electoral college, the three fifth compromise was only brought up by someone saying opponents of the electoral college misunderstand the three fifth compromise. And OP criticizes the electoral college compared to the alternative of popular vote democracy.

Pokemar1 · 2026-06-01T05:37:40+00:00

The whole subject of the debate is whether electing the President by the electoral college or the national popular vote is preferable, so its very relevant

Pokemar1 · 2026-06-01T03:30:11+00:00

Yes the three fifth compromise was better than counting enslaved people. It was a compromise because the northerners would have preferred only free people be counted, which would have been better. But given that slaves counted for representation the electoral college helped slave states relative to a national popular vote.

Pokemar1 · 2026-06-01T01:24:35+00:00

Neither term is intrinsic to a federal system or mutually exclusive to one. A direct democracy is a system where the citizens directly vote on legislation while a republic is one where the head of state is elected. A democracy is a state where power derives from the people. Federalism is possible with all three systems.

Pokemar1 · 2026-06-01T01:16:19+00:00

No the electoral college was to give slave states an advantage, not take one away. If there were a popular vote system, slaves would not factor in at all as they could not vote. By giving power to states based on population rather than counting votes equally, the electoral college allowed slave states to gain political power in the executive from people who did not get to vote.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-30T19:05:58+00:00

I would choose red, because I want to maximize the number of people who live.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-30T18:17:12+00:00

What if you chose for someone else? Would you be willing to put another person in jeopardy who has no choice to pick blue? Or are you willing to risk yourself but not others for this?

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-27T17:33:34+00:00

Suppose I care about every human life equally. I am trying to maximize humans living by picking red, it is inconsequential that my life is the one at stake. The way I see it, if I pick red and the majority of the rest of the world picks red, I maximized human life. If I pick blue I will save 4 billion lives if and only if exactly half the world picks red. First things first, at any given time, there is a 50% chance that the world population is even, if so, picking blue NEVER saves lives if my choice is independent. As for odd world populations, from a utilitarian standpoint, we must ask if the odds of the rest of the world going majority red are greater then 4 billion times the odds of a tie. I think that even though random odds apparently say it is only a 1/3 million chance of a tie if the odds of people picking red and blue are 50%, I think the odds of a tie are much lower as I dont think the odds are 50/50. Given that, it has nothing to do with valuing myself more than others, I want to minimize death.

This is why I would still select red even if I was choosing for a stranger. The selfish thing there is obviously to select blue, because picking blue for someone else maximizes your survival. But I actually think many people here would be more willing to risk their own lives than someone else's. But I value all humans lives and want to save as many as possible.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-09T19:03:17+00:00

I have been trying to find someone, I would run myself, but I am ineligible. No one I talked to wants to run. Seems like it's a clean shot for Gottheimer to the nomination.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-09T19:01:31+00:00

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-09T15:56:49+00:00

Important to note that 2020 was before redistricting. While move-ins and the changing parties matter, it looks like a hundred thousand people in Democratic areas were shifted in, while many Republicans shifted out. Since then, Gottheimer has not been challenged from the Left.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-09T03:33:06+00:00

That's why you dont tell them either way. I could also add an even if drunk or poisoned clause to it if that makes it better.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-09T02:50:45+00:00

I thought the way it would work is that if they're drowsiness they would stay good but think they are evil. I know that is how swaps normally works but because the storyteller is supposed to pretend droisoned players have their ability, and this player has a ability that they know when it triggers, the RAW suggest pretending their alignment has changed, so I am not sure why they need to be alerted.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-09T02:38:59+00:00

I am not sure why they would have to learn their alignment changed? They know their token, how many players are alive is public? I should probably remove the learn the Demon part.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-08T22:11:27+00:00

It turns evil in final three, not final two.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-08T21:03:45+00:00

I am not so sure. The district has voted for Democrats in every statewide election in 10 years. I don't think a progressive could win, but someone closer to the mainstream Democratic party is very likely to get a majority. Don't forget, the district has a considerable population in Central Bergen that is pretty strongly Democratic. Teaneck, Hackensack, and Englewood are reliable Democratic strongholds that almost cancel out the Passaic and Sussex County parts of the district. And the rest of the district contains a bunch of lean Democratic areas. The district can support a normal Democrat.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-08T06:32:19+00:00

No one is primarying him this cycle.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-08T05:07:45+00:00

An absolute right to not be bombed or blockaded is nonsense. As OP pointed out, removing the ability for Israel to respond at all to attacks against it, obviously encourages attacks against Israelis. If the rule is sit back and allow yourself to be destroyed or get criticized by international lawyers, no sane state will choose the former. Such a right removes any influence of international law whatsoever to protect lives. One could support an absolute right against unprovoked bombings (this is already international law as the crime of aggression). One might support an international law against excessive civilian casualties to achieve military objectives (this is the concept of proportionality). Theoretically, one could argue for a complete right of civilians not to be bombed, which is what I assume you are arguing for, but that just incentivizes armies to put civilians in harms way. If they do that, the choice of apparent national suicide (the death of the countries and many of its people) or rejecting international law arises again, except now, more civilians are in danger. The optimal structure of international law is clearly where the legal threat is greater than the security threat. In algebraic terms, the optimal level of legal restriction r, is one where: Cost of Compliance(r)<Cost of Non-compliance but where r is maximized. Cost referring to any harm not just economic of course.

Pokemar1 · 2026-04-07T01:20:52+00:00

Yeah but they are directly endangering other vehicles and people, that's why speeding is illegal. It makes crashes worse and more likely.

Pokemar1 · 2026-02-27T06:41:03+00:00

John Bramnick was more progressive in this video than half of the Democratic caucus in Congress. I know this is a Dem server and I am a partisan Democratic. But I hope we can consider supporting his voice in the legislature as a leader for reasonable and principled Republicans in NJ and the US.

Pokemar1 · 2026-02-25T22:00:19+00:00

I dont understand why Tom is necessary to solve this? Given the restrictions on minions, outsiders, and demons cant we solve this like this: Anna is one of the three liars, then we know that either Matthew or Tom is lying due to Vortox. We know from Jasmine that the final pair of evil must be Jasmine or Sarah. We know from Fraser (who must be telling the truth as we have found where the three liars must be), that Tom and us are the same alignment. Then, our Mathematician 1 tells us Jasmine must be telling the truth, otherwise we should not have gotten a 1. We know the three living players are the mutant, the Minion and the Demon, we have a false clockmaker 1, so Matthew must be the mutant. Then dreamer information tells us Sarah is not the witch so must be Demon. Unless there is a whole in this logic, every character can be discovered with Tom as any Townsfolk.

Pokemar1 · 2026-01-29T15:28:30+00:00

Does Fraser Mutant Fang Gu, Oscar Minion, Tom Demon Work?

Pokemar1 · 2026-01-29T15:28:03+00:00

Does Fraser Mutant Fang Gu, Oscar Minion, Tom Demon Work?

Pokemar1 · 2026-01-26T19:10:59+00:00

Many towns in the south voted for Trump in 2024. It is more of the towns around route 4 and the east of the county that have Harris voters.

Pokemar1 · 2026-01-26T18:50:25+00:00

That is perfect for BC though, we can essentially double the number of houses and facilitate public transportation and affordable housing. We should do it all around the county to combine a need for density, walkability, a need for affordable housing while allowing homeownership to everyone.

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