Congress threatening to shutdown unless ACA is defunded/repealed immediately.

[Serra]

its interesting to compare how slowly government moves vs anything ever done on the internet. i feel like there's probably a huge amount of potential for change to the way democracy functions. talking to representatives in real time, etc. i cant even name my state's reps off the top of my head (except maybe bachmann but i dont remember if shes still in or not), and I'm more much more informed than most people I know. It's not even really apathy, it's just complete lack of market penetration, or whatever you want to call it. People just vote their party or incumbent on everything except city-level and presidential elections. Myself included. I look at a ballot sheet and recognize -maybe- 10 names, and I might even be able to tell you something about two or three of them from the occasional TV ad I saw in a waiting room once.

I don't even know how I would learn anything about these people, because they don't exist on the internet. They don't have pages, they don't do AMAs, nothing. So that could be a good place to start: convince the reps (and those other mysterious elected officials that appear on ballots and nothing else) to make themselves known to their constituents. Maybe then people would care who sat in their chair.

The reason people don't know is because it doesn't affect them and there's no gain to know or becoming informed. It's the same with voting -- why spend the effort to vote when your vote isn't going to make a difference? The effort it takes to become informed, or vote, or really participate in politics is better spent elsewhere (like making a sandwich or taking a nap) because there is almost no return.

As far as starting a new movement or new party or whatever, it's not really feasible in the US system. There are a lot of political scientists who use game theory to show how the two party system (which is the result of the US being a presidential system, not some conspiracy or the two parties manipulating things) causes new ideas to be assimilated by the two major parties. Sure, you might get cycles like we're having now where the tea party is pulling the Republicans more to the right and might step out as their own party, but eventually it'll all settle down. There might be a few elections where tea party candidates cost races for the republicans, but the longer that goes on, the less feasible the tea party will become and things will settle down again.

[Restrat]

I think one of the biggest (although not sexiest) things you can do is change how energy subsidies work. Those Oil (and to a lesser extent, nuclear) subsidies are put into place for a long time, and really who could imagine changing most of them in the near future?

Wind and Solar subsidies are usually one or two years, and are ripe targets. If you could invest in solar technology, but then one year in find out the government is no longer going to subsidize the price of the electricity (through tax credits per kWh), you just lost all your potential profits. Making these a risky investment for private industry.
If you had 5 or 10 year plans for this sort of thing, there would be a lot more certainty and more research

[Ksandra]

I guess there are some glitches on the Obamacare website and fox is having a field day over it. It's like D3 .gaming nerds on release.

@zealot stuff: you are not allowed to make a third party. That basically fucks up your chances at the presidency, and BG can't have that.

[BaneTheBrawler]

I wasn't meaning make a third party, I was talking about getting people actually informed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/113th_...tates_Congress
Note all the names are blue, and I checked MN and they do have decently full pages.

Also,
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Minnesota
it even has state level
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.ph...urrent_members
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.ph...urrent_members

I will grant you, this is after the fact material. I wasn't paying much attention to the site a year ago, so I can't say how it is before an election.

like this. this is fucking great. WHY HAVE I NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE. seriously, have to find it through a fucking video game forum? ridiculous. shit like this should be plastered all over the place.

[Serra]

I wasn't meaning make a third party, I was talking about getting people actually informed.

Well, like I said, it's irrational (not tin foil hat irrational but in terms of doing things to maximize your returns) to become informed on politics. We live in a country of over 300 million people, so one person is not going to make any noticeable difference. Therefore, why do that instead of making a sandwich or taking a nap. Sure, it'd be great if everyone was informed and making informed decisions, but that will never happen, and even if that does happen, it's rational for you to not be informed and take advantage of the fact that everyone else is, and yeah.. Woo game theory!

[archibaldcrane]

There's no reason why we can't have sustainable hydrogen powered vehicles within the next 20 years

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/10...musk-hydrogen/

Some would disagree.

[Restrat]

One of the big issues with hydrogen fuel cells is that they are really just a super fancy battery. You spend tons to energy to get the hydrogen, then use it in a different location to get (less) energy.

The big problem is that first energy is coming from our electric grid, which is mainly coal. Coal vs Gasoline problems, I'd take gasoline anytime.
Fuel cells and electric cars in general won't be helpful in reducing CO2 emissions unless we are generation clean electricity.

[archibaldcrane]

One of the big issues with hydrogen fuel cells is that they are really just a super fancy battery. You spend tons to energy to get the hydrogen, then use it in a different location to get (less) energy.

The big problem is that first energy is coming from our electric grid, which is mainly coal. Coal vs Gasoline problems, I'd take gasoline anytime.
Fuel cells and electric cars in general won't be helpful in reducing CO2 emissions unless we are generation clean electricity.

Um, even when powered by 100% coal generated electricity, an electric vehicle is about as carbon polluting as a prius. In states with the highest EV adoption rates (like CA and WA) the grid is less than 10% coal.

[niacin]

All i have to say about the "government shutdown" is it's bs.

Google: No Agenda Show

There are a lot of interesting views on it and other things in the news.

[BaneTheBrawler]

i read an article recently about a solar plant in... i wanna say arizona? that managed to continue producing sizable amounts of energy over 6 hours after sundown. So it's getting there. what we really need is a nice orbital elevator. opens up everything.

[archibaldcrane]

Yeah, if a solar power tower is heating, say, liquid sodium it can stay hot and productive well after sundown.

[kuronosan]

This shit is getting annoying. They are literally never going to leave the ACA alone.

[Blubbartron]

This shit is getting annoying. They are literally never going to leave the ACA alone.

All it has to do is be implemented for a few years and affect millions of people, and the public sentiment will change. Then it'll be like Medicare/SS, and people will lose their fucking minds if their representatives even hint about cutting benefits. Granted, having it be implemented for a few years is going to be hard enough with all the Republicans doing their damndest to tank it (and Obama's legacy - I'm not sure which one is the primary goal).

[Serra]

Well, yes and no. The Republicans will try to find ways to continue to attack it because it's Obama's signature legislation, but now that it's in effect and people are using it (or at least trying to..), it's must harder to just repeal it. That was a large part of why the Republicans were trying so hard. They knew that once it went into effect, repealing or changing it becomes that much harder.

[Kyreth]

Well, yes and no. The Republicans will try to find ways to continue to attack it because it's Obama's signature legislation, but now that it's in effect and people are using it (or at least trying to..), it's must harder to just repeal it. That was a large part of why the Republicans were trying so hard. They knew that once it went into effect, repealing or changing it becomes that much harder.

Keep pulling shit like this and the Republicans are going the way of the Whig party.

What, can't really recall any Whigs? Me neither. Grandstanding on Obamacare is turning into political meth at this point. It's hyping them up but eating the party alive from the inside out. If I didn't know better, I'd say the Tea Party wing is doing it on purpose, trying to kill off the old school to take over full control of the place.

[archibaldcrane]

Problem is that Obamacare doesn't really control costs, so now the 10% per year insurance rate increases will be blamed on it.

Now, if that pushes us finally to single payer, it's worth it, but Obamacare is going to take a regular beating between now and whenever that happens.

[thetruepandagod]

Now, if that pushes us finally to single payer, it's worth it

This is one of the worst outcomes possible and i hope in time you realize why.

[quannum]

This is one of the worst outcomes possible and i hope in time you realize why.

why?

[archibaldcrane]

This is one of the worst outcomes possible and i hope in time you realize why.

Because I hate Americans?

[kuronosan]

This is one of the worst outcomes possible and i hope in time you realize why.

Just stop. You know not what you speak.