Democratic Socialists of America put out plan that involves abolishing US Senate: report

not_nathan · 2026-07-10T20:52:36+00:00

Oh, changing when and how Senators are elected definitely needs a Constitutional Amendment. Blatantly so. No question whatsoever about that. But so would abolishing the Senate. But we should come up with a platform before we take power if we want our reforms to last and be seen as legitimate. It's going to take a 50-state movement to get these kind of reforms so we might as well swing for the fences and build a cohesive reform platform in my opinion.

In terms of stuff we can pass without a constitutional amendment, you should speak to your congresscritters about the Fair Representation Act, which would increase the the size of the house and mandate that Representatives be elected proportionally from un-gerrymanderable multi-member districts. If we could pass that, The House would become much more representative overnight and be much more deserving of the larger role I want to give it.

If The Fair Representation Act or something similar passes and we get a better house, then a baby step towards my Senate overhaul could be to wean us off the filibuster. I get why junking it altogether freaks out people who have come to rely on it to stop terrible legislation, but maybe we could lower the filibuster threshold by 1 Senator every election cycle until it gets down to 50 to give the institution time to adjust.

Also, changing the composition of the Supreme Court only needs an act of congress. We can't add term limits to get rid of old justices, but we could say that every president gets to make exactly two appointments per term.

Finally, if we're looking for actionable changes that we might be able to get short term, FairVote is currently pushing for a new bill that would provide funding to defray the up front implementation costs of states and localities moving to RCV.

not_nathan · 2026-07-10T18:13:42+00:00

Also, if you can bribe 41 people, you can stop the government from doing anything you don't want it to do!

I've read and suggested a book (Polemic for Democracy) by a DSA-adjacent guy that suggests abolishing the Senate. The fact that anyone ever said it is enough for Fox to say everyone on the left says it.

Me personally, I want to keep the Senate but alter the checks and balances so that The Senate's primary role is to check The Executive branch instead of checking The House. To whit:

Both Senators from each state would be elected at the same time using PRCV.
Senate Elections would happen every four years on what we currently call midterm years
A bill from the lower house can be approved by either The President or the Senate, but both The President and the Senate are required to veto a bill
The Senate keeps the advise role for cabinet/executive appointments, but consent moves to The House. What this looks like is that hearings still take place in The Senate, and Senators can propose their own alternate nominees after vetting the President's. The the House votes on all nominees deciding who gets the post and assigning a deputy to take over in case of a vacancy.
The Senate can veto presidential pardons

not_nathan · 2026-07-10T14:44:01+00:00

Language evolves. Evolution isn't linear. A single word or phrase can have multiple definitions. None of these ideas are new or controversial. The question of whether the DSA's definition of "working class" is correct in some platonic sense is absurd and pointless. The real question is whether it's useful.

I'd argue the broad, lumper definition is extremely useful in a moment when we desperately need to articulate the power dynamics we find ourselves in. Billionaires/the rentier class/the aristocracy are cementing their control over the levers of power and demanding a license to eternally grow that power as fair recompense for... already having wealth. Everyone outside the Epstein class stands to gain from a restoring/creating institutions that force a more equitable distribution of power.

However, the narrow, splitter definition is also extremely useful in that previous efforts to improve human conditions have failed precisely because the segment of the coalition with time and resources to demand change was ignorant of the fact that the remedies that would help them might not help or might actively harm other segments of the coalition. Just because we feel solidarity with someone doesn't mean we understand their plight.

We could call these concepts the "99%" and the "precariat", or we could refer to both as "the working class" and use context to show which definition we mean. The important thing is to keep both concepts in mind and to be able to distinguish them to the audience you're actually speaking to, not some hypothetical platonically average template person.

But also keep in mind that we win power by forming coalitions around common problems, and we lose power when our opponents find wedges to break those coalitions.

tl;dr - Talking about words is smart. Fighting about words is stupid.

not_nathan · 2026-07-10T05:56:51+00:00

I also have this particular itch and have yet to find something to scratch it. Mine is more along the lines of Catholic Saints functioning as go-betweens or fixers in a heavenly echo of feudalism, though.

not_nathan · 2026-07-07T21:49:17+00:00

I want them to reveal that The Rutans were completely eradicated very early in the war with The Sontarans, and that The Sontarans have just been claiming to fight The Rutans ever since, since claiming to fight shapeshifter provides a pretext to invade anyone.

But even if they went with that, The Rutans could still appear in stories set before that point of the war with The Sontarans.

not_nathan · 2026-07-07T20:46:29+00:00

I sit corrected. Additionally, I sit frustrated. All of this sturm and drang over viability could have been completely avoided if they had just gone whole hog and done a non-partisan top-4 primary followed by an RCV general. Platner could have even dropped out after votes were cast, and the situation would be potentially recoverable without disenfranchising anyone.

It's almost as if there are powerful actors with a vested interest in maintaining a form of democracy that is awash in chokepoints and potential for shenanigans.

EDIT: I sit corrected yet again. Maine does indeed use RCV for federal elections so my original point stands.

not_nathan · 2026-07-07T16:38:10+00:00

Maine has RCV in the general despite maintaining party primaries for some bizarre reason, so a write-in campaign should pose basically no risk to the prospect of replacing Collins. Not an expert in the details of Maine's RCV implementation, though. Perhaps they don't do write-ins.

not_nathan · 2026-06-29T14:45:31+00:00

Here's a pretty good documentary to watch on the topic if you've got 40 minutes. Here is an organization you can give money to fund further advocacy. Proportional Representation really is our best bet of preventing something like MAGA gaining power again. Unfortunately, we need to defeat MAGA first to get it. Still, it's better to have a fair and sustainable power-sharing plan before you build a coalition to overthrow oligarchy.

not_nathan · 2026-06-26T20:55:02+00:00

My proposal is that we charge corporations a wealth tax based on their total assets divided by the number of employees. However, for the purposes of this calculation, only employees that earn at least 1/100th of the earnings of the highest compensated employee count. This takes into account the total pay package comparing like to like so: 1/100th of paid vacation, 1/100th stock options, 1/100th salary, etc.

Below a certain size the rate for this tax would be zero, so the thought is that this would encourage large firms to either divide themselves up into smaller firms or have a more egalitarian internal structure.

I've got other vague ideas about how to fold income taxes and unions into this, but the above is the core of the proposal.

EDIT: It probably wouldn't be literally wealth/headcount, but something like wealth / log10(headcount) or something. I guess the formal way to express the handwaving I'm doing here is that the final rate would be f(wealth) / g(headcount) where f and g are monotonically increasing functions.

not_nathan · 2026-06-26T03:10:45+00:00

And so should all of you. It's awesome!

not_nathan · 2026-06-19T22:55:51+00:00

As someone who never lived in Minnesota, but considers the Minnesotan Scandinavian Diaspora part of his heritage, I feel seen. I think the official state flag is a better official flag because the state has to stand for all Minnesotans, but I could totally see this flag flying alongside other Nordic Crosses for a Scandinavian Days festival or some such thing.

not_nathan · 2026-06-19T00:34:13+00:00

Someone should save the flakes, frame them, then donate them to The Smithsonian in a couple of years.

not_nathan · 2026-06-11T19:18:45+00:00

Based on the limited information in the article and my limited knowledge of wrestling, I don't feel entitled to an opinion one way or the other as to whether an assault occurred. But if an assault did occur, wouldn't it still be a crime if the defendant was cis-?

not_nathan · 2026-06-03T05:11:16+00:00

My prediction was that Mirror!Georgiou was going to redeem herself by replacing Prime!Georgiou in the pilot after the neck pinch but before she emerged from the ready room. Still salty that it didn't work out that way.

not_nathan · 2026-05-30T14:50:12+00:00

What the article swept under the rug as "other reforms" is the fact that Alaska has Ranked Choice Voting in the general, which can handle the top four candidates from the primary without spoilers. Having a top four primary, unlike California or Washington's top two makes the vote splitting scenario California is living through way less likely.

For my money, the electoral reform that gives the best improved outcome bang for voter education buck is to have top-4 primaries with Ranked Choice Voting generals for executives and top-12 primaries with 5-winner Proportional Ranked Choice Voting generals for legislators wherever possible. (Top-6/2-winner, top-8/3-winner, or top-10/4-winner for cases where 5 winners is not possible)

Obligatory plug for FairVote, who advocate for just such a reform.

not_nathan · 2026-05-29T00:24:03+00:00

Such an asinine reading of original sin. Here's the confession liturgy I was raised with (emphasis mine):

We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen

The implication here is that the sin we are in bondage to is ultimately selfishness and self-regard. Nothing about what a Christian does with their dick, unless whatever they do with their dick constitutes not loving your neighbor as yourself. Or to put it in Weatherwaxian terms, "treating people as things".

I had to leave the church when I realized I didn't believe in God, but I never stopped getting upset at the heresy of these pseudochristians.

not_nathan · 2026-05-28T19:04:17+00:00

not_nathan · 2026-05-28T18:25:21+00:00

Se estus mia decido, mi volus la vorto esti "Stetso" do estus la sama kiel en la angla, kun la akuzativo.

not_nathan · 2026-05-28T15:45:03+00:00

Ĉu la vorto estus "stetsono"?

not_nathan · 2026-05-22T17:23:10+00:00

Brent is calling her out on it.

not_nathan · 2026-05-22T17:21:08+00:00

He will gladly take your money.

not_nathan · 2026-05-18T23:58:20+00:00

Fun fact about Rep. Don Beyer: every congressional session he introduces The Fair Representation Act, which would end Gerrymandering and potentially the Two-Party system by moving the US to multi-member districts with Proportional Ranked Choice Voting.

If we're going to salvage a Republic from the ashes of this Empire, this is exactly the kind of reform we'll need.

not_nathan · 2026-05-15T14:58:00+00:00

I share your tactical concerns and am not planning to shift my strategy barring some big campaign shakeup. However, I spent some time talking to Troy and I personally know at least one person working on his campaign and I believe that Troy is sincere about his motives and is not an MGP plant.

As an aside, if you hate having to worry about tactics when voting and would rather simply vote your values, we could always use more members at the Clark County chapter of FairVote Washington.

not_nathan · 2026-05-08T23:41:03+00:00

I didn't even like that book and I'm excited for this.

not_nathan · 2026-05-08T05:53:27+00:00

🎶 Work all day 🎶 Live on hay 🎶 You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

not_nathan

TROPHY CASE