THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL 2024 ELECTION SUGGESTIONS POST

 

First, our apologies for being late posting this. We're hoping to have it up earlier this week but some life obligations got in the way.

Welcome to The Trouble With Normal's 2024 election selections post. This is where we will briefly go over some parts of the upcoming election in two and a half weeks, inform you of what's at stake, and offer our opinions.

At this point some of you are saying, "So so these are your election endorsements then?" though this post kind of goes into that territory there is one difference between this and an endorsement. In this post we will not tell you who to vote for. We will, however, explain what's at stake on certain issues and candidates if they get elected and offer our suggestions on who you shouldn't vote for.

Also, before we go any further, we have to add one small caveat. We know we can't look at every single seat up for collapses selection or every single issue. Because of this will try to focus on the largest ones plus some of the biggest ones in our own backyard. Now that the qualifiers are out of the way let's get to the post.

THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Let's start at the top, shall we? I'm talking about the presidential race between vice president Kamala Harris and former electoral vote winner Donny (sometimes referred to in this blog and print zine as the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago). We haven't touched on who to vote for on this mainly because we're fairly certain the majority of our readers who are eligible to vote in US elections have the basic sense not to vote for a man who brags about wanting to be "dictator for a day," talks about locking up his political opposition, refuses to admit that he lost the 2020 election despite overwhelming evidence and 60 failed lawsuits, brags about appointing the Supreme Court Justices that overturned Roe v Wade (and then claims that "everybody wanted Roe overturned" - a lie so big I'm surprised Donny didn't spontaneously combust) or his use of Nazi adjacent talking points to describe migrants and trans people.  While I know a few of you will probably insist on voting third party I'm fairly certain that the majority of our readers who are eligible to vote in the election on November 5th see Donny's hate-filled lies and rhetoric for what it is and will do what is necessary, including voting, to make sure he doesn't resume the job he screwed up the first time around

That doesn't mean that Kamala Harris doesn't have issues. She does deserve criticism regarding her days as a prosecutor and California Attorney General, as well as a rather tepid response to people protesting over conditions related to the war in Gaza. Having said that, I also realize that she's at least a grown up compared to the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago and would be very unlikely to turn the us into a  white conservative christian theocratic ethno state.  Thus, as I said earlier, while some readers may insist on voting third party I understand why many of our readers would be leaning towards the Harris/Walz ticket if forced to choose between her and Donny.

From here we're going to go to some more statewide issues coming from our original stomping grounds.

ON THE BALLOT - MO

Let's start with Missouri. Even though I no longer exist there to a point where I can be registered voter there our original home base is in Columbia (where we still have a P.O. Box) and we do have some readers living there. So this is for them.

When it comes for the seat up for reelection to the U.S. Senate it's safe to say that most of our readers who are registered voters in Missouri have the common basic sense not to vote for the guy who contested the 2020 election when was up for certification on January 6, 2021, raise the fist when he saw the MAGA foot soldiers for the coup attempt Marching towards the capital only to run into hiding when it occurred to him that he might be a target as well as those on the other side. Our readers who can vote in the show me state most likely understand that a man claiming small town values but was educated at a Jesuit Prep School in Kansas City who would later go to the Ivy Leagues for college most likely doesn't give a damn about what the least amongst his constituents are going through. Though there are some third party candidates running for the spot it might make more sense to choose the person most likely to remove this clown who whines constantly about the lack of masculinity from the U.S. Senate and let him ponder his thoughts in his Virginia home, where many Missouri residents suspect he really lives.

From that let's go to most of the amendments to be voted on thanks to ballot initiatives (or ballot measures as they're sometimes called).  For our readers who are registered voters in Missouri our suggestions are as follows.

Amendment 2: Would legalize sports betting if passed. A bit on the fence on this one so we suggest readers vote their conscience on this issue.

Amendment 3: If passed, this amendment would Missouri's ban on abortion and establishes a constitutional right and to make decisions about reproductive Health Care, including abortion and contraceptives.  YES!

We suggest a yes vote on this measure because it's the right thing for these decisions we made by whoever can get pregnant and the government should stay out of it.

Amendment 5: Would allow the Missouri Gaming Commission to issue a gambling boat license near the Lake of the Ozarks on the Osage River. Like amendment 2, we suggest voting your conscience on this.

Amendment 7: Would make the Missouri Constitution consistent with state law I only allowing citizens of the US to vote. It also would prohibit ranked choice voting.  Since non-citizens already cannot vote in elections this is redundant.

We suggest voting no on this just on the amendment prohibiting ranked choice voting alone. Given how the Missouri State Legislature tends to work if it's writing the Constitution this could totally be abused and used to suppress votes amongst those the Repub party doesn't want voting.

Proposition A: Would raise Missouri's minimum wage to $13.75 an hour on January 1st and increase the hourly wage to $15.00 an hour in January 2026.  Well $15/hour hasn't been a living wage in a while it's still an improvement so YES on this one.

ON THE BALLOT - IA

Now let's head up to the state directly north of Missouri - Iowa.  Yeah, the zine hasn't gotten much of a foothold there but there are a handful of people that read TTWN on occasion up in those parts so this is for them.

The Iowa ballot's important things are a little different than down in MO (a state they consider part of the South - I'm serious).  For one, there are no ballot measures allowed there so residents who can vote aren’t able to bring the issue of reproductive health care to a vote (which especially angers those Iowans against the recent abortion ban the Iowa Supreme Court ruled to let take effect earlier this year).  Also, neither of Iowa's U.S. Senators is up for re-election this year.  This leaves the four congressional seats open (all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are two year terms).  There are a couple of constitutional amendments on the ballots (a process where it has to be introduced by a state legislator and then go through a several year process before appearing on the ballot) so let's look at those.

One ballot measure would change Iowa’s constitution from language saying that Every citizen of the U.S." can vote to "only a citizen of the U.S." can vote.  It would also allow 17 year olds to vote in primary elections as long as they turned 18 by the time of the general election.  The latter part is a good thing but the former is redundant.   I don't know whether the goal of this is to keep 17 year old from voting in primaries or just to get right wing talking points into votes (it's already illegal for non citizens to vote in U.S. elections).

The other ballot measure would specify that if the Governor is somehow removed from office via death, resignation et al, then the Lt, Governor would assume office.  This is fairly boiler plate but shouldn't that be something the governor can already do? Because of that I’m leaning towards suggesting no on this one.

BACK TO THE BIG PICTURE

With many states having Senators up for reelection as well as every House seat nationally along with various state legislature races up for grabs  Since there's too many for us to study up on, much less suggest, I do have to assume some things.

If you're reading this odds are you're already a reader of the zine, the blog, or both.  If not, you got a link to this from a friend who does.  As I said earlier it's fairly safe to assume that the majority of TTWN readers aren't going to, or are at least extremely unlikely to, vote for the party that gaslights most of the population, the refuses to admit publicly that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and are more interested in culture war talking points than actually helping the American people.  As a result I don't feel we need to say much on which party to support on this front. 

Again, I know some readers insist on third party voting (which would be less stressful to worry about if we had nationwide ranked choice voting) but we understand readers choosing whom they consider to be the 'lesser evil" candidates given what we currently face.

JUDICIAL CHOICES

Finally we'll offer up some advice regarding judges up for office or whether some state supreme court judges should be retained.  Since there are likely too many sets up for grabs nationally to comment on this we'll leave things simple - if a judge up for election or a judge on a State Supreme Court (not to be confused to SCOTUS) ruled or voted in favor of an abortion ban or to make sure a ballot measure on the issue doesn't make it to the ballot despite having more than enough signatures then vote them out of a job.  MAKE SURE THEY DON'T GET RETAINED FOR ANOTHER TERM ON THE BENCH.

We'll look at the MO Supreme Court, which by a 4-3 vote, finally allowed Amendment 3 to be on the ballot for the 2024 election.  It was the final shot of a long attempt by the Repub run state legislature and judges to make sure Missourians couldn't vote on it. Two of those three judges who voted not to let Amendment 4 appear on the ballot for the 2024 election (Kelly Broniec, Ginger Gooch) are on the ballot to be retained.  I’m fairly certain most of our readers in Missouri who are registered to vote there will have no problem voting NO on these two for general principles. 

While Iowa doesn’t have abortion on the ballot, one of the Iowa Supreme Court Justices who voted to uphold Iowa’s strict abortion ban (David May) is up for retention on the ballot.  I urge any readers in Iowa who are registered to vote there to vote NO on this.

OVERALL....

I know we’re a little late on this there’s very slightly over two weeks to go until the 2024 election.  However, since this is the time when the media and political figures offer their endorsements it’s fitting to offer our suggestions.

Again, we’re not endorsing in the typical sense.  We know that the majority of TTWN readers (either of the blog, the print zine, the website, or some combination thereof) already have the common sense and knowledge to vote against the party whose leader brags about wanting to be "dictator for a day" if elected, talks about locking up – and possibly killing - his political opposition, refuses to admit that he lost the 2020 election, brags about appointing the Supreme Court Justices that overturned Roe v Wade (and then claims that "everybody wanted Roe overturned" - a lie so big I'm surprised Donny didn't spontaneously combust) or his use of Nazi adjacent talking points to describe migrants and trans people.

Most of our readers already know not to support or vote for the candidates of a political party that seeks to turn this country into a christian nationalist ethno state in a back door manner via Project 2025, This isn’t rocket science but a general guess of where the people reading this lean. 

So, what about those who have just stumbled upon this. The ones who don’t pay attention to politics and think that maybe putting the guy I think our readers don’t like back in wouldn’t be all bad. For them I have some questions.

Do you think that the decision over whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, or even to use birth control, should lie with government bureaucrats or with those who can get pregnant? 

Do you think that climate change (and the possibility of climate collapse) is a serious problem and that government should hold those forces polluting the world accountable?

Do you think that systemic racism is real and that we can’t move forward as a nation unless we do something concrete to deal with our toxic history so we don’t repeat those mistakes in the future?  

Do you think that the minimum wage should be a living wage and that anybody saying it should be abolished without having any safety net for the least amongst us is dangerous? 

Do you think the right to protest is part of the core of our nation at its best and that any force that wants to stomp that out is a threat to our country?

So If you think the government should stay out of people’s reproductive decisions, that climate change is real and stronger steps need to be taken to change course, the systemic racism has to be addressed in order to fight the racism that many non white people current face, that a living wage is needed in order to lessen the effects of poverty, and that protest is a necessary part of making change in this country, what should you do?

If you’re new to TTWN and you think the statements in the previous paragraphs are the correct answers to those questions then I suggest that you don’t vote for the party whose leader brags about wanting to be "dictator for a day" if elected, talks about locking up – and possibly killing - his political opposition, refuses to admit that he lost the 2020 election, brags about appointing the Supreme Court Justices that overturned Roe v Wade (and then claims that "everybody wanted Roe overturned" - a lie so big I'm surprised Donny didn't spontaneously combust) or his use of Nazi adjacent talking points to describe migrants and trans people, just to name a few things off the tops of our heads.

You have two weeks – and a lot is at stake.  Those are our suggestions regarding the 2024 election. If you’re a long time reader or you’re new but got the hint of the last few paragraphs in regards of whom not to vote for – you pretty much know what to do from here.

THIRTY THIRTY THIRTY FIVE MORE DAYS TO GO - UNTIL THE NEXT ELECTION.

 My apologies for being out of the loop for a while. I meant to come back to the blog sooner but the obligations of Life got in the way. With that in mind, let's talk about the 2024 presidential election.

As I post this we have only 35 days to go until November 5, 2024 - election day in the United States. This has been a journey full of negative campaign ads, primary ups and downs that took candidates by surprise, and even a change at the top of the ticket for one party. But we are here now. On the presidential side it is down to either the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago (a/k/a.: former electoral vote winner Donny) for the repubs and current vice president Kamala Harris for the Democrats. Will probably be going into some of the details later on as we head closer to election day but, for now, I thought it would be a good idea to point out a few things as those readers in the U.S. navigate the final stretch of the election season.

First, while a lot of people may want to take the polls at face value it should be pointed out that former electoral vote winner Donny can still win this damn thing. The polls in the "swing States" where, thanks to the Electoral College, seem to be the only ones that matter in the eyes of the mainstream media, show The Mad Fuhrer and Kamala neck and neck - and those of Harris's lead being within the margin of error. While we are at a point in the race where election polls begin to matter, the most important one and the only one that really matters is the election itself. Because of this the polls should be taken with a grain of salt. A prime example why they should be taken as such is that on Election Day 2016 Donny had a reported approval rating of less than 20% yet still won the electoral vote ( Hillary Clinton still won the popular vote but, because the Electoral College, the popular vote doesn't really matter). Does this mean that Donny's guaranteed another victory? No of course not. I'm just saying we should be more careful and not jump to conclusions this close to election day.

It's at this point that we should probably look at another media framing that popped up briefly in the last few months. There were a couple media sources that compared vice president Harris to the last woman who ran for president, former first lady Hillary Clinton in 2016. Admittedly, the fact both are women is one thing that makes for easy comments among writers of political news think pieces. However, while there seem to be some similarities (such as an apparent lead in the polls leading up to election day) Harris and Clinton differ in enough ways to make this comparison not exactly and not entirely accurate. Both in the circumstances of how they entered the race and how they're approaching it so far. Again, this is a tight race and people are looking for easy comparisons. This one though is flawed at best.

From here let's take a look at the vice presidential candidates. Former electoral vote winner Donny's choice of OH Senator J.D. Vance seemed to be a pic that could be divisive as much as the media perception that it would help Donny. This was at a time when Joe Biden was still running for re-election and it was assumed that vice president Harris would still be Vance's rival. However, biting stepping down from the presidential race on July 21, 2024 changed things. His encouragement for the Democrats to support moving vice president Harris into being his successor created the change of enthusiasm and over time created the sharp turnaround for the Democratic Party's fortunes. Her choice of MN Gov. Tim Walz as a running mate took expectations sideways, especially when he managed to point out the weirdness among much of the Repub Party platform, and in Project 2025. This makes the vice presidential candidate debate tonight one that will pique curiosity for a lot of people. Though some people say the debate performance of these two shouldn't mean that much the fact is it's a possibility that any president could die before their term in office is up. With Donny's age and perceived health issues now on sharper focus after Biden leaving the race it shows there's definitely a chance that Vance could end up president before Donny's term would be up due to issues related to age, health, and a job that is extremely stress related. This adds gravity to the vice presidential debate that might not normally exist in another race or another time.

Then there's the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago's increasingly angry and violent rhetoric during his rallies. Referring to immigrants and migrants as vermin he is stirring up more anger amongst his base to to view those who choose to come to this country (especially those of a different race) as less than human in the process. Add to this is repeated threats to prosecute and lock up his political opponents as well as him still claiming that the 2020 election was stolen and it seems that all the attempts to make Donny look less unhinged or even rational in comparison (a new term, sanewashing, has emerged in political press circles to describe this) are doing a disservice to the American people. Because of this, and the fact that you would almost definitely enact much of project 2025 if he gets in office again, he has proven that that under no circumstances should he get this job a second time.

That choice, however, up to the American people and the Electoral College. The fact that there are still undecided voters at the stage of the game leads one to wonder what exactly is going on but, to some degree, that's the case every election. While I won't tell people who to vote for a clear look between what Harris is proposing and the threats and authoritarian leanings being offered by Donny should make this an obvious choice.

We have 36 or so days to go. We'll see what goes down in those days and how it affects the election. Until then, pay attention to the issues attention to issues and be on the lookout for misinformation - there's a shit ton of it out there.

The Curious Continuing Case of Joe Biden and Whether He Should Keep Running For Re-election or Not

 It's July 2024 and it's been more or less two weeks since the first presidential debate of the 2024 race between current president Joe Biden and former electoral vote winner Donny. The earliest debate ever for an American presidential race, it was also one that found Biden struggling both with a reported cold and having to both answer questions wow doing the sole job of fact checking his predecessor while Donny seemed to pile on the gish gallop and refusing to answer one question. In the wake of a bad debate performance there been a number of calls for President Biden to drop out oh and not seek a second term, thus leaving the race open to someone these people feel can handle the task of a battle with the former electoral vote winner and keep him from returning to office in November.

Personally, I'm not sure whether Biden should drop out of the race or not. Yes he did bad and was struggling early on but he did pick up more as the debate continued. I was intending this to be a straightforward post commenting on the debate itself but since we seem to be unable to avoid this issue it's clear that it needs to be discussed.

First let's address the debate itself. It's an unavoidable fact that President Biden faltered here. Some reports since claimed by an even admitted to trying to stay awake under the debate stage as a result of international travel. Add to this the early explanation that he had a cold and some of this appears to make sense. However, President Biden needed to bring the energy he had during the State of Union Address a few months earlier to this debate, which he unfortunately didn't.

This wasn't a win for the other side though. Former electoral vote winner Donny veered quickly to his talking points projecting racism, and projection that early on actually seemed to turn some debate watchers off. This was an instance where he needed to give the illusion that he was a nice person somehow managed to get Biden a minor bump in the polls afterwards (though this has reportedly reversed itself since).

That's still doesn't stop the party insiders, consultants, pundits and others who are now calling for Biden to step down. Motivated by a growing fear that keeping Biden in the race will tank any chance of keeping Donny from winning in November they're hoping that pulling out before the convention would still give them time to make up the gap. I understand this concern (I'm worried as well) but there are a couple of things we need to take into consideration when looking at the possibility of President Biden dropping out the race.

WHO WOULD REPLACE HIM?

With the election only four months away any decision by Joe Biden to leave the Presidential race brings about the question of who would replace him.

The seemingly obvious answer would be vice president Kamala Harris as a way of keeping at least part of the ticket consistent. However, there are reports that power brokers in the Democratic Party are overlooking Harris as a possibility for the Oval Office despite four years being one heartbeat away. A couple of other names have been mentioned but from what I understand none of the reported potential Biden replacements are well known enough nor have enough money to fully fund a race against the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago at this point in the game. Most of them or else are saying publicly that they're standing behind Biden for now.

In addition, a recent poll finds that, of the people thrown about to supposedly replace Biden such as Michigan Governor Whitmer and California governor Newsome to name two examples, only his running mate vice president Kamala Harris seems the poll better than the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago.

While I have some issues with Kamala Harris I realized that choosing her to step up if Joe Biden decided to drop out of the race might not be as problematic having somebody completely knew the race step out and run for the highest office in the land either starting at the convention itself or just before the convention would.

WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME EITHER A PRESIDENTIAL OR VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DROPPED OUT OF THE RACE?

With the talk about weather Joe Biden should drop out or of a brokered convention for the Democrats One needs to remember that it was kind of done before.

In 1972 the Democrats appointed Tom Eagleton to be George McGovern's running mate for the presidency. A short time later it was revealed that Eagleton had previously receiving electric shock therapy for depression at Barnes Hospital in St Louis. The news from that caused Eagleton to be dropped from the vice presidency consideration to be replaced by Sergeant Shriver. Thought the circumstances weren't exactly like they are now they were similar enough to have a similar reaction in the mind of public. In the November 1972 presidential election the government was trounced by Nixon in landslide, winning 49 of the 50 states.

In hindsight, Nixon's victory would be a short lived as Fallout from the growing Watergate investigations would lead to a number of convictions amongst his staff and several key resignations, including vice president Spiro Agnew in 1973. Nixon himself, facing an overwhelming possibility of impeachment as well as possible criminal charges in regards to his possible role in Watergate, would resign in early August 1974 leading to your presidency of Gerald R Ford and vice president Nelson Rockefeller (the only time in American history when both the President and Vice President were neither elected but appointed by Congress). With the current Supreme Court giving former electoral vote winner Donny immunity for "official acts" (though leaving the door open as to what counts as an official or an unofficial act) it's extremely unlikely that if Donny gets a second term he would face that level of accountability with his own party being willing to support everything he does and an opposition party you might be facing prosecution for political reasons under project 2025 and the power it would give him.

AS THINGS ARE NOW.

As I finish this piece Biden has said that he's in it for the long haul. While several key Democratic allies are siding with them for now there's still the incentive beating the media that Biden is too old and may not have what it takes to Donny this November. There may be a possibility this is true but it overlooks that Biden has advisors and a team to help him through this. It also seems to forget that this could become a self-fulfilling prophecy if they keep banging on the drum saying that Biden needs to go and that the Democrats will automatically lose in November otherwise.

Yes, Joe Biden will be 86 years old at the end of the second term if re-elected. There are no guarantees that he will survive another term. But there are no guarantees that any present will survive one term in office, much less two. Even if a leader is in perfect health there is always the risk of assassination while in office or even death by something unforeseen like a plane crash. A food line of continuity is supposedly what having a good vice president is for (at least if one believes Dubya's former Vice President Dick Cheney. Others have different on that). That should also be considered when it comes to the issue of whether Biden can hack out a second term or not

In other words, it doesn't have to be this way. If the Coupublicans could make Donny electable in 2016 despite his playing footsie with white supremacists on social media in the hot mic Access Hollywood moment where he discussed grabbing women "by the pussy" apparently without consent, little if any reason why the Democrats can't make Joe Biden electable this year

SHOULD BIDEN DROP OUT?

As I said earlier I'm still not certain whether Biden should stay in the presidential race or not. However. The best made by Biden and his family, not by Consultants are pundits who may be hedging their best regardless of the election results. I also concur with comedian John Fugelsang the decision should be made until after former electoral the winner Donny names his VP candidate.

Should Biden and company have prepared for this possibility? Yes. Does running around acting like all is lost if Biden stays in do anything constructive? Not really. Whatever happens - it's important to note that project 2025 and the current GOP platform (which, according to some, seems to embrace a lot of Project 2025 in it) is far more pressing and far more of a threat than weather the top of the Democratic ticket is Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or somebody else.

I don't know who's going to win in November. Neither do you right now. What is important and necessary is to let people know how horrible project 2025 is and it's important that the party and leader it would give power to, while stripping rights away from the rest of us, needs not just merely to be defeated but has to go down in flames like the Hindenburg.

Right now that's what needs to be done regardless of who gets the Democratic nomination. Now let's take a deep breath, remember that, and get the word out.