Remember a few months ago when every pundit from the NY Times to the Nation called Ukraine to do a ceasefire? Russia is now losing territory as Europe has allowed Ukraine to attack the Russian military. The rest of NATO has chosen to completely bypass the leadership of the United States, openly supporting Ukraine to …
Author Archives: stidmatt
Two lanes and only two
Many cities in the US have built their transit systems around their highway networks because all they need to buy are vehicles, and they can quickly have reasonably competitive transit services up and running for cheap. This brings us to West Seattle. West Seattle has numerous buses that go downtown; they all go along the …
The border issue
Republicans are trying to make the Mexican border a political issue this election. Let’s investigate how to make a stable situation: The main causes of people crossing the border illegally is the following: There are few legal pathways for Mexicans to work in the United States. There are more low-skill jobs (which means you don’t …
Electoral College repeal amendment
The Every Vote Counts Amendment is almost perfect, but it needs some tweaks. Every Vote Counts Section 1. The President and Vice President shall be elected by the people of the several States and the district constituting the seat of government citizens of the United States. Section 2. The electors in each State shall have …
Unique Presidential elections
First and foremost, every Presidential election is unique. You cannot accurately predict an election’s outcome by the candidates’ offices in the race. No matter who Harris picks as her running mate, this election will be unique because it is the only election in which an incumbent Vice President has run against a former President. This …
Democrats vs Republicans
Over the last 60 years, the two parties have diverged. On the one hand, Johnson passed major civil rights reform. On the other hand, Nixon negotiated with hostile regimes to not sign peace agreements with the United States for political gain. But on the other hand, Jimmy Carter has pushed for and eradicated Guinea Worm. …
Only one path
With Biden ending his campaign and Harris as the presumptive nominee to be the next president of the United States, there is clearly only one path to protecting democracy at home and worldwide. That is to elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States. She was one of the most consistent Democrats …
New Democratic Lies
People who think Democrats need to approach the center were never going to vote Democratic in the first place. No one will ever vote for a black man who supports extending health care to disabled people… oh wait… the best performance for a Democrat since 1964… twice. George McGovern is the ideal candidate. He is …
50-state strategy to victory
I’m a reliable Democratic voter, and I have benefited massively from the Affordable Care Act since I was born with cerebral palsy. If the ACA is repealed as Republicans promise, I will have to leave the country or not have health insurance. Those are the stakes of this election. I read the article in Politico …
A plan for Tacoma Link connection
Tacoma’s unfortunate geography makes transit difficult to serve. The city is fairly low-density, but zoning can fix this. It’s dense enough to support Link. Problem 1: Bad bus routes If you want to go from the St. Joseph Medical Center to the Tacoma Dome, the new transit center for the South Sound, the bus takes …