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zataomm  2yr ago (text post)   6862 thread views

Colorado Supreme Court Thread

Link to the decision

I don't know to what extent there are established precedents for when a topic is worthy of a mega-thread, but this decision seems like a big deal to me with a lot to discuss, so I'm putting this thread here as a place for discussion. If nobody agrees then I guess they just won't comment.

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For reasons discussed in this thread that relate to due process and presumption of innocence, I believe this decision is either nonsensical or tyrannical and will be annulled by any SCOTUS that wants the Republic to continue.

But let's for a moment leave that aside and consider what would happen if they failed to do so. What are the consequences of this standing for American politics?

Some republicans are already talking about retaliating and banning Biden from the ballot in their states. And if that were to become a legitimate practice, you'd have local politics even more solidified than they are now. Every State a one party State, and both parties vying for one party control of the federal government.

It's hard to see the President not packing the court in that context. Or how a shooting war doesn't start eventually when the losing side realizes there are more direct ways of banning politicians from election when you're not in control of institutions.

I'm honestly a bit surprised at how lightly the media is taking this particular escalation. They sure are talking about it but courts banning major party leaders from the ballot is levels of danger not seen since Lincoln.

I'm honestly a bit surprised at how lightly the media is taking this particular escalation. They sure are talking about it but courts banning major party leaders from the ballot is levels of danger not seen since Lincoln.

I know I sound like a broken record but once again I think it comes down to Hobbes vs Rousseau, and the massive Leviathan-shaped hole in our current academic and media discourse. I think that a lot of our so-called "thought leaders" are so deep in a Rousseauean bubble and so unshakeable in their belief that "social structures are imposed by the elite" and "that civilization is a product of the leisure class", that the possibility of an existing social structure collapsing, or of a new one arising organically, is just not something they can countenance.

I think it’s a bit simpler than that. The media has a very large blind spot when it comes to things done to republicans. It could be rhetorical flourishes (every republican since Regan has been accused of fascism of some sort), criminal investigations or accusations, or actions taken but things that would invite howls of protest if done to a democrat are suddenly perfectly fine when done to a republican. Having hearings about the embassy attack in Libya and grilling Hillary about her emails is proof of a witch hunt. The Hunter Biden investigation is a witch hunt. Mueller wasn’t. Two impeachments wasn’t.

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