(Part 2) Best elections & political processes books according to redditors

I'm a democratic campaign manager who doesn't know Mook at all, but it seems like he did a pretty great job. 8 years ago, and indeed as recently as Secretary Clinton's tenure at the State Department, you got pretty regular stories in the press about the dysfunction of Clinton world. To my knowledge, you didn't have a single story about infighting and dysfunction, and in any presidential campaign that's huge. Doubly so for a Clinton operation. It seems like Mook played a role in making sure infighting didn't dominate coverage like it did the first time she ran.

Hindsight is also 20/20. A lot of people ask now why Clinton didn't go after Trump like Obama went after Romney, but if she had I imagine the press would've been brutal on her for trying the same old playbook against Trump when he's such a uniquely unqualified candidate.

My book goes a bit more into how powerful a campaign manager really is: amazon.com/dp/B01KED1OAM/

Understanding is progress. A decade ago, I still found resistance to the idea that this system was "corrupt." Now even my right wing messaging friends say "corruption is the issue."

Also, locally: Cities and some states are amazing. Read Eric Liu's You're More Powerful Than You Think.

That is from Peter Douche and his unpaid intern Pat

He makes fun of peter daou who was a consultant to HRC and attacked Bernie in 2016
https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Douche-Parody/dp/1790986923

Jimmy Doore did a show on him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwPV1WaXVtk
Twitter Bans Progressive Parody Account @PeterDouche

He had an AMA right here at WOTB and I was so really enjoying it but I thought it was a reformed peter daou lol


:)

Would you trust a doctor paid by the pharma industry?

Would you trust a corporate university that sells degrees?

Would you trust a hospital run for profit?

Would you trust a politician owned by pro-Israel donors?

Would you trust a media run by Comcast?

Would you trust a military spokesman about spying?

Would you trust think tanks paid by foreign countries ?

Would you trust an anti-union "non profit", an anti-environnement "non profit" and a pro-tobacco "non profit" all actually run and paid by big corporations ?

The goal of a business is to make as much money as possible.

I'm not surprised.

Believe it or not, the same phenomenon exists on reddit. As soon as you bring up certain topics or certain corporations, you will have a ton of people that will come to reddit to defend them. Sometimes they create fake accounts to look more honest. Lying is a huge industry.

Never trust shit you see online if you don't see who is behind it.

I only trust democratically run and independant organizations like community-funded consumer unions and community-funded medias

>My apologies. This is the link from Dublin.

Republican Sinn Féin are a political party not a terrorist organisation, regardless of how scummy they are. They might support the cause of terror organisations but they are not doing anything illegal. Plenty of pro-violence political movements parade around the UK with heavy police presence. Nobody gives a toss about the RSF, they're a bunch of cosplaying armchairists.

> I'm afraid it's clear you have no idea who runs Sinn Fein. Its leader's campaign office used to sell IRA memorabilia, and she herself is a outspoken fan of Sean Russell, the pro-Nazi IRA leader. Her deputy Michelle O'Neill is the daughter of a convicted Provo and hails from a well-known IRA family.

I know well who runs Sinn Féin. I have little time for her. But if you think that people vote for Sinn Féin because they like Mary-Lou, then you are mistaken. It's like saying people will vote Tory because they love Teresa May. People vote Sinn Féin because of their deep involvement in highly localised politics as they are the only surviving left-wing political party in many parts of the country. Irish politics is not about national politics and people do not vote in local candidates in order to form a national government- they vote local candidates for the work they do in the constituency. Mary-Lou and indeed much of the awful crap that Sinn Féin involved themselves with in the last number of decades has little bearing on why many vote for them, especially when your options in many parts are Fine Gael (centre-right, pro business), Fianna Fáil (centre-right, pro banking), or independent (usually centre-right, pro farming).~

Once again, you don't understand Irish politics. This is a very good explainer for those who don't get Irish politics:
https://www.amazon.com/All-Politics-Local-Elections-Ireland/dp/1848890028

> I apologise that the British government of the 1700s wasn't as enlightened and "woke" as the modern government of Denmark or Canada. Perhaps you can give me some examples of 18th Century governments that were?

It's not just the 18th century. It's the 19th and 20th centuries too where the British government committed awful acts in the name of imperium.

> Most people in England suffered quite badly at times.

Certainly.

>We had our land stolen by invading Normans (like Ireland)

Certainly.

>endured centuries of brutish monarchy (like Ireland and the rest of Europe)

Certainly.

>had our common land stolen by aristocrats in the Enclosures

Certainly.

> saw Dickensian hardships in the Industrial Revolution

Certainly.

>and then (unlike Ireland) lost a million people trying to stop German military dictators from conquering Europe

Irish fought in both World Wars. Irish soldiers were also treated worse than British soldiers in the British Army.

>But Irish nationalists pretend none of that it true, because in their fictionalised view of history, it's only the Irish who ever suffered.

That's also untrue depending on what you mean by nationalists. By the same token British nationalists pretend that the British Empire was a beneficial, fatherly state that raised savages out of mud huts, and spent it's existence fighting autocrats. In reality the British government genocided Bengalis and Irish in artificial famines, actively hunted out practitioners of other faiths and cultures, and sought to eradicate them. This isn't just hundreds of years ago- by the time of Irish Independence, people who had survived An Gorta Mór were still alive.

Look man, I don't know why you have such a chip on your shoulder about Ireland. It's clear your conception of Irish people is based on Northern Irish nationalist lunatics but people from Ireland have a simultaneous fondness for Britain and British people while having the wherewithal to acknowledge the atrocities of the IRA and the historic and recent atrocities of the British government. That the British government actively hated the Irish is a matter of fact, that they felt Ireland would be better if the Irish were gone altogether is a matter of record, and that eradicating Irish culture and replacing it with Anglo culture is a matter of evidence. Whether the British people suffered under British governments is not up for debate, they did. That doesn't diminish Irish suffering, never minding how much more sever Irish were treated compared to British, nor does it make the independence movement less valid nor justified.

I'd like to go back to your original statement before this somewhat bizarre laundry list of petty Irish crimes was raised (and again I will not write a laundry list of major British crimes) and address the assertion that Irish Independence was brought about in 1922 by lying Nazi socialists and a fascist organisation that was founded 15 years after we were already independent and I'd like for you to ask yourself, for all the attempts at independence, for every historical uprising and every rebellion and every war crime and atrocity that was committed against the Irish (and not to say some of it wasn't committed against English people by the selfsame government) and for every political attempt at devolution and Home Rule and every political battle that ended whole careers of sympathetic British politicians for centuries and decades leading up to Irish Independence in 1922, do you really and truly honestly believe that people had to be lied to in order to support Independence?

After this, I'm done. I haven't said all I can say but I've exhausted my patience. You appear to have made up your mind. I just hope some other people read this exchange and realise there's more subtlety to this than how it may be presented by some.

I was just there last weekend; while there, a demonstration broke out in a Shi'a neighborhood during a funeral procession that resulted in the police moving in to crack skulls. I saw what looked like a Cobra attack helicopter (not sure whose, Saudi or Bahrani) circling the neighborhood for most of the afternoon while police and army units sealed it with barricades, barb wire, and armored police vehicles. My Bahraini taxi driver (Bahrain has a high proportion of taxi drivers that are nationals and many are Shi'a) said they were trying to bring down the prime minister.

In a bar, a man, quite drunk, came up to me and said "Saudi military here, everything ok" before stumbling off for the bathroom.

With the exception of the traffic around the conflict zones, Bahrain has settled into a weird tit-for-tat cycle of protest, arrest, protest, arrest with hardly any political movement. The government has given up trying to stop demonstrations entirely and tolerates a few, but keeps strict control of where they can and can't go, never allowing them into Manama. I saw Bahrani police in the city center carrying assault rifles with noise suppressors during a trip in February 2013, though this time they just carried shotguns in the touristy old city.

Bahrani media reports these demonstrations, but slag them off as violent terrorists. (http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/ is a local rag)

Internet remains heavily censored; anything about news in Bahrain is subject to restrictions, so when I did an Internet search about demonstrations I got blocked.

U.S. Embassy has frequent updates about demonstrations at: http://bahrain.usembassy.gov/demonstration.html

According to the most recent one, a "violent opposition group has called for countrywide demonstrations on March 8th." Bahrain is not big; it took me two hours to explore the place by car. These clashes will be intense and crowded.

Additionally, on Monday, a bomb went off killing three police, including an Emirati officer. Bombs are becoming more frequent; a week prior, another police officer was killed in a similar incident. (http://www.thenational.ae/uae/government/bahraini-delegation-visits-family-of-uae-martyr)

In Saudi Arabia, in the Shi'a village of Qatif, a smoldering uprising has been occurring since 2012. Qatif and Bahrain are not far from one another. Here's some video of protests there, but this is from 2011. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soEOxKxeux4). Chants of "Death to King Abdullah" are not uncommon in these protests. Saudi Arabia is terrified a Shi'a revolution in Bahrain would spread to their Eastern Province, where a majority of their oil is produced and exported.

As a long time resident of the Persian Gulf, I can attest to how much these governments are trying to keep a lid on Bahrain for fear a revolution there would lead to an explosion across the Gulf. Repression is more frequent; torture, more common, even in relatively 'liberal' places like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

There are two great books on the region that document what's happening here (and what might happen), both written by long-time residents of the Gulf.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/After-Sheikhs-Coming-Collapse-Monarchies/dp/184904189X

http://www.amazon.com/Sectarian-Gulf-Bahrain-Arabia-Stanford/dp/0804785732

yep, sure.

https://www.amazon.com/God-Gave-Donald-Trump-anti-establishment/dp/1947402544

Sua Santità. Le carte segrete di Benedetto XVI Learn Italian!

>So, maybe it’s not just those pesky Russian Robots infiltrating our brains that are destroying our Democracy. It’s Corporate money – born and bred in the good ole USA. Sorry, baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, but nothing is more American than big money shrinking great minds to small. I’d certainly recommend looking through Beth Lynchs’ masterful series on how this transformation occurred at MSNBC.

>The Democratic Party has now descended from a marketplace of ideas into a cult-of-personality. It’s not about ideas. These churn regularly. Democrats are passionate about people. The vision of Hillary Clinton as a divine infallible savior has taken over the party of small minds – long after her embarrassing loss to an asshole. This has broken down people I once respected, admired, and cared for- broken my heart. This lifelong Democrat is mourning the loss of intellect from Democratic Party circles:

>The moneyed interests know: While you can’t fix stupid, you can sure buy their votes!

Edit to add link.

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chaos-Candidate-American-Unraveling-ebook/dp/B01LY37O02 Lance Walnau wrote a great book about this during the campaign

I can recommend this book as worth reading for an answer to that question.

Original copy doesn't matter, remember? It's a 'living' document insomuch as it says what whatever a politician or judge wants it to say, ie
Hologram of Liberty

So, watch the movie the Corruptor, awesome villain!

Also, you can read something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Most-Evil-Dictators-History/dp/184317071X

Which outline how real bad guys did things.

Abramson, Aldrich, and Rohde's Change and Continuity in the 2008 and 2010 Elections (or just the 2008 version, which is available for super cheap used) might be worth reading. Some sections are 2008/2010 election-specific, but they also cover some more general topics, as well as trends in turnout, issues, and voting blocs that have been taking place in recent years.

Are you fucking high?

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Trump-Encounter-Broadsides-ebook/dp/B016HBYVCS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501431349&sr=8-1&keywords=kevin+williamson+against+trump

[Yeah, I accept that definition.] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis)

[This book] (https://www.amazon.com.au/Gough-Whitlam-His-Time-Updated-ebook/dp/B00PRQ5L8S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=Jenny+Hocking&qid=1565141365&s=digital-text&sr=1-1) and [this book] (http://www.amazon.com.au/Dismissal-Dossier-Updated-Everything-November-ebook/dp/B01HB7R0IY) go into further details about it and reveals the relatively recently released information on the dismissal and combines it with what was already known.

The Author of both books was Whitlam's official biographer; Whitlam found out that the Governor General (the Queen's representative and the highest office in Australia) was actively involved with the CIA months before his death. Apparently Whitlam just stared out the window and cried, repeating to himself "What can you do?"

Worst part? Whitlam was probably our best Prime Minister.

Get yourself a copy of this

It's easily the best book on the subject which doesn't rely on retarded internet conspiracies.

I keep seeing libertarians push IRV but every country with IRV still has a two-party-dominant system. The link that dkinmn posted perhaps explains why.

If you really want to fix the problem, go for range voting, or at least approval voting.

For an engaging in-depth look at the properties of various voting systems, read Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone.

When patriarch of US Democratic Socialism playfully rousts about in communist kitsch, praises the Castro and the Sandinistas even going so far as hiss followers calling themselves [Sandernistas] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZE7B8M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1), and posting things that praise for Venezuela on his website, I think one has to come to the conclusion that this was never going mainstream in the US. Don't be such a defeatest -- the Dem's have a real chance if they don't throw it away on idealogical non-starters.

The truth is coming out soon.

Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G2T7359/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kIvXBbEMPX8MD