Scott Miller

As a reminder, the library will be closed tomorrow in observance of Labor Day. So we will not be meeting tomorrow. 

I’ll post some materials for the meeting on Sept. 10 shortly.

Remember: We start at 10:00am tomorrow.

As we head into the election season, we plan to discuss (again) the state of the effective two-party system in the US and the role of independents (non-affiliated voters). And, for that matter, the role of other parties (such as the Greens, the Independents, etc.).

In Maine, unenrolled voters (not enrolled with a political party) represent a ~40% plurality of the electorate.

• Is the two-party system working?
• What would it take for a third party to gain enough traction to have a meaningful impact on policy at the state or Federal level?
• Is ranked-choice voting (or similar voting reforms) likely to provide more power to alternate political parties, or will it drive candidates toward the center and reduce the need for alternate parties? Or will it weaken the party system altogether, with more voters focusing on candidates’ positions than on party platforms/affiliations?
• What should be the role, if any, of primaries in an electoral system in which the voting/tabulation method is changed (i.e., ranked-choice, mandated runoff for majority, etc.)? Should they be “party” primaries as they are now, or more general primaries for narrowing down the number of candidates? Or dispensed with altogether?

We should have some fun Monday!

We’ll continue our “Foreign Policy” run with a discussion of Iran

• Bob Sargent bet that “Iran would become a constitutional democracy within the next three years” (did I get that right?)–we’ll push Bob on why he thinks this will occur, especially on such a short time frame.
• How different do we think the aspirations/perspective of the Iranian people are distinct from the government/theocracy?
• How might change occur? Another “Green Revolution?” Democratic process? Will the theocracy and the Revolutionary Guard relax their grip on power?
• What about Iran’s neighbors? Israel, Saudi Arabia on one side; Syria, Lebanon, [Afghanistan], portions of Iraq on the other? What will their role be?
• What will be the implications of the US’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposition of sanctions on Iran and its trading partners? On Iran? On Europe and the other parties to the agreement? On the US?
  
• What about the scenario where an Iranian regime under pressure might become belligerent vis-a-vis it’s neighbors (Israel and Saudi Arabia) in a way that escalates into a regional (or worse) conflict?
• And what does all this mean in the context of a possible (likely?) continuation of Iran’s focus on constructing nuclear weapons?

I won’t be able to attend tomorrow, but I look forward to a debrief after the fact!