I read somewhere that the Wisc. Supremes turned down restraining order request by the AG because it was badly pled. I have no idea whether it WAS badly pled, as I haven't read it nor do I know what is required in Wisconsin.
People wonder why the AG didn't just indict Musk. The problem is the timing (who if anyone got checks when the deal was "to people who vote" and who only had to sign a petition, and possibly what they UNDERSTOOD the point was. THAT takes some investigation, and there really wasn't time for such. Nor do I know whether the act of using "vote" can be undone by saying "Kings X, I meant sign a petition." I'm not sure the AG has given up. An actual indictment with trial wouldn't need an "emergency" before the Supremes who definitely have NOT held that the law in question can't be used.
One obvious answer is to amend the law to prohibit offering a bunch of money to "sign a petition" if this comes within X time of an election. Not sure if that work as a constitutional matter. Citizen's United has a lot to answer for. It has put a whole new aspect to the cliche "money talks."
Maybe this will be a lesson for congressional republicans that you don’t need to run scared of being primaries by musk if you defy trump. It seems really unlikely since they lost their spine years ago without musk in the picture. They just keep backing bad candidates over and over.
You're probably right that we can't just trust voters to save democracy. But I do wonder if more direct democracy would be healthy for democracy, getting people a little more involved and giving them a feeling of agency.
Plus I think there's a significant chance that the public is better than representatives on some policy? I know public opinion mostly follows elite signals. But sometimes our dumb system creates so many pivot points that nothing changes for so long that most of the public realizes dumb policy without a lot of elite influence.
Idk I just think it's at least worth thinking through a bit, especially considering we inherited our idea of representative democracy from a bunch of elitist, sexist, slaveholders.
Maybe the Wisconsin vote shows that Elon is in fact a negative…no matter how much money he tosses around.
I read somewhere that the Wisc. Supremes turned down restraining order request by the AG because it was badly pled. I have no idea whether it WAS badly pled, as I haven't read it nor do I know what is required in Wisconsin.
People wonder why the AG didn't just indict Musk. The problem is the timing (who if anyone got checks when the deal was "to people who vote" and who only had to sign a petition, and possibly what they UNDERSTOOD the point was. THAT takes some investigation, and there really wasn't time for such. Nor do I know whether the act of using "vote" can be undone by saying "Kings X, I meant sign a petition." I'm not sure the AG has given up. An actual indictment with trial wouldn't need an "emergency" before the Supremes who definitely have NOT held that the law in question can't be used.
One obvious answer is to amend the law to prohibit offering a bunch of money to "sign a petition" if this comes within X time of an election. Not sure if that work as a constitutional matter. Citizen's United has a lot to answer for. It has put a whole new aspect to the cliche "money talks."
Maybe this will be a lesson for congressional republicans that you don’t need to run scared of being primaries by musk if you defy trump. It seems really unlikely since they lost their spine years ago without musk in the picture. They just keep backing bad candidates over and over.
You're probably right that we can't just trust voters to save democracy. But I do wonder if more direct democracy would be healthy for democracy, getting people a little more involved and giving them a feeling of agency.
Plus I think there's a significant chance that the public is better than representatives on some policy? I know public opinion mostly follows elite signals. But sometimes our dumb system creates so many pivot points that nothing changes for so long that most of the public realizes dumb policy without a lot of elite influence.
Idk I just think it's at least worth thinking through a bit, especially considering we inherited our idea of representative democracy from a bunch of elitist, sexist, slaveholders.