• @FlowVoid
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    2 months ago

    Should school boards be elected? This year, 58% of those seats are uncontested.

    What about local judges? This year, 84% are uncontested.

    • knightly the Sneptaur
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      -12 months ago

      Yes, yes, and those are great examples of why the lack of democratic competition is an existential threat to the nation.

      • @FlowVoid
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        2 months ago

        But should those seats remain unfilled after an uncontested election? That would mean most of those seats are never filled.

        I don’t think the lack of competition is an existential threat. Democratic competition is motivated by a strong desire for change. But it’s natural that in some communities nobody strongly desires change in some settings, like school board policy.

        If and when the school board or judge makes mistakes, political opponents who desire change will arise.

        • knightly the Sneptaur
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          02 months ago

          But should those seats remain unfilled after an uncontested election? That would mean most of those seats are never filled.

          You could fit three full elections between voting day and inaguration day. The idea that elections take years is an artifact of our broken electoral system, not a fact of nature.

          I don’t think the lack of competition is an existential threat.

          Trump is about to win a second term because the DNC conspired to knock Bernie out of the primary in 2015.

          • @FlowVoid
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            2 months ago

            If nobody volunteers to run for school board between January and October, then nobody will volunteer in November or December.

            Running a campaign takes time and money, and you shouldn’t expect someone to volunteer those just to give you the satisfaction of seeing two boxes on a ballot.

            And I see no evidence that President Sanders in 2016 could have prevented Trump from running in 2024.