Our current system increasingly produces candidates who represent the extreme views of our electorate. The moderate majority – the backbone of our nation – finds itself unrepresented and increasingly disillusioned. If we continue down this path, we risk falling into an abyss of hyperbolic partisan turmoil from which we may struggle to recover.
Can we please ditch the two party system, truly “drain the swamp” of PAC/lobbyist influence, and introduce ranked-choice voting that rewards moderates vs. extremists?
The Nonpartisan Top Five Open Primary would standardize our primary election process. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, would appear on a single ballot, and all voters would have the opportunity to participate. This simple change would have profound effects. Voters would no longer be limited to candidates from a single party – if you like a Democratic candidate for one office and a Republican for another, you’d have that choice. The top five candidates from this primary would then move on to the general election.
This system would put an end to the systemic voter suppression that comes from requiring membership in a private organization (a political party) to participate in taxpayer-funded elections. It would return power to the voters in nominating candidates, decreasing the influence of party insiders while still allowing parties to endorse and promote candidates as they see fit.
Importantly, it would increase the diversity of candidates, giving voters more choice and a better chance of finding representatives who truly reflect their values.
The general election would then use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). This system is simple and intuitive, much like the choices we make every day. Voters can choose to vote for just one candidate or rank as many as they like. This allows people to vote their conscience without fear of “wasting” their vote or inadvertently helping a candidate they oppose. No longer would we be forced to choose the “lesser of two evils” – we could support the candidates we truly believe in.
RCV ensures that the winning candidate has the widest possible support. It has also been shown to reduce negative campaigning, as candidates have an incentive to appeal to a broader base rather than just energizing their core supporters.
Perhaps most importantly, it promotes a more collaborative legislative process. When legislators know they can’t be easily “primaried” by more extreme candidates, they’re free to work across the aisle and find real solutions that benefit all Nevadans.
It shouldn’t be “us” vs. “them” but that’s where we are today. Even if you’re on the “winning” side, you’ll probably wind up with the short end of the stick, unless your name is Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.
You’ve probably heard a lot about two-party systems this election season — with most of that chatter being about our two-party political system’s failure to benefit everyday Americans while upholding the elite few. You’d probably even agree that ANY two-party system, given enough time, will always result in two powerful “sides” that squelch innovation, pick arbitrary winners and losers and reduce your choices. Two-party systems are good for the parties who operate them and bad for everyone else.
In case you hadn’t noticed, dear reader (all one of you), I’m a bit cuckoo for music. So it may not surprise you to learn that last weekend I went to Boston to see three concerts in three days. What might be a bit surprising is that all three shows were by the same band: Buffalo Tom. (They’re from Boston, of course… hence the name… or not. )
They’re my favorite band. I first heard them on the radio… when I played them on radio! I was working a Sunday evening shift at 97X back in the early 90s and “Velvet Roof” was on the playlist – the song practically jumped right out of the speakers and right into my ears and heart. I immediately tracked down a promo copy of the CD from our station “prize closet” and proceeded to wear out the entire album.
But all three members of Buffalo Tom have kids and day jobs. They’re in my age bracket, too. So even though they still put out new albums, the prospect of cramming into a van to do a tour isn’t very appealing. But their small-but-mighty fan base would often pepper them with “Please come to [insert city name here]” requests on social media. Instead, they flipped the script, and created a festival called “Please Come to Boston.”
Their diehard fans were rewarded for their efforts with a trifecta of concerts… including a “matinee” show on Sunday for those who needed to get back to work on Monday – or just needed to recuperate after a couple of evening gigs.
Buffalo Tom played an entire album front to back each show. To make the mini-festival more festive, they also featured some music openers, comedy, book readings, even “punk rock aerobics.”
How was it? Fan-freaking-tastic! The albums that they featured are some of my favorites – not just in the Buffalo Tom oeuvre, but in all of music. (Let Me Come Over is my all-time favorite – it’s the album that “Velvet Roof” is on.)
But the additional performances were standout too – Tom Perrotta is the author of Election and Little Children (both were turned into Oscar-nominated movies) and The Leftovers (which became an HBO series).
Eugene Mirman (the voice of Gene Belzer on “Bob’s Burgers”) and Dave Hill were hilarious. (If you’ve never seen Dave Hill’s special “The Pride of Cleveland,” check it out here to get a feel for his zany brand of comedy with music. And check out his books, which are funny as heck.)
The band Q&A was hosted by actor/writer/comedian Mike O’Malley.
I hope there’s a “Please Come BACK to Boston” festival next year – I’d go in a heartbeat!
On other thought on the weekend’s lineup: Artists will always find a way to share their art, even if it means pivoting from their original goals. The book readings were courtesy of Earfull, which hosts public author readings combined with music.
EARFULL BEGAN as the brainchild of bookstore connoisseur Tim Huggins, and Boston musician and author Jen Trynin, created from their shared goal of bringing book and music fans together. They believe that – given the right environment – book people will love the experience of live music, and rock people will realize how cool it is to hear great authors reading their work aloud.
We played Jen Trynin’s song “Better than Nothing” on 97X back in the 90s too.
Since 2000 PRA has said NO TO THE STATUS QUO and to limiting notions of beauty, fitness, and ability. We aim to inspire, empower and create an inclusive and fun environment where you can laugh your ass off.
Hilken was in a band called Fuzzy back in my 97X days . Rolling Stone named their 1994 song “Flashlight” one of the top 50 songs of the 90s.
Maybe in an alternate universe Jen and Hilken would be hosting their own festivals.
Mike O’Malley starred in “The Mike O’Malley Show” back in 1999. It lasted three episodes. More recently, he created the series “Extended Family” starring Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) and Donald Faison (Scrubs). That one lasted 13 episodes.
In an alternate universe, maybe his ’99 show hits it big and he’s another Ray Romano… or maybe the 2023 series turns him into the new Chuck Lorre. But Mike has continued to hustle and continued to act and write. He was the showrunner for the Netflix series “Heels.”
It’s hard to imagine the U.S. as that country.. Especially with the news bubbles that create echo chambers. The promulgation of lies via social media. The name-calling that gets blood boiling. The downright demonization of certain members of society. The pure hatred for — and sometimes inciting violence toward — opponents and their supporters.
Be honest: at the top of the ticket, which candidate do you think better fits the bill of “calm” and “open towards each other”? Which has a better chance of uniting our United States? (It’s U.S. after all, not US vs. THEM). Which one might create calm instead of chaos, not just here, but across the world?
Our youngest child, Andrew, is a sophomore at Indiana University. The Hoosiers, smack-dab in the middle of the hoops hotbed of the Midwest, are not exactly a football powerhouse.
The Hoosiers have not won more than eight games in a season since 1967, which is the last year they won the Big Ten and/or played in the Rose Bowl. However, they have lost eight or more games 12 times in the 2000s.
But this year is different. They were 7-0 heading into this past Saturday’s matchup with their longtime Big 10 18 rival… Wisconsin Washington.
We bought tickets to the game for our whole fam-damily a month ago… not caring about the product on the field as much as looking for a chance to take our older kids to visit their baby brother at college.
But sports loves a good Cinderella story, and Indiana has a great story to tell: a new coach, new attitude — and several transfers — are leading to success. ESPN took notice and sent their ” College GameDay” crew — including former IU coach Lee Corso — to Bloomington.
I’ve probably watched a grand total of 10 minutes of “College GameDay” in the last 10 years. It’s style (or hype) over substance. Too much yammering (and too many commercials), not enough action. (Besides, our daughter worked at Lowe’s, dreaded archrival of The Home Depot.)
We drove over Saturday morning. Here’s what I didn’t see:
the College GameDay crew
Here’s what I did experience:
Gorgeous fall foliage on the 2.5 hour ride from Cincy to Bloomington on a sunny day
Our son’s apartment (cleaner than we expected)
Our kids hanging out together
The pageantry of college football (the marching band, the cheerleaders, the chants, the fight song…)
A fun Big 10 18 college football game
Chatting with some of Andrew’s friends at the post-game tailgate
Dinner together
More gorgeous scenery and sunshine on the ride back home Sunday
I’ll take the latter over the former any day of the week. Including “GameDay.”
Granted, oil imports are a bigger deal for the UK than for the U.S.A. But do you really want to have to worry about what Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Russia are up to, and how that will affect oil prices here, when there are clean alternatives?
What about affordability? Here’s Ed again:
Clean renewables are cheaper. No need to “drill, baby, drill” when you can just build more solar arrays and wind turbines, and higher capacity batteries… cheaper, with much less impact to the climate.
And they’re not just cheaper and cleaner, they’re also safer.
[Article that accompanies the two charts above from OurWorldinData.org is here. ]
The faster we go, the better off our world will be. Ed knows that:
Sure, we all sometimes wish for — dream about, even — a nicer house, a newer car, a fatter paycheck…
But that’s a race that can’t be won.
Get off the treadmill. And realize you’re already there. Living in a state called Happiness.
[Shout-out, as always, to Grateful.org for the pearls of wisdom. Their “Word for the Day” in my inbox always makes me think, and always makes me happy. You can sign up for it at the link above.]
Well, yes, that Tony has left, but I’m talking about the Tony Bennett who was the head coach for the men’s basketball team at the University of Virginia.
Why? Not because the game on the court has changed, but because the game off the court has changed.
“Nil” means nothing… but NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) means college athletes are cashing in, big time. Good for them… but bad for the sport. Tony knows that:
I think it’s right for players… student-athletes… to receive revenue. Please don’t mistake me, I do….
But the game, and college athletics, is not in a healthy spot. It’s not. And there needs to be change.
“I was equipped to do the job the old way. That’s who I am. But there needs to be change. It’s going to be closer to a professional model. There’s got to be collective bargaining. There’s got to be restrictions on a salary pool a team can spend. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some restrictions on the agent involvement on some of the young guys.”
— from his retirement press conference
He’s absolutely right. it’s no longer about Xs and Os… it’s about dollars and cents. And under the current system, there will be “haves” and “have nots” based on how deep the boosters’ pockets are… and unsavory agents… and teammates caring less about the team and more about WIIFM, and willing to leave one program at the drop of a hat (or at the promise of more cash).
Kudos to Tony for speaking up. Managing to turn a bunch of teenagers and early 20s kids into a high-performing team was tough enough in a pre-NIL world. Now you have to focus more on salary demands. You have to spend every waking hour thinking about the transfer portal (incoming and outgoing). You have to spend more time fundraising than you do coaching.
It’s sad. But it’s the current reality. And when you grew up the son of a coach, as Tony did, it’s gotta be tough when “coach” is about 12th on the list of your priorities at a major college b-ball program.
I hope his plea for changes doesn’t fall on deaf ears. The game needs it, ASAP.
I voted yesterday, and I have the sticker to prove it.
Our county offers early voting (and absentee ballot drop-off) at the Board of Elections location.
Plenty of people have been taking advantage of that option.
The parking lot was packed yesterday, with police directing traffic in and out from the street, and volunteers directing cars within the parking area.
But the voting process itself was quite smooth.
Full story is here. (The Linser quoted above is our neighbor Alex, btw.)
Vote411.org is a fantastic resource for voters. You can enter your home address and find out who is on your ballot, and compare the candidates’ profiles and their answers to a standard set of questions.
One of the volunteers directing traffic in the parking lot was Brewster Rhoads. He’s the brains and boosterism behind Paddlefest and Green Umbrella (i.e. a “tree-hugger”) and he served as the regional director for Southwest Ohio for a Democrat Governor (Ted Strickland) from 2007 to 2011. So Brewster’s politics are easy to discern. But yesterday, he wasn’t checking cars to see if they were “red” or “blue.” He wasn’t shouting epithets at folks, he was just guiding them to parking spots to make their day a bit easier. He wasn’t pointing fingers unless he was pointing out where to drive. He was kind and courteous to everyone, while knowing full well that many of the folks he was assisting have opposing political views, and were about to go cast their votes accordingly. The polar opposite of voter suppression.
We need more Brewsters in our world these days.
Whoops, wrong Brewster. Here’s the correct one:
Mr. Rhoads was a shining example of Civics 101.
We too often get fixated on the “rights” and forget about the “duties.”
We have a right to express our views, but we also have a duty to be respectful… civil.
Just because we disagree doesn’t mean we have to resort to name-calling, shouting, Twitter wars… or calling in bomb threats to schools and hospitals in Springfield, Ohio.
When civic education succeeds, all people are prepared and motivated to participate effectively in civic life. They acquire and share the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective participation.
It starts with knowledge. Know the facts… and know that just because a lie is repeated and amplified, it’s still a falsehood.
Be an informed voter. Uncle Sam wants YOU to vote… but you need to study up first.
And keep the “disposition” part in mind too. Our political world could use a temperature drop. Turn down the rhetoric, and turn up the kindness toward your fellow citizens. Even the ones with whom you disagree.
A week and a day ago, I left work a couple hours early and drove down to Nashville to see Charly Bliss in concert at the Exit/In. They were awesome, as I knew they would be.
A dude like me, in his late 50s, has no business driving four hours each way to see an power pop group of 20-somethings. But I love Charly Bliss’ music. And Nashville was the closest city to Cincy on their tour itinerary. Sometimes you have to roll before you can rock.
And as the cherry on top, Marc from the band Len did their song “Steal My Sunshine” with the band as part of the encore:
$25 for the ticket
$67 for the hotel room in Franklin, KY (free breakfast the next morning too!)
$30 for gas
Totally worth it – I’d do it again in a heartbeat. In my humble opinion, Charly Bliss deserves as much attention as Taylor Swift, if not more. Better lyrics, more energy on stage, and a true band vs. a singer with backing musicians. (Put your ears on their new album Forever before you come at me, Swifties!)
Two days ago, my friend Ken and I went up to Columbus to see Superchunk at Scully’s Music Diner. They were awesome, as I knew they would be.
Dudes like us, in our late 50s, have no business driving 100 miles each way on a Monday evening to see a concert. But — and stop me if you’ve heard this before — this tour stop was the closest they’d come to Cincinnati.
I was treated to a fantastic opening band, Quivers:
I’m a sucker for Aussie indie pop, and they were great. Their set included a cover of a Lucinda Williams song, which melted my heart. (The song is called “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad” which seemed especially appropriate given our road trip.)
I talked to the band members (Mike, Holly, Bella and Sam) at the merch booth after the show and they were super-nice and fun. (Mike took extra care in cutting the plastic album covering off so they could slide it back on after they autographed a vinyl copy of their new album Oyster Cuts.)
And Superchunk is one of my favorite bands of all time. They’ve been doing their thing for 35 years, but they still have that raw energy that makes their live show so brilliant.
And as the cherry on top, Kelley Deal (from The Breeders and R. Ring) and Mike Montgomery (R. Ring) came up on stage to do an R. Ring tune during the encore:
$30 ticket
$26 for a round of beers for Ken, his friend Dave, and me (Ken drove to the show)
Totally worth it – I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
One good minute could last me a whole year One good minute will last me a whole year
Superchunk “The First Part”
I’m not, I’m not dead Even if I was I’d wish that I f*cked up ‘least twice as much And had like double the fun But I’m not dead I’m not, I’m not done I’m looking down from starlight, glass-eyed I still got some time left, I’m not dead
In early September, Mrs. Dubbatrubba and I spent a week on Anna Maria Island, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, sharing a rental house with three other couples that I’ve known since our college days.
Most mornings, we’d head up near the Rod & Reel Pier — a local landmark built in 1947 — to catch the sunrise.
[Photo credit: Peter Unger]
It was lovely.
Here’s what the pier looks like now:
Not just the pier, but the restaurant at the end of the pier: gone. Two powerful hurricanes in less than two weeks will do that to you.
Sure, maybe it’s just coincidence… the double dose of extreme weather.
And maybe the flooding from Hurricane Helene that wreaked havoc in cities like Asheville, NC… supposedly a “climate sanctuary”… was just a fluke.
Or maybe it’s climate change.
Multiple studies have shown that rapid intensification has become more common over the past three decades, pushing large storms to become even stronger…
A similar pattern emerged with Hurricanes Helene and Milton in late September and early October, with both gaining strength rapidly as they passed over unusually warm seas in the Gulf of Mexico. Milton’s winds peaked at 180 mph, making it the world’s strongest storm of 2024 at the time.
What’s the solution? Maybe flipping this script would be a good start:
You can choose to ignore the warning signs if you’d like. But that won’t change the science. Lives are being lost. Communities are being devastated. Paradise is being lost. And time’s a wastin’ to do anything about it.
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
Thomas Kuhl on We’re alive, because nothing happened.: “That is why we should celebrate every day when our feet hit the floor. Another to enjoy and share with…” Jun 25, 04:33
Thomas Kuhl on We’re alive, because nothing happened.: “This simply explains why we should celebrate every day our feet hit the floor. Another day to enjoy and share…” Jun 25, 04:31
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