Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

uh, what? it's exactly the opposite. dc's government is about as unrepresentative as it gets. most of our officials are left wing nutjobs who get elected in primaries in which barely anyone votes. then, because they got elected with, like, 12 votes, they think they have a mandate to pursue all their craziest ideas. when voters object, they ignore them because they think they know better or because, hey, they were elected, even if 99 percent of their constituents did not actually vote for them.

A big part of the problem is that D.C. has some of the most restrictive rules in the country about who can vote in primaries, which in places like DC is where all the decisions get made.

The rules effectively disenfranchise some 90,000 independent voters.

There's a ballot initiative that would change this, so that we would have open primaries where independents get to vote too. It would also bring ranked choice voting, which would be another big improvement.

The Washington Post editorial board just came out strongly in favor of it. You should support it too. Voters should get to pick their elected representatives, not vice versa.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/11/dc-open-primaries-democratic-party/

Those voters disenfranchise themselves.

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Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

uh, what? it's exactly the opposite. dc's government is about as unrepresentative as it gets. most of our officials are left wing nutjobs who get elected in primaries in which barely anyone votes. then, because they got elected with, like, 12 votes, they think they have a mandate to pursue all their craziest ideas. when voters object, they ignore them because they think they know better or because, hey, they were elected, even if 99 percent of their constituents did not actually vote for them.

A big part of the problem is that D.C. has some of the most restrictive rules in the country about who can vote in primaries, which in places like DC is where all the decisions get made.

The rules effectively disenfranchise some 90,000 independent voters.

There's a ballot initiative that would change this, so that we would have open primaries where independents get to vote too. It would also bring ranked choice voting, which would be another big improvement.

The Washington Post editorial board just came out strongly in favor of it. You should support it too. Voters should get to pick their elected representatives, not vice versa.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/11/dc-open-primaries-democratic-party/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

People in D.C. complain about lack of representation all the time, and then mostly ignore the representation they do have. I'm willing to bet that 95% of the people in this city couldn't name the 13 members of the Council and their ANC rep. You probably have a lot more people who could name all Supreme Court justices (something we have no control over) than the 13 members of the Council (who we actually vote for).

And then Congress, who nobody in DC votes for, throws that all out the window.

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Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

A system that permits 100% single party control despite a required set aside for minority party council seats is actually much worse. But here we are.

Single party control is the worst. Whether it's Washington D.C. or some little town in Texas, it empowers the crazies while ensuring there is no accountability for anything, because all the electeds are on the same team.

It's single-party control in DC because the other party doesn't run any candidates the voters want to vote for.

well hardly anyone votes for the people who actually get elected either. it is comical how few votes some of these people get. high school student body president elections are more competitive.

205,774 ballots were cast in DC in the 2022 election, out of 504,815 registered voters.

Is there a reason you haven't run for a seat on your ANC? Or did you run and lose?

A little misleading to focus on the general election when everything is decided in primaries, dontchathink?

Why misleading? That was the actual turnout in the actual election.

Primary turnout in 2022: 132,182 ballots cast, out of 409,677 registered voters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ANCs are the worst. They're all 25 year old Green Party nutjobs.

I’m not sure what we did wrong with this generation. But when I was a 25, single, childless, nonprofit working, apartment renter I had the self awareness to realize I had absolutely no qualifications to serve in elected office.

Look who gets elected. Self awareness is not their strong suit.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

A system that permits 100% single party control despite a required set aside for minority party council seats is actually much worse. But here we are.

Single party control is the worst. Whether it's Washington D.C. or some little town in Texas, it empowers the crazies while ensuring there is no accountability for anything, because all the electeds are on the same team.

It's single-party control in DC because the other party doesn't run any candidates the voters want to vote for.

well hardly anyone votes for the people who actually get elected either. it is comical how few votes some of these people get. high school student body president elections are more competitive.

205,774 ballots were cast in DC in the 2022 election, out of 504,815 registered voters.

Is there a reason you haven't run for a seat on your ANC? Or did you run and lose?

A little misleading to focus on the general election when everything is decided in primaries, dontchathink?

Anonymous wrote: The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

The 2016 referendum included a constitution which would have only increased the number of ward-based representatives to two per ward and made no other major changes to governance structure.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

A system that permits 100% single party control despite a required set aside for minority party council seats is actually much worse. But here we are.

Single party control is the worst. Whether it's Washington D.C. or some little town in Texas, it empowers the crazies while ensuring there is no accountability for anything, because all the electeds are on the same team.

It's single-party control in DC because the other party doesn't run any candidates the voters want to vote for.

well hardly anyone votes for the people who actually get elected either. it is comical how few votes some of these people get. high school student body president elections are more competitive.

205,774 ballots were cast in DC in the 2022 election, out of 504,815 registered voters.

Is there a reason you haven't run for a seat on your ANC? Or did you run and lose?

Anonymous wrote:ANCs should realize that they are a glorified 311 service. They are there to tell us why the garbage wasn't collected or how to get rid of a mattress someone left in an alley. That's it. No one elected them to do anything more than stupid grunt work.

This.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

A system that permits 100% single party control despite a required set aside for minority party council seats is actually much worse. But here we are.

Single party control is the worst. Whether it's Washington D.C. or some little town in Texas, it empowers the crazies while ensuring there is no accountability for anything, because all the electeds are on the same team.

It's single-party control in DC because the other party doesn't run any candidates the voters want to vote for.

well hardly anyone votes for the people who actually get elected either. it is comical how few votes some of these people get. high school student body president elections are more competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

Many ANC reps across DC are conscientious and take their volunteer roles (but not necessarily themselves) seriously. Others take just themselves more seriously than their constituents' views. Still others display their arrogance and mock their constituents by literally and figuratively giving the middle finger to those with whom they disagree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

People in D.C. complain about lack of representation all the time, and then mostly ignore the representation they do have. I'm willing to bet that 95% of the people in this city couldn't name the 13 members of the Council and their ANC rep. You probably have a lot more people who could name all Supreme Court justices (something we have no control over) than the 13 members of the Council (who we actually vote for).

It cracks me up when some newly elected ANC Rep refers to their victory as “the honor of a lifetime.” So needy.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

A system that permits 100% single party control despite a required set aside for minority party council seats is actually much worse. But here we are.

Single party control is the worst. Whether it's Washington D.C. or some little town in Texas, it empowers the crazies while ensuring there is no accountability for anything, because all the electeds are on the same team.

It's single-party control in DC because the other party doesn't run any candidates the voters want to vote for.

Anonymous wrote:An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

People in D.C. complain about lack of representation all the time, and then mostly ignore the representation they do have. I'm willing to bet that 95% of the people in this city couldn't name the 13 members of the Council and their ANC rep. You probably have a lot more people who could name all Supreme Court justices (something we have no control over) than the 13 members of the Council (who we actually vote for).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ANC treats his constituents' opinions as something to either ignore or overcome, which I don't think is how democracies are supposed to work.

I wish we could just abolish the ANCs.

Their intended purpose was to act as a sherpa for citizens interacting with government.

We need to dramatically expand the Council and abolish the ANC's. Were we going to have a 13 member legislature if we got statehood?

The goal is to have the ANCs act as a lower house and the Council would become the Upper house

Yeah that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather have Congress in charge.

An attitude consistent with a disrespect for small-d democracy.

A system that permits 100% single party control despite a required set aside for minority party council seats is actually much worse. But here we are.

Single party control is the worst. Whether it's Washington D.C. or some little town in Texas, it empowers the crazies while ensuring there is no accountability for anything, because all the electeds are on the same team.