The filing itself is here.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    When only 2 parties take turns ruling the country, the checks and balances don’t really work well when stressed. Because the party that needs to be checked, control half the apparatus, and can disrupt large parts of the other half.

    Countries with maybe 10+ parties in parlament like many European countries have, will never have a single party with control of half the apparatus responsible for the checks and balances.

    This is a huge reason first past the post is bad for democracy, apart from also not representing the population as fairly as is possible with numerous parties of influence.

    This problem permeates throughout the entirety of the system, including the judicial, where judges belong to one or the other party, enabling an imbalance with total control for one party in for instance the supreme court.
    With a multi party system, a single party would NOT be able to take control in the way we have seen happen in USA, which obviously shouldn’t be possible, and also doesn’t help to prevent corruption.

      • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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        2 months ago

        Four states don’t use first-past-the-post for legislative elections. In particular:

        • Alaska - uses a top-4 primary + ranked choice general
        • Maine - uses ranked choice voting
        • California & Washington - use top-two primaries (note: CA can be top-3 if there is a tie for 2nd place)

        If a third party wanted to succeed, they would put significant resources into winning legislative and congressional seats in those places. I don’t see any of them actually doing that though.

            • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Rcv is “new and scary” peoples resistance to change will always make them shit on things they dont understand. The only solution is to have more of us then there are of them.

              • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                There were ads running against it and the arguments were nonsense, but there was nothing from the pro side. It was like they expected* the electorate to just know that it was better and didn’t think a campaign was needed.

                *Expected, not requested

          • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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            2 months ago

            Mostly because the progressives didn’t control them in the early 1900s, so they don’t have legislature-bypassing initiatives, and even in states where you do have that, it’s expensive to get one through.

              • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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                2 months ago

                Political change tends to be like that — nothing at all for a long period when you don’t have the power to act, and sudden rapid change when you do.

              • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                On the upside they could change for the worse. Maybe instead of fair elections the chang is a god king

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Probably not, they have a nice cozy arrangement where they share the power. To allow multiple parties would mean to give that up, and most likely neither side is really interested in that.

    • user134450@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      Do you know how many parties had members in the parliament of the Weimar Republic when Hitler was named Chancellor?
      I learned in school – not sure if this part is entirely accurate but its an interesting idea anyway – that this situation was precisely why there is a ~5% of votes, lower barrier for parties sending representatives in many modern European democracies.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_threshold

        • user134450@feddit.org
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          2 months ago

          Trying to remember what i learned in history here, i hope i get at least most of it right:

          • the political institutions of the Weimar republic were not as balanced and protected from interference as in other democracies
          • many parties were against the existence of the Weimar Republic
          • they differed a little in what they wanted instead though, ranging from reintroducing the monarchy with a few republican elements, to full fledged socialism
          • the difference between the parties made finding compromises very difficult and often resulted in stalemates in the legislative, because of missing checks this did not affect the executive as much though
          • especially the monarchists liked the idea of heaving a leader that can overrule the parliament if needed and so it was easy for Hitler to get them to agree that they would all be better off with him breaking the stalemate so to speak. So they formed a coalition
          • see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harzburg_Front
          • Those parties also had no qualms with banning other parties just because they disagreed on something, which Hitler was very happy to do, starting with the communists and ending with a complete ban on forming political parties after every serious contender was eliminated
          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Thanks that’s a very nice summary.

            especially the monarchists liked the idea of heaving a leader that can overrule the parliament
            I especially noticed this as probably the key practical part in how it was possible.

            It’s interesting because I’ve always considered multiple parties to be an important way to protect democracy.
            But I guess that ultimately it depends on the people being willing to protect it.
            Still having 10 parties represented, makes for a better chance that minority views are represented. And I still believe it helps against corruption and strengthen democracy relative to only 2 parties.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            No it’s not the same, Trump is obvious, that’s because of the 2 party system, and first past the post.
            And people moronically believed Trump was a vote against the political establishment, and for the minimal state.

  • credo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    When Mike Pence was rushed to a secure location on Jan. 6, an aide alerted Donald Trump in the hope that he would take action to ensure Pence’s safety. Instead, according to grand jury testimony, Trump looked at the aide and said only, “So what?”

    I don’t know if this will hold up in court, but Trump is a dick.

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      165 pages and this is the only thing I see people talking about. If I’m being honest, I’m not going to read the whole thing. Is there anything else?

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Detailed records showing Trump sitting on Twatter all day and watching Faux Newz.

        It leaves little doubt he helped orchestrate it instead of just passively watching.

        It blows the whole “he transferred peacefully” out of the water.

        It also makes it clear he knew he lost and lied about everything.

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
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    2 months ago
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    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/us/politics/trump-jan-6-case-jack-smith-evidence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PE4.wUD5.NBhkZa4kw4sK
    https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.252.0.pdf

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