Maybe not. You will have the same number of tax preparers chasing less work. Through the magic of the Free Market™️, shouldn’t that mean pressure to reduce prices? We can only hope.

That’s a reasonable design. The result would be interesting and may raise more questions than it answers. That is a good thing.

I don’t think this design would conclusively prove they were engaging in abstract communication, but that would take many experiments of similar scope.

A sceptic could say the unconditioned group reaction was a result of social awareness of the reaction of the conditioned crows. Sort of a collective freak out based on the immediate reaction of the marked individuals.

Regardless, I hereby tender my application to be colony manager of the research group. Murder Manager is the title I would choose.

It’s like, their whole thing!

By any chance are you a fan of Strong Towns? If not they are very active in trying to kill Stroads

I mean, I just admitted to lying to pollsters at every opportunity in another post. I know I am not the only one who wants to watch the world burn. I want the polls to be unreliable!

Jump-humping is the preferred nomenclature

This is a big ass-mistake.

You sound like you mean well, but this is not helpful advice. You are essentially telling someone who is obviously a conscientious person and struggling that they have a character flaw.

Oh, yes, dealing with the tension between the grassroots and the national party is a real thing to deal with. It may be true that the presidential primary is the only game right now in your jurisdiction, but there are frequently special or other off-cycle local elections, too.

I’d go so far as to say the presidential primaries are pretty pointless this time around, as the contest seems to be already set-up, regardless of primary results. Thanks for your insightful comment.

Gwynne Shotwell deserves quite a lot more credit for SpaceX than Musk. Someone has to keep the place running until the ketamine clears his system.

Excellent idea. That is more likely to be effective than waiting for it to happen nationwide first.

Are you aware of any local efforts to do that? I’d love to hear of them.

I would need to know your jurisdiction and I won’t ask you to dox yourself. For local judges, some states put out a voter information pamphlet. Your Secretary of State’s website may have resources too.

There are a few websites out there that keep track of rulings. chooseyourjudges.org seems to do a credible job. There are others.

I liked the suggestion in another comment of making research of local candidates a social activity because it is a lot of work. However, once you do identify the right resources for your local situation, it gets easier.

Best of luck! Even a half hours effort is more than most are willing to do.

Nothing to disagree with there!

That’s a great idea and I think I will suggest it to our local party as a theme for house parties that the more engaged volunteers can throw. People hate door-knocking and it’s not the most effective thing to do anyway, so we are always searching for more impactful activities.

I hate to say this, but ‘think of the children’ and include them if they are old enough to not be a complete distraction. My views on democracy were formed from very young listening to my parents discuss politics amongst themselves and others. My household was ‘divided’ politically in that my mother was a labor Democrat active in her union governance and my father an Eisenhower-type Republican who once ran for a county office unsuccessfully. Seeing them disagree about politics, but still have a generally loving relationship was extremely influential. You never know who is watching.

Oh, that sucks, but thank you for sharing the story. It is a very important lesson and the type of situation you describe is very, very common in US local elections.

We get fed hopium stories about how one person can make a difference, but those simplistic stories don’t usually explain how one person can make a difference. We only get to see the stories of exceptional leaders who are buoyed up by the invisible efforts of the people who made their own humble difference in their local area.

I happened to be in DC on an unrelated lobbying trip during the Bush II administration on the day they reauthorized the voting rights act in 2006. Jesse Jackson was wandering around doing photo ops as is the norm. What didn’t make it on to TV was the veritable army of formidable organizers who themselves were representing their own local constituencies. Mr. Jackson’s power and visibility was directly derived from the humble and tireless work of supporters, just like any other political figure.

Thanks for commenting. I don’t think most comments so far have missed my point by much. You certainly seem to ‘get it’. I see the comments to this point as more the typical thing of online comments talking past one another.

It’s more of a symptom of online discourse. You can’t see me, my body language or general demeanor and we don’t have to take turns as is polite in real life conversation. You probably don’t even know what US state I am in unless you peek at my comment history. Does the presidency matter? God, yes! Is it productive to spend one’s limited energy and time arguing about that online. A resounding NO!

As a made-up example, a voter from California talking to a voter in Michigan online may be pretty pointless as their situations and political calculus are very different. Two voters from the same jurisdiction having a meeting of the minds is significantly more effective.

Edit: typos

I certainly cannot disagree with you. I guess I’m making an argument about how an individual should spend their precious and limited time and emotional energy.

How would you suggest a person get their state to sign the compact?

Thank you for your comment, and special thanks for engaging in good faith.

One thing I have learned from getting a bit more involved is that there are more people of good faith than being online too much would lead you to believe.

When you get involved locally, you can actually feel some reward for your efforts. Multiply my puny efforts by the literally millions of people who might agree with my general sentiments and then suddenly, we might get the changes we need so desperately .

Pretty sure I didn’t say it didn’t matter. It’s just that your vote and engagement at the local level are more effective than making everything about the presidential contest. I’m attempting to shift the conversation to topics that don’t just de-moralize people and enforce the all-too-easy feelings of helplessness that engenders.

It feels good to spend a weekend knocking on doors doing get-out-the-vote efforts for a school board candidate you actually know and support, especially when the race ends up hinging on about 80 votes. Arguing in a circular firing squad about only the presidency just leaves everyone frustrated and no minds are changed.

And how do we move from FPTP and electoral college madness to one of the various proportional strategies?

We have to engage now with the system as it is. Wanking on Lemmy is only so effective.