NY Judge led out of courthouse in handcuffs . . .

[Scout26]

I vote against everyone every election.

Sadly Jim, there's just no enough of us.  I do the same thing. 

[Hawkmoon]

Moar judges behaving badly:

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article160397884.html

[230RN]

Reply #22:

No one who has any amount of understanding would object that nothing would get done. They would object that the Democrats would have total control fairly quickly.

The solitary, and only pertinent objection is that a "first past the post" system, as ours is, means that whoever gets the most votes wins. The party that gets more votes wins, period.

"Splitting" the two parties so it feels like it's ok to vote for a different party more closely aligned to your views will eventually mean some people will realize they get more votes by merging interests earlier... leading to 2 of the proposed 4 parties dying and getting back to two.

That's why when the Republican party was created, it killed the Whigs. Three parties cannot compete in a system such as ours. (Nor larger numbers).

I agree that a re-coalition back to two parties is a possibility, nay, danger, but I think forming a viable third (or fourth) might be worth at least a "gedankexperiment," a "thought experiment."

While a thought experiment* allows one to play with concepts "without getting your hands dirty," in this case it also serves the admirable purpose of scaring the powermeisters into washing their hands.

Whew!  That's stretching a metaphor, ain't it?

But exactly what you fear, that is, a re-coalescence into two parties, is what has happened so far:  

There ain't a crap's worth of difference between the R party and the D party nowadays.

In other words, it would merely be a return to the present situation anyway.

Thus, this gedankexperiment is certainly worth playing with, but I don't expect President Trump to toy with it until later in his term... perhaps after the 2018 elections.

Terry

* EXAMPLE (Optional reading):  The classic example of a thought-experiment is when Galileo conceived of dropping a five pound weight and a ten pound weight from the tower of Pisa to destroy the prevailing concept that heavier weights fall faster than lighter weights.
  
Except the weights would be chained together.

Would the five pound weight thereby "hold back" the ten pound weight so they fell at an intermediate speed, or would the two, taken together, weigh fifteen pounds and thereby fall faster than either of them by themselves?

This time the gedankexperiment (without the chain) was performed, with the result that they both fell at the same rate.  (Or accelerations, to be proper about it.)

This was one famous case where the experimenter actually "got his hands dirty" in order to demonstrate reality.

[makattak]

Reply #22:
I agree that a re-coalition back to two parties is a possibility, nay, danger, but I think forming a viable third (or fourth) might be worth at least a "gedankexperiment," a "thought experiment."

While a thought experiment* allows one to play with concepts "without getting your hands dirty," in this case it also serves the admirable purpose of scaring the powermeisters into washing their hands.

Whew!  That's stretching a metaphor, ain't it?

But exactly what you fear, that is, a re-coalescence into two parties, is what has happened so far:  

There ain't a crap's worth of difference between the R party and the D party nowadays.

In other words, it would merely be a return to the present situation anyway.

Thus, this gedankexperiment is certainly worth playing with, but I don't expect President Trump to toy with it until later in his term... perhaps after the 2018 elections.

Terry

* EXAMPLE (Optional reading):  The classic example of a thought-experiment is when Galileo conceived of dropping a five pound weight and a ten pound weight from the tower of Pisa to destroy the prevailing concept that heavier weights fall faster than lighter weights.
  
Except the weights would be chained together.

Would the five pound weight thereby "hold back" the ten pound weight so they fell at an intermediate speed, or would the two, taken together, weigh fifteen pounds and thereby fall faster than either of them by themselves?

This time the gedankexperiment (without the chain) was performed, with the result that they both fell at the same rate.  (Or accelerations, to be proper about it.)

This was one famous case where the experimenter actually "got his hands dirty" in order to demonstrate reality.

We had that experiment, actually. People were so dissatisfied with the Whigs that they did form a 3rd party, the Republican Party. And, as I said, the Whigs promptly died.

Having the experiment again would produce the same situation: Democrats would have total control for a time while the new party gets its feet under it. The Republicans would die and the "new" party would take over. (Whether or not a civil war erupts when that happens is up for debate.)

[230RN]

But talking it up introduces the fear factor and "raises consciousness" about their longevity in office.

After all, a new (hypothetical) party might make better pie in the sky and freebies for all promises.

Or, less pie in the sky and freebies for all promises.