Ethics – Page 6 – Underlore

Black Voters and Bernie Sanders

TL/DR: Bernie won’t actually have a problem with AA/minority voters on the days of vote. The media is just saying that over and over hoping to make it true.

Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote – The Nation

Bernie will have the black vote when it matters and here’s why.

I know no one wants to talk about this really for fear of being misconstrued as implying that blacks as a voting block are ignorant. However, the root of Bernie’s problem with the black electorate at this stage is ironically a consequence of everything he’s trying to fight.

Blacks and most others frankly at this point haven’t on average looked into who to vote for yet because they know it’ll be a trivial decision to make and because they on average are too busy or disenfranchised to engage in what is at its point essentially the politico version of fantasy football.

At this point the election is a first world problem for the majority of those 61% of people that didn’t vote last time. For the moment, and only for the moment, most people have more pressing matters to attend to.

Not having the time to inform yourself of the reality of your choice in an upcoming vote is by definition a bigger problem the more disenfranchised your group is because then you have bigger and more real problems to deal with day to day expressly because of systemic racism or other forms of oppression.

When you are worried for example about being shot by the local police walking down the block to buy groceries, assuming you can even afford them, you’re not going to have a lot of time or inclination at first to wiki Bernie vs Clinton and their voting records. This does not make you stupid, it makes you human.

Sure it might be unwise as a group to disengage, but individually (and here is the critical part) this early, it’s essentially a waste of time. But again, be honest, this really isn’t as complicated an nuanced as the media (both mainstream and alternative) how long would it take anyone browsing to decide which is the candidate for them? We all want to sound smart, but really a choice like this takes no more than 30 minutes of searching.

There’s also the general impact of austerity measures especially in republican states on political awareness. Schools generally are in third world shape in this country and they only get worse in oppressed communities. But again, that doesn’t matter much in this specific context because of the internet and the penetration of smart phones into every level of society.

All this is in my opinion why there is this perception that Bernie isn’t doing well among minorities, blacks in particular. It’s ultimately an illusion.

This will all change the moment the primary begins because he’ll win Iowa and New Hampshire and the news will be forced to name him and the busier more distracted of the black electorate will, by virtue of it no longer being a first world problem, will inform themselves on their upcoming choice.

And when they quickly find that their choice is between a woman who accepts money from the private prison lobby and says whatever she thinks is expedient at the time, or a man who walked with King and was arrested fighting for the civil rights movement, who has not deviated from his message of equality and true progressivism in decades, they’ll make the intelligent, self serving, and compassionate choice.

See, the thing about low information voting is about the price in time of acquiring that information. The opportunity cost is the deciding factor here. As the day of the primary gets closer and closer in each state, a moment will be taken by each person who isn’t totally disconnected or prohibited from participation even indirectly, to confirm or deny what they already believe, and they’ll find Bernie’s revolution waiting for them, instead of SSDD not worth the wait inline come election day.

The issue of who to vote for in the primary will for each person stop being a waste of precious time. It then stops being a trivial day to day hobby horse race, and it starts being something real that matters today. And that only means millions of people discovering Bernie and coming to #FeelTheBern

I believe that essentially all it takes to turn the average black Hillary supporter into a Bernie Sanders’ supporter is 30 minutes on a smart phone and an open mind. Call me sappy or naive but I’m pretty sure open minds and smart phones are still ubiquitous in this country, no matter what the news tells us.

Also, primary voters are by definition more engaged than general election only voters, and engaged voters Google who they are voting for. Any progressive that shows up has a great chance of being behind Bernie than any of these polls can predict. Unless they are online, and the online polls show a landslide coming because there are no spoiler effects in play. It’s perfectly safe to vote Bernie. Indeed, given his performance (compared to Hillary) vs Trump and the other republicans, he’s the safer vote.

This election is defined by populism. That will include the dismissal of the main stream media by the electorate. The same anti establishment populism that caused this race to boil down to Trump vs Sanders also is present vs the six company news machine we all know by now has been lying to us for decades.

Mark my words, Bernie is essentially going to sweep the primaries barring outright election rigging.

Update: 2016-02-23 0517 AM

I’m not afraid of being called a racist as a result of my efforts to point out the value of Bernie’s candidacy to minority voters primary because I’m not a racist by any rational definition.

I’ve realized that the scolding by the neoliberal set for whites to get out of the race issue is a slick way to perpetuate the divide.

If a particular person hates me for defending their interests, that’s their right. I’m not doing it to earn praise. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do.

It’s not about them, it’s about me 🙂

I’m not going to preemptively give up in a misguided effort to avoid offending someone. This is the Internet. Just existing offends some people heh.

Now obviously I realize that blacks can and should be able to vote for whomever they please.
You’ll notice Bernie isn’t black. I’m not saying blacks should vote Sanders because they are black, I’m saying they should vote Sanders because his policies will disproportionately help the AA community.

He’s an even better idea for the AA community than he is for the country at large (and that is really saying something) and people voting against their own interests undermine the core argument for democracy.

If people can’t be trusted to make a superior (as defined by whatever objective metric you like) decision then they shouldn’t have decision making authority. That’s why we don’t vote on matters of science. Because we know taking a poll wouldn’t be a good way of making that type of decision.

Blacks in particular (but also to a lesser extent the electorate generally) voting against their own interests in this election when the choice is between an advocate of mass incarceration, a literal fascist, and someone who marched with MLK and was a civil rights pioneer, would be rather strong evidence that democracy might generally not objectively be a good idea after all.

I mean really, what more do you want? If you don’t have a scenario in mind that falsifies democracy then you’re a fanatic.

Hillary Lies About Bernie

Earlier today, Hillary Clinton’s campaign unleashed a series of vicious and coordinated attacks against Bernie’s universal health care plan. They falsely claimed Bernie’s plan would end the Children’s Health Insurance Program, dismantle Medicare and strip millions of people of their coverage.

Here is the truth: Bernie’s plan would guarantee health care as a right for every man, woman, and child, and it would be implemented in every state in the country regardless of who is governor.

We have made tremendous gains in Iowa, but if we lost because Hillary Clinton’s campaign scared voters into thinking Bernie’s plan would cost them their coverage, it could set our vision for universal health care back at least a generation.

We simply cannot let that happen.

We are SO CLOSE. With Iowa less than three weeks away, your additional $5 contribution to Bernie’s campaign today could mean the difference between victory and defeat for our campaign.

Contribute $5I want to close with something important. This campaign isn’t about Bernie Sanders and it isn’t about Hillary Clinton. It’s about the very real issues facing working families across this country. It is a national disgrace that the United States is the only major country in the world that does not offer health care as a right.

We need a president who will fight for the 29 million Americans without health care. That’s what this campaign, and your contribution, is about.

In solidarity,

Jeff Weaver
Campaign Manager
Bernie 2016

Paid for by Bernie 2016

PO Box 905 – Burlington VT 05402 United States – (855) 4-BERNIE

“An update on your petition on strong encryption”

My thoughts are below:

An update on your petition on strong encryption:

Thank you again for signing the We the People petition on strong encryption and getting involved with this important debate.

We wanted to give you a quick update on the process so far:

This month, administration officials met with some of the original petition signers to listen to their priorities and concerns regarding encryption. In our last correspondence, we asked for your thoughts and questions — and you answered.

So far we’ve received over 5,000 responses from you, which we are carefully reviewing.

We want to keep hearing from you. If you haven’t already submitted your thoughts or questions, please do so now here.

In the meantime, watch what the President had to say about bringing law enforcement, intelligence, and high-tech companies together:

Thanks, and we’ll be in touch soon.

— The We the People Team

This kind of reply is why this whole government petition system is pointless in the hands of a centrist republican bank puppet President. All you’ll ever get is more evasive non-speak and 10 minute staffer written throw away replies.

The “answer” given in that video is worthless. It basically boils down to “we’ll ask your question to tech companies.”

Fortunately, on this issue we don’t have to wait for the government. But we do have to wait on coders to get over the greed.

People that want to patent the question mark when they grow up are not going to be helpful when society finds itself in need of blanket user friendly encryption solutions. They’ve already made it abundantly clear that they collectively don’t want anything like a user friendly open source windows alternative.

Not a single distro makes compatibility and familiarity core objectives. Each one is extremely petty systemically in that they disregard windows users as mentally defective and respond to desires from that crowd as flawed desires outright. Tech support answers in that context virtually always boil down to “want something else.”

We need strong encryption baked in to this kind of effort because it has to be adopted in bulk and it needs to be incidental and easy to provide real protection because at the moment, the very act of going through the monumental hassle to harden your communications very likely in itself puts you on a watch list unless you are already just a tech fetishist or are a committed privacy advocate.

We don’t need better bullet proof vests, we need bullet proof tshirts, so that when asked why you are bullet proof your answer can be “it just came with the shirt.” Until then we all know how society will react to anyone else who hardens their communication. “Well what do you have to hide? Why are you going through so much hassle to do this if there’s nothing illegal going on in your tech sphere?”

Thus what we really need is a deep privacy, deep encryption, baked in, peer to peer open source, distributed, version of windows xp. With the twin primary design goals of protecting people from assumed digital tyranny and providing a nearly seamless transition experience for the bulk of PC users. That is why it’s critical that this OS be able to install and run windows apps the exact same way they are run and installed under windows xp in terms of work flow and cosmetics, so that we have a true user-feasible, alternative to the dominant closed source ecosystems. I would also suggest a mac skin for this same base. So that all of us can move towards a shared operating system with pooled resources that serves users above all else.

It is not Obama and the NSA preventing that. So in a sense they are right to lay this sort of problem at the feet of the industry.

Three Things Bernie Sanders is Wrong About

I’m a committed Bernie Sanders supporter, and politically very far left. However, leftists generally and Bernie specifically have some things wrong. Here are three areas where Bernie (and the left) needs to look into the facts with the a cold objective eye and assemble their theory based on that evidence, if they really wish to best serve and preserve human life and joy.

The Wage Gap: (It exists but it is not caused by discrimination, and therefore current proposed legislation would be counter productive.)

Nuclear Power: (It is so hard to find a good starter video that isn’t tied to a particular personality, or is rather long, or extremely specific, etc etc.)

Guns: (Prohibition is no more a solution in the case of guns than it was in the case of alcohol or is in the case of drugs.)

This video is the best I could find. As far as I can tell no one is making the really core argument, that the 2nd amendment is an essential part of the checks and balances that keep our democracy from completely crystallizing into a final stagnant oppressive form.

Here is my essay and debate on the subject: http://underlore.com/2nd-amendment-and-related-links/

Also: http://underlore.com/response-to-bernie-sanders-on-gun-control/

Arthur C Clarke

Made this real fast. There’s probably a much better version out there somewhere hehe.

Response to Bernie Sanders on Gun Control

Bernie’s campaign sent this email. And below is it an explanation of why I can’t agree or sign.

Dear Brandon –

Here is the very sad truth: it is very difficult for the American people to keep up with the mass shootings we seem to see every day in the news. Yesterday, San Bernardino. Last week, Colorado Springs. Last month, Colorado Springs again. Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, Isla Vista, Virginia Tech, Navy Yard, Roseburg, and far too many others.

The crisis of gun violence has reached epidemic levels in this country to the point that we are averaging more than one mass shooting per day. Now, I am going to tell you something that most candidates wouldn’t say: I am not sure there is a magical answer to how we end gun violence in America. But I do know that while thoughts and prayers are important, they are insufficient and it is long past time for action.

That’s why I want to talk to you today about a few concrete actions we should take as a country that will save lives.

Add your name in support of the following commonsense measures Congress can take to make our communities safer from gun violence.

1. We can expand background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. This is an idea that over 80% of Americans agree with, even a majority of gun owners.

2. & 3. We can renew the assault weapons ban and end the sale of high capacity magazines — military-style tools created for the purpose of killing people as efficiently as possible.

4. Since 2004, over 2,000 people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list have legally purchased guns in the United States. Let’s close the “terror gap” and make sure known foreign and domestic terrorists are included on prohibited purchaser lists.

5. We can close loopholes in our laws that allow perpetrators of stalking and dating violence to buy guns. In the United States, the intended targets of a majority of our mass shootings are intimate partners or family members, and over 60% of victims are women and children. Indeed, a woman is five times more likely to die in a domestic violence incident when a gun is present.

6. We should close the loophole that allows prohibited purchasers to buy a gun without a completed background check after a three-day waiting period expires. Earlier this year, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine of our fellow Americans while they prayed in a historic church, simply because of the color of their skin. This act of terror was possible because of loopholes in our background check laws. Congress should act to ensure the standard for ALL gun purchases is a completed background check. No check — no sale.

7. It’s time to pass federal gun trafficking laws. I support Kirsten Gillibrand’s Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention Act of 2015, which would “make gun trafficking a federal crime and provide tools to law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets and away from criminal networks and street gangs.”

8. It’s time to strengthen penalties for straw purchasers who buy guns from licensed dealers on behalf of a prohibited purchaser.

9. We must authorize resources for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study and research the causes and effects of gun violence in the United States of America.

10. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over 21,000 firearm suicides every year in the United States. It’s time we expand and improve our mental health capabilities in this country so that people who need care can get care when they need it, regardless of their level of income.Add your name in support of these commonsense measures Congress can take to make our communities safer from gun violence.

Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted against non-binding legislation to expand background checks, close the “terror gap,” and improve our mental health systems. I voted for all three, although each of them came up short.

They failed for the same reason the bipartisan Manchin-Toomey legislation failed in 2013, just months after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School: because of the financial political power of a gun lobby that has bought candidates and elections for the better part of the last several decades.

In 2014 alone, the gun lobby spent over $30 million on political advertising and lobbying to influence legislators in Congress and state capitals across the country. And just last month, it was reported that the Koch brothers made a $5 million contribution to the NRA.

Americans of all political stripes agree. It’s time to address the all too common scene of our neighbors being killed. It’s time to pass a common sense package of gun safety legislation.

With your help, that’s what we’ll do when I’m president.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

Sign Our Petition

I’m sorry but I can’t sign this.

I can’t add my name because of point 2. “assault” and “military style” are meaningless terms. And tough gun law in California and France obviously changed nothing. I will not be a party to creating a third unwinnable crime war.

The bottom line is this. Crime is already illegal. And shooting people is already a crime.

This entire debate is an absurd distraction from the real issues.

Guns are a containment technology. Take them away and the tools of psychosis become fire, chemicals, explosives, cars themselves.

Remember the guy that weaponized a bulldozer and stumped a whole town’s police force? They didn’t stop him. Faulty machinery stopped him.

The real issue here is a gargantuan impoverished class. We need to solve the root problems that drive people crazy and make it impossible to help them. We need to remove those social forces that allow them to feel there is no other solution but a violent death.

We need a single payer health system for starters so anyone anywhere in the country can walk into a hospital and get the help they need.

Gun control is a doomed, insane, concept. Every bit as insane as drug law and alcohol prohibition. Especially in this the era of 3d printers and CNC machines that can carve steel. Both of which a dedicated person can build from scratch.

Ban guns, and I assure you you’ll create a basement weapons cartel that will result in gun factories springing up like meth labs, everywhere.

You think gun violence is bad now? Imagine a totally disarmed legitimate populace vs a booming cottage arms trade that deals nearly exclusively in drum fed AK 47s.

The only reason gun control remotely works in Europe is because of extensive social services combined with police state style surveillance, and still, that didn’t stop the Paris attacks did it?

Gun law is not only wrong, it’s completely insane. Especially here. You start taking guns away and every survivalist hate group in the country gets the biggest I told you so in history to recruit with, and suddenly we’re drowning in domestic terrorism that could well escalate into civil war.

Fortunately, no one but ignorant commenters is honestly that stupid. You will not get your gun laws, so stop asking people. You’ll get token trivial gestures that will at best kill innocent people for want of self defense weapons.

There’s no such thing as “common sense” gun laws because gun laws are as nonsensical as prohibition.

All gun law does is make it harder for people like me to defend other innocent people.

#LeftistWithAGun

2nd Amendment and Related Links