Ugh!

I should not ever talk about anything important with strangers I don't know online. I know this, but I can never remember it.

So somebody accused me of being personally out of touch with the middle class, and added that Democrats being out of touch with the middle class is why Staten Island voted for Trump.

"No, I happen to live in a middle class household in a middle class neighborhood on Staten Island."

Ah, well, that just means I should have encouraged my neighbors more!

Hahahaha no.

Now, this is a map of how every neighborhood on in NYC voted. You can roughly divide Staten Island into three sections - North Shore, Mid Island, and South Shore, and these terms ought to be fairly self-explanatory. See that strip of blue in the north? Yeah, that's the North Shore. My own neighborhood came out 66% for Clinton, which is pretty much what I expected based on actually speaking with my neighbors.

If you take this zip code map you can use the zip codes here to find out the median income for each region. That's the demographic data for 10304, but you can just edit the URL to say whichever zip code you're looking at now. If you don't want to do the footwork, here's the answer: Those zip codes which are on the North Shore have median household incomes around 40 - 60k. The zip codes immediately south of the North Shore have median household incomes that are around 70 - 80k. By the time you reach the South Shore, median household incomes are around 80 - 100k.

And if you're bound and determined to compare more detailed neighborhoods with the data at DNA Info, here's a map. Isn't it pretty? Though perhaps you'll find this more readable, and it neatly divides the neighborhoods into North, Mid, and South. I did the legwork for you here as well, and the further south you go, the higher percentage of Trump voters you find.

Now, there is one other bit of demographic information here. Not only do households get wealthier as you go further south on the Island, they also get whiter. And there's no small amount of racism here, if internet comments are any indication.

So. Staten Island went Trump because of the concerns of the middle class? Nonsense - and I should know. Not only am I actually in touch with my neighbors, but I'm willing to do a little research.

Is it possible I'm out of touch with the concerns of the middle and working class in middle America? Possible and probable! I don't know shit about middle America! But I do know a little bit about Staten Island, and I don't appreciate being condescended to by know-nothings. I don't opine on the goings-on in rural Ohio, do I? No, I do not.

And I never want to hear anything else about how my neighborhood votes. My neighborhood leans Democrat. I can prove this now.

Oh dear.

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I suppose I ought to put my money where my mouth is and actually write to somebody. Where the heck can I get a list of electors and their contact information? Or maybe the media is the place to go with this, and I can at least say I tried? (Ohhhh, man, I don't actually want to try, because then it won't just not happen, I will have failed and it won't happen.)

Edit: Strike all that, good thing they're not as naive as I thought. I was really worried for a minute!

But here's a few things I found out while trying to find some genuine advice for them.

First, I'm not the only person with this ridiculous idea.

Secondly, apparently when it looked like Romney might win the popular vote (but lose the electoral), Trump was completely opposed. "This is not democracy!" Which I actually agree with, but what's he saying now? Crickets, right?

So you know what? I'm done. I'm absolutely done. You want to tell me I'm being stupid? You want to tell me it's futile? You want to tell me I could've done more practical good going to that rally tonight? I know, but I don't care. Fuck him. Just fuck him and his hypocrisy. I'm going to make all the ruckus I can from now until December. My electors are presumably voting Clinton anyway, but I'm going to write to all the others if I can track them down. I'm going to write to all the legislators, even the ones who don't give a shit about me because they're in, like, Alaska. I'm going to harass the hell out of everybody. And the very least you can do is write to your own legislators and ask them to support a national popular vote, and your own state governor, etc. asking them to join the Interstate Popular Vote Compact. Maybe it's a waste of time, but it's not a waste of very much time. (You can boost the signal a bit too, online and in real life. I mean, if you're talking/posting/tweeting about the election anyway....)

I was speaking to somebody elsewhere who thinks an Article V Convention is the way to go. Frankly, I think that's even less likely than a revolt among the electors, but I'll try it too. Because fuck that loser.

And you know what? As long as you're writing your various lawmakers

and asking for them to a. support a national popular vote or b. join the National Interstate Popular Vote Compact, you may as well ask them to support approval voting at the same time. I would have liked to have been able to vote for Hilary and Bernie. I know there are probably better voting systems out there, but all of them have the issue of being a tougher learning curve for people used to the current system. Anyway, as long as we're trying for a long shot, might as well try for two long shots at once.

Edit: Three long shots. We also all want an independent commission to make districts, rather than the endless rounds of gerrymandering we're currently subject to.

Got that? National popular vote. Approval voting*. Independent commission for districting.

* Or ranked voting, or whatever voting method you favor, but I'm so over "oh noes third party voters!!!!"

Man, denial is a lot of fun.

Today's ridiculous fantasy was "Maybe Trump and Pence will have simultaneous fatal heart attacks during sex. With each other."

I'm sure somebody else has already written the hatefic.

Sadly, I'm sure it could never come to pass. I don't know about Pence, but I'm pretty certain that Trump is not actually deeply in the closet and full of self-loathing. Still, it's another amusing picture!

Gosh only knows what I'll come up with tomorrow.