I recently watched videos of Bernie Sanders, who americans call left-wing, and maybe compared to other american politicians he is, but compared to russian opposition he is very like Boris Nemtsov and Alexey Navalny. First is literal founder of Union of Right Forces, second is considered to be center-right.

[Edit: Seems like this idea wasn't a good idea eventually. Thank you for participating.😄]

I've noticed that low turnout (about half) is very common in elections. A good practice would be to make it easier to vote through various means. Another good one, but harder, is to educate people about the importance of voting and generally being an active citizen. I think my idea should be used either if the previous attempts to encourage voting don't work or it could be used in parallel with them.

The idea I had, though I don't know if it's a good one:

If the turnout is less than

100% - "percentage of ruling party"

then elections would be invalidated and they'd have to happen again.

If they get invalidated again, the term of the parliament is extended as-is by a year (this part could be changed, it could be replaced by what the consitution of each country dictates in case elections get invalidated for other reasons). This way it "punishes" people who don't vote (though everyone gets collateral damage..), so eventually people might get fed up and be pushed to vote. Plus, it prevents parties to get power without people actually supporting them.

Even if those "extra" people who will be pushed vote happen to vote the "bad" guys, they will at least know they are actively part of the problem (provided they understand the problem😬) and might change their vote (to something better or worse).

I think it's very important to have more engagement. In Greece we had a ~50% turnout last year. That's extremely low.. And I see similar percentages in many other countries. Apathy is very damaging to democracy, those two ~don't really get along (though I don't know if it's worse than voting "bad" people).

The reason why I'm excluding the percentage of the ruling party from the whole percentage of the population is because the ruling party may try to "rig" the system by advising all their supporters not to vote, thus, extending their power.

If you could pinpoint any issues to my idea and any way of fixing them would be nice. If you find it a good/bad idea, you're encouraged to share why. It's just something I though of (I think) yesterday.🙃

Alternate frontend

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/17846908

archive.org link

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) de facto authorities must reverse their unlawful takeover of the Aden-based Yemeni Women Union centre, an independent civil society organization, and ensure women and children residing in the centre’s shelter for survivors of gender-based violence are protected, said Amnesty International today.

On 26 May, a group of armed men accompanying women from the STC-supported Southern Women Union, took over the Yemeni Women Union centre building in Sira district in Aden governorate by force. They broke in, changed the locks to the centre’s entrance and main rooms, destroyed security cameras, and expelled the centre’s guard replacing him with a new STC affiliated armed guard. They also denied access to staff of the Yemeni Women Union and to women seeking protective services.

“Instead of guaranteeing the safety of women fleeing violence and strengthening the work of civil society organizations providing protective services, STC authorities have exposed them to further violence,” said Diala Haidar, Yemen researcher at Amnesty International.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/17826424

archive.org link

"More and more people are waking up to realize, we do not want private insurance companies to be in control of our healthcare system," said one advocate who attended the latest Sanders Institute Gathering.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/17824195

archive.org link

This is the Center’s eighth political typology since 1987, but it differs from earlier such studies in several important ways. It is the first typology conducted on Pew Research Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel, which provides the benefit of a large sample size and the ability to include a wealth of other political data for the analysis, including the Center’s validated voter study.

The four Democratic-oriented typology groups highlight the party’s racial and ethnic diversity, as well as the unwieldy nature of the current Democratic coalition. (For complete descriptions of all nine typology groups see Chapters 3-11; for profiles of the Democratic and Republican coalitions see Chapters 1 and 2 of this report.)

They include two very different groups of liberal Democrats: Progressive Left and Establishment Liberals. Progressive Left, the only majority White, non-Hispanic group of Democrats, have very liberal views on virtually every issue and support far-reaching changes to address racial injustice and expand the social safety net. Establishment Liberals, while just as liberal in many ways as Progressive Left, are far less persuaded of the need for sweeping change.

Two other Democratic-aligned groups could not be more different from each other, both demographically and in their relationship to the party. Democratic Mainstays, the largest Democratic-oriented group, as well as the oldest on average, are unshakeable Democratic loyalists and have a moderate tilt on some issues. Outsider Left, the youngest typology group, voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden a year ago and are very liberal in most of their views, but they are deeply frustrated with the political system – including the Democratic Party and its leaders.

The four Republican-oriented groups include three groups of conservatives: Faith and Flag Conservatives are intensely conservative in all realms; they are far more likely than all other typology groups to say government policies should support religious values and that compromise in politics is just “selling out on what you believe in.” Committed Conservatives also express conservative views across the board, but with a somewhat softer edge, particularly on issues of immigration and America’s place in the world. Populist Right, who have less formal education than most other typology groups and are among the most likely to live in rural areas, are highly critical of both immigrants and major U.S. corporations.

Ambivalent Right, the youngest and least conservative GOP-aligned group, hold conservative views about the size of government, the economic system and issues of race and gender. But they are the only group on the political right in which majorities favor legal abortion and say marijuana should be legal for recreational and medical use. They are also distinct in their views about Donald Trump – while a majority voted for him in 2020, most say they would prefer he not continue to be a major political figure.

The only typology group without a clear partisan orientation – Stressed Sideliners – also is the group with the lowest level of political engagement. Stressed Sideliners, who make up 15% of the public but constituted just 10% of voters in 2020, have a mix of conservative and liberal views but are largely defined by their minimal interest in politics.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/17821633

archive.org link

Take our quiz to find out which one of our nine political typology groups is your best match, compared with a nationally representative survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research Center. You may find some of these questions are difficult to answer. That’s OK. In those cases, pick the answer that comes closest to your view, even if it isn’t exactly right.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2667069

Sneaky Biden.

Also, subscribe to this person, trying to help 'em out.