![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I had been wondering why more frequent number updates hadn't been coming out of swing states like Arizona and Nevada until I saw the footage of the mobs surrounding the buildings. All I can say is that has to be terrifying for the poll workers, their families, the security at those locations, and everyone else who isn't a potentially armed lunatic. If I was in charge of a state's vote counting process I wouldn't release any numbers either until they were all counted and the staff were safely off site and heading home.
Really this whole thing is sad. I know the Democrats ran a bland, safe, moderate, political insider as a candidate in hopes of appealing to the central majority of American voters because it legitimately seemed like the best idea at the time. It was a sound concept in theory but the first of the three takeaways I'm getting from this election is that the US is so polarized any central majority has been pulled to the edges to the point there probably isn't a sizeable central majority left to appeal to anymore. It's gone and I don't see it ever coming back.
Which leads to the second takeaway, namely that winning American election campaigns cannot realistically be run on ideas that inspire across the political spectrum. From now on victory will go to the side that can most efficiently mobilize its own base while disenfranchising and suppressing the base of their opponent. Which of course begs the question whether or not such a system can truly be described as a democracy.
The Republicans have the edge here since they've been doing it as standard practice for longer but the Democrats have equally smart and skilled people. They'll learn to play and win at this new landscape soon enough.
As for the third takeaway its clear that polling is not currently effective in the age of 24 hour news cycles, social media, and government run disinformation campaigns. Frankly the octopus The Sports Network used to use to pick the winners of hockey games did a better job than pollsters did. So what does that mean? No idea. I don't have enough data just like anyone else trying to make any predictions.
So what does it ultimately mean? In terms of specific policies and decisions I have no idea. I do know that this election is not the waking from a four year bad dream that everyone hoped it would be. The polarization is too great and the divisions too deep and entrenched to heal. This election is merely confirmation that this national nightmare is the new normal of America and a sign that Canada has to seek new partnerships and alliances to secure its goals in this world
I take no pleasure in saying this but God Help America. I give them a decade or two before it starts coming apart. No country can continue to withstand this sort of damage indefinitely and its been tearing itself apart for 20 years now non-stop.
Really this whole thing is sad. I know the Democrats ran a bland, safe, moderate, political insider as a candidate in hopes of appealing to the central majority of American voters because it legitimately seemed like the best idea at the time. It was a sound concept in theory but the first of the three takeaways I'm getting from this election is that the US is so polarized any central majority has been pulled to the edges to the point there probably isn't a sizeable central majority left to appeal to anymore. It's gone and I don't see it ever coming back.
Which leads to the second takeaway, namely that winning American election campaigns cannot realistically be run on ideas that inspire across the political spectrum. From now on victory will go to the side that can most efficiently mobilize its own base while disenfranchising and suppressing the base of their opponent. Which of course begs the question whether or not such a system can truly be described as a democracy.
The Republicans have the edge here since they've been doing it as standard practice for longer but the Democrats have equally smart and skilled people. They'll learn to play and win at this new landscape soon enough.
As for the third takeaway its clear that polling is not currently effective in the age of 24 hour news cycles, social media, and government run disinformation campaigns. Frankly the octopus The Sports Network used to use to pick the winners of hockey games did a better job than pollsters did. So what does that mean? No idea. I don't have enough data just like anyone else trying to make any predictions.
So what does it ultimately mean? In terms of specific policies and decisions I have no idea. I do know that this election is not the waking from a four year bad dream that everyone hoped it would be. The polarization is too great and the divisions too deep and entrenched to heal. This election is merely confirmation that this national nightmare is the new normal of America and a sign that Canada has to seek new partnerships and alliances to secure its goals in this world
I take no pleasure in saying this but God Help America. I give them a decade or two before it starts coming apart. No country can continue to withstand this sort of damage indefinitely and its been tearing itself apart for 20 years now non-stop.
