A Nation Divided

I know the title is more than a little bit of click bait, but we do seem to stand at the cusp of a great divide. We have held yet another election where the result of our process did not align itself with the popular vote. As CCP Grey covers in the video embedded above, that brings our presidential election error rate up to roughly 7%. While I don't entirely agree with the thought of a direct democracy, I do feel that the continued failures of the present system indicate a more important, systemic issues with our nation. (If you want to learn more about why the electoral college is just so broken, watch this video, and if you, like many, have no idea how it's supposed to work at all, start with this one.) We have a government that grown increasingly less representative of the wishes of the governed, all the while opening itself to more and more infiltration by special interest groups that would sell the soul of our nation for a quick buck. It's time that we actually move for change and make America great again by demanding better election practices that allow a diversity of representation, instead of the current two-party system. We need to push for more rational voting schemes that prevent the spoiler effect, resist gerrymandering, and allow more of the people to get the representation in government that they actually want. A good place to start learning more about how voting can be better is here with CCP Grey again.

In this series of videos, he discusses the problems with first-past-the-post voting, and he talks about other methods of voting that, while still not perfect, at least fix most of the major issues with first-past-the-post. We, as a nation, need to take the time to learn why we use the methods we do for selecting who becomes part of our government, and we need to learn about the better options that exist. Then, we need to get involved in our local government and push for changes in how we cast our votes and how we get represented by our elected officials. It's only by taking a ground up approach that we can actually change this nation for the better.

Whatever Happened to Tom's Hoodie?: Tom Scott at Thinking Digital 2013

In a world where we cling to so many things, both physical and digital, it is all too easy to become burdened by the weight of the past we carry with us. Perhaps it's time for us to think about at least reducing that weight, even if we are not yet ready to rid ourselves of it entirely.



You can find more of his videos on his YouTube! channel here.

Thoughts By Night

Not in the normal vein of things I post here, but the words touched me in a way that I can't quite explain.

After our last meeting, I was more relaxed and at peace with myself and the world than I had been in ages; yet I could not sleep -- did not want to sleep, for fear that in sleeping I would wake to find it had all been but a dream, as moments of such perfect bliss have no place in this fractured world of ours. All I wanted was to lie there for an eternity, contentedly basking in the warm glow of remembrance.

Fragments From a Diary

Author Unknown