#437 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday August 23)
Good morning,
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
I wrote earlier this month about the unintended consequence of political actions that are taken. I had cited a CEQA and other laws as bringing results not intended by the legislature. Don Norberg suggests both the opposition to addressing homelessness and the extension of the 710 freeway fit within this. “A small but active and vocal group stopped the 710 freeway at both ends in South Pasadena. A six-mile segment will never be completed. Traffic in the west San Gabriel Valley (and beyond) will be a nightmare forever.”
Bruce Goren suggests the article "How American Politics Went Insane" by Jonathan Rauch in the July/August 2016 edition of The Atlantic. As Bruce notes, “It is a great example about how shining the light on the process has lead us to this point. As an analogy, the two things you never want to see being made are sausages and legislation...and these changes over the years have allowed us to see how legislation is being made, resulting in precious little legislation actually being made.” So true.
DEMOCRATS SHOULD CHANGE THE RULES
I had suggested earlier that the Democrats should follow the Republicans’ lead in allocating disproportionate delegates in early primaries in order to get a candidate identified earlier. Sometimes it pays to be proven wrong, as Mark Louchheim has done:
“While I agree with your analysis, I disagree with your conclusions. Having disproportionate delegates is one way to ensure you get the candidate with the most name recognition, rather than the best candidate. A populist candidate is rarely the best candidate to entrust the office of the President. We forget that Trump, while deeply flawed, was a bona fide TV star, with vast name recognition. The Republicans had winner take all primaries to avoid the internecine battling that could damage the run in the general election, and did not consider the unintended consequences…The Trump presidency is proof that we must have proportionate primaries to properly vet our candidates – even if it means a floor fight at the convention. The answer is for the Republicans to go back to proportionate primaries where any candidate with a minimum percentage (e.g., 5%) would get a proportionate number of delegates. Our nation will be better off.”
Mark is 100% right. It would be better to allocate delegates proportional to actual vote totals in the early primaries. That said, the Republicans are unlikely to change from the current system. Unless they change, the second best option is for the Democrats to reconstruct their system to the same flawed system the Republicans employ.
GAMBLING IN SPORTS AND FANTASY SPORTS
A few weeks ago I commented about how gambling in sports takes away much of the magic of the game. Adam Torson agrees and adds his complaint about fantasy sports:
“I kind of feel the same way about fantasy sports. There is something about rooting for your team, which you like for no good reason other than that they're yours and you grew up with them and so and so was your hero, and it broke your heart when they lost in '98, etc. Maybe I'm just romanticizing tribalism, but rooting for stats and trying to optimize virtual lineups and all of that is boring and sort of detracts from the experience for me. Maybe part of it is that it's so disconnected from the experience of playing the sport. You grow up dreaming of hitting the game-winning home run, not being the manager that optimizes the lineup with some dope sabermetrics.”
AND DAD JOKES
Tequila might not change your life—but it’s worth a shot.
The urge to sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is just a whim away.
COMMERCIAL TUNES
Who, of a certain age, doesn’t remember the Oscar Meyer whistle? Or doesn’t think “nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” Or regretted “eating the whole thing.” Or that “everything’s better with Blue Bonnet on it.”
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: