Anyone want to move to VT?

[JimG.]

I almost didn't even vote this last election because I didn't like any of the options. It amazes me that the parties can not come up with new blood that has new and interesting ideas.

Mainstream politicians don't care about interesting ideas.

They only care about lining their own pockets and those of the lobbying groups. That's pretty easy to do and it amazes me that over 350 million people can't/don't try to organize to remove them all.

The current climate of partisan extremism makes it even easier. As a general population we are pretty stupid.

 

[AdironRider]

The candidates that advance and do well are propped up by lobbying interests. Until campaign finance laws change, I see it always being much of the same from both sides. Though Trump is probably the best modern example of an outsider breaking that mold.

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And that was only really because he was able to self finance the first half of the campaign pretty much. I know he got reimbursed for a bunch of stuff, but he still needed the cash to bankroll it for a bit.

Says a lot when you basically have to be a billionaire or sell your soul to special interests to be a successful candidate though.

 

[benski]

It is unfortunate that a state's future is at all tied to its implications for elections. If CA thinks that it is best for the state to split it, then it should split. Election trends are likely to look way different 30 years from now, so in the long run it really doesn't matter.

This statement makes a mockery of the Senate and electoral college.

 

[Jully]

This statement makes a mockery of the Senate and electoral college.

In what way?

 

[machski]

States like California and Texas probably should be split up since they are crazy big in terms of population and economic output. And maybe small states like Vermont and New Hampshire should be merged.

I agree that politicians have a very short term outlook of winning the next election, and don't think about the long term, so fat chance any state lines are going to be redrawn.

You can see the short term outlook with the rampant gerrymandering (sadly invented in Boston) that they use to guarantee certain seats in congress will be one party or the other. But when you're just competing with your own party during an election for a seat, then naturally the more extreme person for that party will tend to win. So the short term gain of gerrymandering has the long term effect of promoting really extreme views in each party and the polarization of everything.

I couldn't help but laugh at the media reaction after Trump's Singapore summit. Fox news was touting it as a massive success and the end of the nuclear threat from North Korea, while MSNBC was saying OMG he promised to stop the super important war games with South Korea and got nothing in return. The truth is somewhere in the middle that it was just a positive first step, and things could go either way from here.

No, NH has no interest in merging with VT, thank you. Of course, if the municipality of Killington would like to try and Cecede again from VT and join NH, we would be happy to entertain that.

On the flip side, the CA article notes that while the measure for the requisite 800K or so signatures, it likely stands no chance of actually passing. The person who fronted the moment apparently proposed to break CA up into like 8 states in the past too.

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[thetrailboss]

No, NH has no interest in merging with VT, thank you. Of course, if the municipality of Killington would like to try and Cecede again from VT and join NH, we would be happy to entertain that.


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Yeah, whatever happened to that?!


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[benski]

In what way?

You just explained how the Senate and electoral college make otherwise meaningless geographic divisions politically important.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Meaningless?

 

[Terry]

What happened to the no politics discussed policy?

 

[Smellytele]

What happened to the no politics discussed policy?

No one has really taken a side just pointing out general government stupidness.

 

[JimG.]

No one has really taken a side just pointing out general government stupidness.

Precisely.

 

[speden]

SNL's take on Vermont

 

[thetrailboss]

SNL's take on Vermont

I thought it was funny.


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[speden]

I thought it was funny.

I liked how they threw in a reference to Subaru's at the end. Reminded me of some threads here.

 

[bdfreetuna]

haha that was pretty good. Was that from the Kanye West episode?

 

[tnt1234]

The candidates that advance and do well are propped up by lobbying interests. Until campaign finance laws change, I see it always being much of the same from both sides. Though Trump is probably the best modern example of an outsider breaking that mold.

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Well, on the GOP side it's gotten a bit more complicated. The candidates that do well are those that are embraced by right wing media, who give countless dollars in free advertising in return for bombastic statements and far right attitudes that in turn drive ratings to the media outlets/

This had not really been true on the Presidential level until trump, but has been true on the house/senate (particularly the house) for quite some time.

 

[tnt1234]

But getting back to the OP - yes, I want to live in vermont. Can't see how this program helps me though. No way I can do my job remotely.

 

[bdfreetuna]

bombastic statements and far right attitudes that in turn drive ratings to the media outlets/

inconvenient facts

 

[Blowhard]

But getting back to the OP - yes, I want to live in vermont. Can't see how this program helps me though. No way I can do my job remotely.

just got a place on a lake near okemo. next year when last kid is off to college, i plan on living there a few weeks at a time, working remotely and skiing magic, killington or heading up to brandon gap.

 

[tnt1234]

just got a place on a lake near okemo. next year when last kid is off to college, i plan on living there a few weeks at a time, working remotely and skiing magic, killington or heading up to brandon gap.

Nice. What lake? I browse VT and upstate NY real estate occasionally looking for that perfect lake front mountain getaway.