I realize I just essentially said to tell people to vote while you were asking for something more. I wanted to share that because some people think that posting “vote” is the same as having a conversation about voting. Posting is not nearly as effective.

Another thing that might help is directly asking elected officials to intervene. Staffers for politicians keep a tally of calls and letters they receive for/against a given issue. So while your words may not move an elected, you and some friends can get them to act on an issue. If you have a group you can also request a meeting to discuss your issue which is even more effective. Politicians take notice of organized groups of constituents since that’s a block of votes for/against them and possible a group knocking doors for/against them.

The trouble is I don’t know what the ask is. There should be a specific action you’re demanding: “introduce this bill” “cosponsor this bill” “vote for/against this bill”. And it has to be something they’re able to do. I don’t know what that thing would be.

Pack the supreme court (but there’s not time for that or majority in the house).

Long term I think building true power means growing communities, joining unions and cooperatives. Most of us aren’t rich or powerful enough to be heard, which is why organizing is so important. None of this is fair or easy to do.

They say your time is much better spent guaranteeing people who already will vote blue show up to polls than trying to change the opinion of people who will vote red.

So that looks like asking people “do you have a plan to vote?” And perhaps in a less nosy phrasing: “When will you vote?” “How will you get there?”

People verbalizing a plan makes them more likely to follow through.

There are many places you can sign up to go canvassing, which is great. I would suggest in addition to and maybe before that, make a list of everyone you know and would feel comfortable talking to, and talk to them about voting. You will get much more mileage from existing relationships. (It’s like how sales differentiates a warm lead and a cold lead)

Once you’ve exhausted that list then every little bit still helps. I do think high density events like farmers markets, community gatherings, concerts, games, etc have better rate of contact than door to door.

I don’t know, to use an extreme example, if I lived in Nazi Germany I would probably resist conscription.

That’s an interesting take. What about a scenario where the nation as it stands doesn’t meet the requirements you outlined, but there’s clear indication the invading country would be worse?

Thanks for your thought. What about a situation where you know everyone won’t be killed, but the defeated country will no longer be democratic/open? In other words, you’ll live, but the quality of life will be much worse for the foreseeable future

So if for example every person’s name goes in the hat, and then conscripts are drawn at random? I only clarify because in a situation where every able body is fighting you’ve already lost, there needs to be logistics, maintaining utilities, growing food, etc

Seems all but impossible they’ll switch candidates now. There’s not a mechanism for it. It would have to be something like Biden having a major medical issue or dying.

It might not even speak english

What if it’s an immigrant computer

00101000 00101110 00101001 00101000 00101110 00101001

Funny enough this reads more like spam from a person where English is their second language than as AI spam

Yes, I view the time loop trilogy as groundhog day, edge of tomorrow and palm springs (good. Andy Samberg)

Something else they (and a lot of other coops) do is set a max ratio of executive income vs lowest paid worker income. So for example I think at Mondragon an executive can’t make more than six times the lowest paid worker.

I think market based mechanisms for calculating pay would be very hard to get away from.

That said, Mondragon (worker cooperative) has a base pay rate and then all positions are assigned a multiplier to determine an individual’s compensation.

Sorry, who gave you a curfew?

What are you running from

You know it

Guys, guys, there’s no point in intercontinental squabbling, we should focus on the real enemy, uh… teleporting space squid

That is nice

I read arstechnica.com every day for general tech news.

I read talkingpointsmemo.com most days. It’s focused on US politics, but I like that it gives a little more context coming from a perspective fairly similar to mine.