The Democratic Party's 2020 presidential candidates have called for a number of changes to the rules of American democracy, backing plans to abolish the electoral college, eliminate the Senate filibuster and lower the voting age to 16, among other far-reaching proposals.
The push to reform U.S. democracy comes amid frustration among liberals about losing multiple presidential elections in which Democrats won the popular vote, as well as the successful effort by congressional Republicans to block President Barack Obama's pick for the Supreme Court.
Republicans have assailed these ideas as attempts to tilt the playing field in Democrats' favor, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calling a House proposal to make Election Day a federal holiday a "power grab." But activists have pushed these questions to the forefront of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Here's where the candidates stand on changes to the rules of U.S. democracy, based on their statements, voting records and answers to a questionnaire that was sent to every campaign.
Do you support eliminating the electoral college in favor of the popular vote?
"I believe very simply that, in presidential elections, the person with the most votes should be the president of the United States," Booker said at a CNN town hall. "But I want to tell you, for us ever to get to a point where we can address that issue, we have got to win this next election under the rules that are there now."
"It's gotta go," Buttigieg told Post columnist Greg Sargent. "We need a national popular vote. It would be reassuring from the perspective of believing that we're a democracy. But I also think it would be highly encouraging of voter participation on the national level."
Castro tweeted support for a variety of voting changes in March, including eliminating the electoral college.
Gillibrand supports eliminating the electoral college.
"It ought to be one person, one vote. The fastest way for this to happen is for other states to join Washington in a contract that we will vote our electoral ballots the way the popular vote goes, nationally. As soon as you get to a majority of states, you wouldn't need a constitutional amendment."
O'Rourke told The Post that he supports eliminating the electoral college, and in the meantime, improving it by having states award electors proportionally. "That would force whoever the Democratic and Republican nominees are to campaign everywhere, not writing anyone off or taking anyone for granted."
"Full voting rights are key to ensuring working people across our country have a say in the direction America goes," Warren told The Post. "Every vote matters — and that's why I have called for an end to the electoral college in favor of the national popular vote movement."
"Changes to the Constitution should not be taken lightly, but at this point there is too much of a risk to our democracy when the popular vote can be so easily overridden," Williamson told The Post. "Therefore, I do support the elimination of the electoral college."
"There are reforms that need to take place to make it so that our votes are being cast, and counted and represented in the outcome of our elections," Gabbard told a reporter. "I think there are pros and cons to the existing electoral college and to getting rid of it. What I think would be important is for us to have a conversation about how we can best move forward. I think it's unfortunate that too often these calls for changes come about by the side that has lost or suffered as a result of the electoral college."
"I'm open to the discussion," Harris told Jimmy Kimmel. "I mean, there's no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who's the president of the United States and we need to deal with that."
Klobuchar is open to eliminating the electoral college, she told The Post.
"I believe that it is hard to defend the current system in which one candidate receives 3 million votes less than his opponent, but still becomes president," Sanders told The Post. "Further, presidential elections cannot be fought out in just a dozen "battleground" states. I believe that we need to reexamine the concept of the electoral college."
"If I was starting from scratch, yes, but trying to abolish the electoral college now is impractical," Delaney told The Post.
"While many of us are frustrated with the way the electoral college works ... there is no possibility of abolishing it in the near term," Hickenlooper told The Post. "So we need to focus on expanding the Democratic electorate — going into suburbs and rural areas."
"Abolishing the electoral college would be difficult and would wind up further favoring high-density high-population areas with big media markets that would be the focus of national campaigns," Yang told The Post. "It's also a bad message to send that losing elections should be responded to by changing the rules set forward in our Constitution. That said, I do believe there are changes to be made to the way we select the president, including how electors are apportioned and implementing ranked-choice voting, that would improve our democracy."
Background Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) introduced legislation that would replace the electoral college with a national popular vote. The measure would require a constitutional amendment. Several states have pushed an "interstate compact" in which states would agree to allocate their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote, regardless of the winner in their state.
Should Democrats eliminate the Senate filibuster the next time they control the chamber?
"I was the first Democratic candidate for the 2020 nomination to call for ending the filibuster. It is an arcane Senate rule that belongs in the dustbin of history," Inslee told The Post. "It is hard to take candidates seriously who say they want to pursue major climate change or health care legislation if they cling to senatorial privilege like the filibuster."
"Sen. McConnell makes a mockery of the rules, and then whines when Democrats talk about changing them," Messam told The Post. "The current use of the filibuster isn't what the Founders intended, as it is being misused to stop all legislative efforts. What Sen. McConnell has wrought is bad for Democracy, and I believe it should be removed."
"We're done with having two sets of rules," Warren announced on April 5. "When Democrats have the White House again, if Mitch McConnell continues to put small-minded partisanship ahead of solving the massive problems facing our country, then we should get rid of the filibuster." Warren had previously told The Post that she was open to the change.
"We should consider it," Buttigieg told the Intercept. "I mean, that's something the senators have to figure out but it's got to be on the table because our sense of fair play among Democrats has bitten us far too many times for us to be naive about it."
Castro is open to eliminating the filibuster, he told The Post.
"That's another one that is important for us to look at how we solve this or make changes that are not based on partisanship," Gabbard told a reporter. "Often it is the party that is in the minority that is calling for bringing about those changes and then once they get into the majority then they say no, absolutely not, we're not going to change this."
"It's a very important question. I want to weigh all the pros and the cons over the next few weeks," Gillibrand told Politico earlier this year. In 2017, she was one of 61 senators to sign a letter supporting the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Recently, Harris said she was "conflicted" about the filibuster. She was one of 61 senators to sign a letter supporting the 60-vote filibuster threshold in 2017.
Klobuchar is open to eliminating the filibuster, she told The Post. She was one of 61 senators to sign a letter supporting the 60-vote filibuster threshold in 2017.
"We should seriously consider getting rid of the filibuster," O'Rourke told The Post.
"I believe that an individual Senator who strongly opposes a piece of legislation should be allowed to hold the floor for as long as she can stand," Williamson told The Post. "But given the unprecedented partisanship that Republicans have thrust on this country — exemplified by their refusal to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland — I do not believe that the Senate can function if legislation requires a super majority to pass. Thus, I believe that individual filibusters should continue to be an option, but that they be followed by a simple up or down, majority-wins vote."
"I would be open to it," Yang told The Post. "The filibuster is not in the Constitution which requires a supermajority for only very specific things like lifetime appointments and impeachment. There is a built-in system of checks and balances already without adding the filibuster. That said it should be everyone's preference to get a clear majority of legislators on board for major legislation."
"If we want to pass long-lasting, meaningful legislation, it should be done with a 60-vote majority," Delaney told The Post.
In a Pod Save America interview, Booker explained that "We are heading that way" toward eliminating the filibuster but that GOP leadership "would have hurt people in my community" if the filibuster were not in place. He was one of 61 senators to sign a letter supporting the 60-vote filibuster threshold in 2017.
"The Republican-led Senate diminished the effectiveness of their own chamber by rolling back the filibuster in selected contexts," Hickenlooper told The Post. "It is up to the Senate, which makes its own rules, to decide how to overcome the bitter polarization that has come to characterize that body, so that – along with the House and the presidency – the country can start to come together and get more big things done."
Background Senate rules effectively require 60 of 100 senators to support legislation for it to pass the chamber. This "supermajority" requirement makes it harder to pass bills through the Senate, empowering the chamber's minority but making ambitious changes harder to enact. Senators have traditionally sought to protect the filibuster, but liberals argue that it allows relatively few states to thwart the popular will of the country and vital changes. Democrats are in the minority in the Senate, but are considering filibuster changes if they win back control.
Senate Republicans in 2017 used the "nuclear option" to require only a simple majority to approve Supreme Court nominations; Senate Democrats in 2013 did so to eliminate the 60-vote rule on federal judicial appointments and executive appointments.
Would you support adding justices to 'pack' the Supreme Court?
Buttigieg's campaign told The Post on April 5 that he is open to adding justices to 'pack' the Supreme Court. "So, we definitely need to do structural reform on the Supreme Court. Adding justices can be part of the solution but not in and of itself, it's not enough," Buttigieg told the Intercept. "What we've got to do is depoliticize it and one solution that I've been discussing in recent weeks is structuring it with 15 members but five of whom can only be seated by a unanimous consensus of the other 10."
Gillibrand told Politico that she is open to expanding the Supreme Court.
"Mitch McConnell destroyed Americans' faith in the Supreme Court to be fair and representative body by stealing a seat from Barack Obama and refusing to give Merrick Garland even a hearing. We must be thoughtful and considerate about any changes to the Supreme Court, but we also need to restore Americans' faith in the court and restore the balance that McConnell broke. I'm open to any ideas and discussion on how to reset that balance."
"I don't believe it's something that should be ruled out, particularly given the hyperpartisan behavior regarding Merrick Garland and recent Supreme Court appointments," Yang told The Post. "But I think other changes to the Supreme Court, such as imposing 18-year term limits, would be equally effective at making the court more modern and responsive and would introduce new justices on a regular timeline."
Castro does not support adding seats to the Supreme Court, but is open to other reforms, he told The Post.
Delaney does not support adding seats to the Supreme Court, he told The Post.
"I'm concerned by the precedent this could set" Hickenlooper told The Post. "As President I could add 5 seats but the next Republican president might then add 6 more. I am concerned about the current conservative composition of the Court and the threat it poses to core values like reproductive rights and civil rights. I also condemn the refusal of the Republican Senate to give President Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, a hearing or vote, and I would support reforms that require a vote on a president's nominee within a set period."
"No," Sanders told The Post. "Once the process of packing the court starts, it could continue with each political party adding more judges when they have the power to do so."
Williamson would not support adding seats to the Supreme Court, she told The Post.
In response to repeated questions about expanding the court, Booker told MSNBC: "I think we need to fix the Supreme Court," Booker said on MSNBC. "I think they stole a Supreme Court seat. I think I would like to start exploring a lot of options and we should have a national conversation. Term limits for Supreme Court justices might be one thing."
Gabbard does not appear to have addressed this question.
According to CBS News, Klobuchar's priority is getting fair and qualified judges through the existing system.
Background Liberals have increasingly called for the next Democratic president to unilaterally increase the number of Supreme Court justices. The left's calls to do so grew after Senate Republicans' successful attempt to block Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's 2016 nominee to the bench. President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously planned to pack the high court after its conservative members struck down parts of his popular legislative accomplishments, such as minimum wage increases. Roosevelt backed down from the plan after the court reversed its ruling on the minimum wage issue.
Would you support term limits for Supreme Court justices?
"I am for an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices," Delaney told The Post.
"I think lifetime appointments to the bench have warped the system, with each side picking younger, less experienced judges because they are hoping to hold seats for decades," Messam told The Post. He backed a 15-year term limit.
"When the nation was founded, life expectancy was much shorter, and justices would also frequently step down from the Court to pursue other endeavors. That's no longer the case," Yang told The Post. "I'd support 18-year term limits, staggered every two years, so that each president would be guaranteed the appointment of two justices per term served. Seats vacated for other reasons could be filled through the current mechanism."
"I think we need to fix the Supreme Court," Booker said on MSNBC. "I think I would like to start exploring a lot of options and we should have a national conversation. Term limits for Supreme Court justices might be one thing — to give every president the ability to choose three."
"Potentially. But it's not a cure all because it creates some problems too," Buttigieg told the Intercept.
Castro is open to Supreme Court term limits, he told The Post.
"I like the idea of considering term limits on Supreme Court justices so that there's a more regular and predictable rotation," O'Rourke told The Post.
"[Republicans] changed the rules of the filibuster to steal a Supreme Court seat and have stuffed our courts to the brim with judges hostile to voting rights" Warren told The Post. "If Republicans are going to try to block us on key legislation or judges that we're trying to move forward, then you better believe all the options are on the table."
Hickenlooper would not support term limits for Supreme Court justices, he told The Post.
Williamson would not support term limits for Supreme Court justices, she told The Post.
"I have to hear more discussion on this issue before commenting," Sanders told The Post.
Should citizens be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18?
In 2017, Booker tweeted that "America has a troubled history of voter suppression. It's time to reverse course." He called for several changes including automatic voter registration and early voting.
Buttigieg has said he supports automatic voter registration.
Castro tweeted support for a variety of voting changes in March.
"Voting is our most sacred democratic right and we should be making it easier to allow people to vote not finding ways to suppress it," Delaney told The Post. He co-sponsored the Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2017.
Gabbard co-sponsored the Automatic Voter Registration Act.
Gillibrand introduced the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019 and co-sponsored theRegister America to Vote Act.
Harris co-sponsored the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019.
During Hickenlooper's tenure, Colorado began automatic voter registration for anyone who interacted with the DMV and did not opt-out. The state also allows 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-registrer to vote.
Inslee signed automatic voter registration into law in his state in 2018.
Klobuchar introduced the Register America to Vote Act and co-sponsored the Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2017.
O'Rourke co-sponsored the Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2017.
Sanders co-sponsored the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019.
"Election Day should be a holiday and voter registration should be automatic," Warren told The Post. She co-sponsored the Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2017 and the Voter Empowerment Act of 2017.
Williamson calls for automatic voter registration on her campaign website.
Yang supports automatic voter registration, he told The Post.
Background House Democrats have passed legislation that would automatically register eligible U.S. citizens to vote, arguing that onerous registration requirements create barriers to voting. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., already automatically enroll citizens to vote when they interact with a government agency, unless they opt out, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Only 56 percent of the U.S. voting-age population cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, according to the Pew Research Center, which placed the United States near the bottom among peer nations for voter turnout in nationwide elections.
"Voting is one of our most sacred duties and hard fought rights and Election Day should be recognized as a federal holiday," Booker told The Post.
Buttigieg has backed the For the People Act of 2019, also know as H.R. 1, which would make Election Day a national holiday.
"In Congress, I introduced Open Our Democracy Act, which, in addition to creating an independent redistricting commission, would make Election Day a federal holiday," Delaney told The Post.
Gabbard co-sponsored the For the People Act of 2019, also know as H.R. 1, which would make Election Day a national holiday.
"Let's make Election Day a federal holiday so you don't have to take time off work to exercise your rights," Gillibrand wrote on Instagram, backing the For the People Act of 2019, also know as H.R. 1.
Hickenlooper supports an Election Day holiday, he told The Post.
"Republican national voter suppression efforts, which has degraded voter turnout in communities of color across the country, illustrates the necessity of national mail-in paper ballots, mailed to voters 3+ weeks before Election Day," Inslee told The Post. "My state has adopted automatic voter registration, all mail-in paper ballot voting, with pre-paid postage, and it is a model for the country."
Klobuchar expressed support for the For the People Act of 2019, also know as H.R. 1, which would make Election Day a national holiday.
O'Rourke told The Post that he supports an Election Day holiday and other voting convenience measures, such as mail-in ballots.
Sanders introduced the Democracy Day Act of 2015 to make Election Day a national holiday.
"I also believe we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted," Warren told The Post. "Election Day should be a holiday and voter registration should be automatic ... Early voting and vote by mail is necessary so no one has to choose between a paycheck or exercising their right to vote. "
Williamson calls for an Election Day holiday on her campaign website.
In response to possible voting conveniences, such as an Election Day holiday, mail-in ballots and extended early voting, Yang told The Post, "Yes to all. It should be much easier to vote."
Background Democrats have called for Election Day to be a national holiday, to make it easier for those who cannot secure time off from work to vote. The United States is one of the few democracies to vote on a weekday. Sunday is the most common election day around the world, according to Victoria Shineman, an assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh political science department.
Should Washington, D.C., be granted statehood?
Booker co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
Buttigieg supports statehood for Washington, D.C., he tweeted in February.
Castro tweeted support for a variety of voting changes in March, including statehood for Washington, D.C.
Delaney co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act in 2017.
Gabbard co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act in 2019.
Gillibrand co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
Harris co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
Hickenlooper supports statehood for Washington, D.C., he told The Post.
Inslee supports statehood for Washington, D.C., he told The Post.
Klobuchar co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
"Taxation without representation is unfair. The people in DC deserves a voice and a vote," Messam told The Post.
O'Rourke supports D.C. statehood, he told The Post. He co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act in 2017.
Sanders co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act in 2017 and backed D.C. statehood in a CNN town hall in February 2019.
"We should admit DC as the 51st state," Warren told The Post. She co-sponsored the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
Williamson supports statehood for Washington, D.C., she told The Post.
Yang backed D.C. statehood in a tweet in December 2018.
Background House Democrats' set of proposed democracy reforms includes making the District of Columbia the 51st state in the union. The District has a larger population than two states and lacks voting members in Congress, and its residents pay more in federal taxes than roughly 20 states, The Post has reported. The measure is expected to be opposed by Republicans, as it is likely to lead to the election of two additional Democratic senators, shifting the partisan balance of the Senate.
Should Puerto Rico be granted statehood?
Delaney supports statehood for Puerto Rico, he told The Post.
"I've always supported statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C. People have got to have representation — 700,000 people in the District of Columbia is as large as Wyoming," Inslee told Vox.
"The people of Puerto Rico have overwhelmingly voted to become a state. There is no good reason for them to continue to be treated as second class citizens," Messam told The Post.
"The only way I see us being able to permanently resolve the problem of a permanent second class status for the citizens of Puerto Rico is to ensure that they are a state," O'Rourke told supporters.
Williamson supports statehood for Puerto Rico, she told The Post.
The platform on Yang's campaign site backs Puerto Rican statehood, saying "Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly want to be a state, and we should endorse this and make it happen."
Booker supports allowing Puerto Ricans to choose whether they want to join the union.
"If they want it," Buttigieg told the Intercept.
Castro tweeted support for a variety of voting changes in March, including "self-determination for Puerto Rico."
In 2015, Gabbard co-sponsored the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Process Act to allow for a vote on the island's admission as a state.
Gillibrand supports allowing Puerto Ricans to choose whether they want to join the union.
Klobuchar supports allowing Puerto Ricans to choose whether they want to join the union, she told The Post.
"I support the right of the people of Puerto Rico to decide their own future and governance," Sanders told The Post.
"Puerto Rico has a right to determine the nature of its association with the United States and I will support the decision of the people of Puerto Rico," Warren told The Post.
Harris does not appear to have addressed this question.
Hickenlooper does not appear to have addressed this question.
Background Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) in March released legislation to make Puerto Rico, an island territory of the United States for more than a century, the 51st state in America. Puerto Rico elects a non-voting member of the U.S. House, but it does not have two senators or a vote in U.S. presidential general elections. (Puerto Rico does vote in both parties' presidential primaries.) The island has been in an economic recession and debt crisis for more than a decade, and faces uneven support from the federal government.
Statehood is a divisive issue in Puerto Rico, although the current governor has been an adamant supporter of making the island the 51st state. A 2017 referendum on the statehood question was overwhelmingly approved but boycotted and derided as illegitimate by those in Puerto Rico opposed to statehood.
Should the voting age be lowered from 18 to 16?
Yang supports lowering the voting age, he told The Post.
"I'm not sold on that but I think we could have the debate," Buttigieg told the Intercept. "Look the rationale from 21 to 18 made a lot of sense, young Americans who were old enough to be sent to war but weren't allowed to vote. I think a lot of things change at 18 that are different things that change at 16 but I wouldn't close off debate on the topic."
Castro is open to lowering the voting age, he told The Post.
"I support local experimentation, such as the steps some localities have made to allow 16 year olds to vote on school board elections," Hickenlooper told The Post.
"I am proud that Washington state has adopted early voting registration for 16 and 17-year olds," Inslee told The Post. "Having marched with young students striking on climate, I know this generation's commitment and determination when it comes to fighting climate change. This is a new idea that I would think about."
"We should look into that and harnessing the full energy, interest and input of young people who are leading this country in so many ways and on so many issues," O'Rourke told The Post.
"I favor doing everything we can to revitalize American democracy and bring more people into the political process," Sanders told The Post. "In terms of lowering the voting age I would be interested in seeing if there is interest in that at the local and state level, and how that plays out."
Williamson is open to lowering the voting age, she told The Post.
Delaney does not support lowering the voting age, he told The Post.
"I think that 18 is the right age," Messam told The Post.
Booker does not appear to have addressed this question.
Gillibrand does not appear to have addressed this question.
Klobuchar does not appear to have addressed this question.
Warren does not appear to have addressed this question.
Should all formerly incarcerated people be granted the right to vote?
Booker told NPR, "This is a way, I think, that poor people especially - low-income people are being stripped of their democratic power."
Buttigieg supports restoring voting rights for all formerly incarcerated people, his campaign told The Post on April 5.
Castro supports restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, he told The Post.
"Unconditionally," Delaney told The Post. "Once they've served their time, their rights should be restored."
Gabbard supports restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, she told The Post.
Gillibrand introduced the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019, which guarantees formerly incarcerated individuals the right to vote.
Harris co-sponsored the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019 which guarantees formerly incarcerated individuals the right to vote.
Hickenlooper supports voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, he told The Post.
Inslee supports voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, he told The Post.
Klobuchar supports voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, she told The Post.
O'Rourke supports restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated individuals, he told The Post.
"If people have paid their debt to society, they deserve the right to vote," Sanders told The Post. He co-sponsored the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019 which guarantees formerly incarcerated individuals the right to vote.
Williamson supports voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, she told The Post.
"I believe in restoring federal voting rights to all formerly incarcerated people," Yang told The Post. "They served their time, and they are citizens; they should be able to vote."
The Washington Post sent a detailed questionnaire to every Democratic campaign asking whether it supports various changes to the Senate filibuster, U.S. elections and courts. Candidates with similar stances were organized into groups using a combination of those answers, legislative records, action taken in an executive role and other public comments, such as policy discussion on campaign websites, social media posts, interviews, town hall meetings and other news reports. See something we missed? Let us know.
We expect candidates to develop more detailed policy positions throughout the campaign, and this page will update as we learn more about their plans. We also will note if candidates change their position on an issue. At initial publication, this page included major candidates who had announced a run for president or an exploratory committee. The Post will contact additional candidates as they enter the race and include them here.
Curious about where candidates stand on another policy? Fill out this suggestion form.
April 11 Added Messam positions based on survey returned from his campaign.
April 5 Changed the following after additional information from Buttigieg's campaign: He is "open to" adding justices to the Supreme Court and supports voting rights for all formerly incarcerated people.
April 5 Adjusted Warren's stance on the Senate filibuster after she announced that she supports eliminating it.
April 1 Updated with Klobuchar positions on the electoral college, eliminating the filibuster, statehood for Puerto Rico and voting for formerly incarcerated people.
April 1 Updated Gabbard's position on voting rights for formerly incarcerated people given additional information from her campaign.
April 1 Updated Warren's position on voting rights for previously incarcerated people after a clarification from the campaign. Also updated Williamson's position on eliminating the electoral college, a change sent from her campaign.
Kevin Uhrmacher is a graphics editor for politics at The Washington Post. His work includes mapping trends in election results, analyzing data about President Trump's political appointees and explaining the impact of congressional policies. He joined The Post in 2014 as a news designer.
Jeff Stein is a policy reporter for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, Stein was a congressional reporter for Vox, where he wrote primarily about the Democratic Party and the left. In 2014, he founded the local news nonprofit the Ithaca Voice in Upstate New York.
Frustrated Democrats push sweeping ideas for rewiring American politics.
The ideas might have merit, but proposing them while you're out of power is a highly questionable strategy.


text:
Quila (Chusquea quila)
Quila
Chusquea quila Kunth [Poaceae]
Arundo quila Molina
Bamboo (Chusquea baculifera)
Quila (Chusquea quila Kunth) is a perennial woody grass of the bamboo family which is native to the humid forests of the South American highlands in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. It covers large areas in its native range and it is used as a dry season browse by cattle farmers in Southern Chile. The periodic flowering of quila has been linked for centuries to devastating rodent outbreaks, resulting in a negative perception of the plant by local farmers.
Morphology and life cycle
Chusquea quila is a perennial woody grass that reaches up to 10 m. Its culms are solid (not hollow as in other bamboo species) only 2-5.5 m tall but they are densely ramified (up to 4 levels), resulting in a large plant biomass. Quila can be decumbent or climbing. In the latter case, it attaches itself to trees, reaching a height of more than 20 metres, which allows it to place its foliage in the middle strata of the forest. The culms are 7-8 mm in diameter, with nodes in which numerous flowering branches of up to 35 cm in length are inserted. Each node can contain up to 40 flowering branches. The leaves are lanceolate-elliptic, 10 to 12 cm long, with 7 to 9 parallel nerves, sharp margins, a marked and prominent central nerve, and a sharp and punctured apex. The inflorescence is a large panicle, measuring 14-18 cm, with alternating long branches of 6-10 cm. The fruit is a caryopsis. Chusquea quila has rhizomes that helps the plant to propagate (Roasio et al., 2003; Chilebosque, 2020; Belov, 2020). Chusquea quila often forms monospecific thickets called quilantos, quilantales or quilantares. It can constitute a dense and imprenetrable underbrush (Chilebosque, 2020).
One characteristic of Chusquea quila is its gregarious and periodical flowering. The average cycle length, once believed to be about 30 years, is now estimated to be about 12 years. When a bloom happens, 70-90% of the total population flowers at the same time during the spring-summer months over a relatively large area. The plant defoliates during flowering and has no vegetative growth. Seed dissemination (mast seeding) starts in the summer and peaks in January (50 million seeds/ha). The plants later dry and die, and the next generation emerges from the seeds in the following years. Chusquea quila takes about 5 years to reach a height of more than 2 m, and the biomass is reconstitued after less than 7 years (Roasio et al., 2003; Soto Vidal, 2005).
Quila browse is used by cattle farmers in Southern Chile as forage when pasture becomes scarce during the winter period (Roasio et al., 2003; González Cangas et al., 2006). Like other bamboo species, it is a multipurpose plant and is used in handicraft work, lightweight housing, fences, ethnomedicine, and human food (bamboo shoots). The seeds used be ground into a flour by indigenous populations. Chusquea quila is being investigated as a potential biomass resource for the industrial production of cellulose and lignin (Oliveira et al., 2016; González Cangas et al., 2006; Wilhelm de Mösbach, 1955). Quila is sometimes cultivated as an ornemental species, though less so than other Chusquea species (Cooper, 2007). While bamboos have a major cultural and economic importance in Asia, this is not the case for Chusquea species in South America. Rural populations in Southern Chile, particularly the Mapuche, have a conflictual relation with quila. They perceive it not only as an invasive and often useless plant, but also as the source of natural calamities, due to the fact that the flowering described above is followed by devastating rodent outbreaks and forest fires (See Environmental impact). This explains why quila, despite being widespread, has remained underutilized and little investigated until the 2000s, notably as a source of livestock fodder (Roasio et al., 2003; González Cangas et al., 2006).
Chusquea quila is native of the humid forests of the Andes and Brazilian highlands, where it covers wide areas. In Chile, quila is native to the forests of Araucanía, Valdivia, Llanquihue, and Chiloe at an altitude of up to 800 to 900 meters above the sea level. Chusquea species in Chile are estimated to cover about 4 million ha. In Argentina, quila is found in the Provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro (Oliveira et al., 2016; Roasio et al., 2003). Chusquea quila grows in humid areas with almost constant rainfall. Short dry periods are possible but should not exceed 1 month. In some areas, quila grows in water or has its roots in water, and it is found in marshes, bogs, watercourses, lake and river shores. The plant tolerates low temperatures (-8° C), and an occasional snow cover for up to a couple of weeks per year (Belov, 2020). Chusquea quila is a hardy plant that develops and spreads quickly and vigorously, and it is known for its ability to colonise disturbed areas. This is due in part to its rhizome, which produces vegetative shoots and makes the plant resistant to fire (Roasio et al., 2003).
Chusquea quila is often considered as an invasive species. Its impenetrable thickets or underbrush occupy hectares that could be otherwise used for agricultural and sylvicultural purposes. It competes with tree species and makes agricultural tasks more difficult (Roasio et al., 2003; González Cangas et al., 2006; Oliveira et al., 2016).
Quila blooms
The large scale blooming of Chusquea quila and of the related species Chusquea valdiviensis has caused a negative perception of these plants in rural populations of Southern Chile, for whom this blooming symbolizes a year of misery and scarcity, a view ingrained in popular consciousness (Barreau Daly, 2014). The blooms have been linked for centuries to mouse plagues called ratadas, explosive increases in rodent abundance or density that happen in the year following the bloom. The actual causes of the bloom and the mechanisms of rodent outbreaks are still unclear, though it said that the latter is a consequence of the rodents feeding on the bamboo seeds. Between 1552 and 2002, there were 18 ratadas in Chile tied with blooms of Chusquea quila and/or Chusquea valdiviensis (Jaksic et al., 2003). These outbreaks cause agricultural losses, food losses, and cattle can no longer be fed on quila during the following winters because the plants are dead. Several mouse species involved in ratadas are reservoirs of emerging viral diseases (notably hantavirus), and dead rodents contaminate waterways (Roasio et al., 2003; Jaksic et al., 2003; Barreau Daly, 2014). An additional problem is that the large quantities of dried quila left on the ground after the bloom constitute a source of fuel that triggers uncontrollable fires during summer (Roasio et al., 2003; Barreau Daly, 2014).
Protection against erosion
This species proliferates abundantly when trees disappear, covering the altered area and protecting it from erosion (Roasio et al., 2003).
Nutritional attributes
Information about the nutritive value of Chusquea quila foliage is scarce. From the few data published in the literature, its protein content is quite variable and ranges from 10 to 18% DM. Crude fibre content is about 30% DM (Vargas et al., 1965; Siebald, 1978; Anrique et al., 2014). Data obtained on the related species Chusquea uliginosa show a decrease in protein content from April to August (12 to 8% DM) followed by an increase in November (Siebald, 1978).
Treatment of finely chopped quila forage with ammonium hydroxide (2.5 or 5%) or calcium oxide (4 or 8.2%) for 3, 7, 14 or 28 days reduced NDF content, the reduction being higher with the longer hydrolysis times. Crude protein content increased with the ammonium hydroxide treatement and ash content with the calcium hydroxide content (Alomar et al., 1985).
Potential constraints
No problems have been reported with the consumption of Chusquea quila.
In Southern Chile, Chusquea quila foliage is traditionally fed to cattle when there is no pasture available (autumn and winter). Though quila leaves can have a relatively high protein content, their energy content does not seem sufficient for the maintenance requirements of cattle (Roasio et al., 2003). In a trial carried out in Araucanía, diets given to gestating beef cows during the dry season consisted in cereal stubble (wheat and oat) associated with quila browse, or in natural pasture associated with quila and wild blackberry (Rubus ulmifolius) browse (Contreras et al., 2015).
In a trial with 360 kg steers grazing the related species Chusquea uliginosa during 100 days in winter, weight losses of 56 kg/head were recorded at the end of the period. However, there were no health problems and the animals recovered well on grassland in the following spring. It should be noted that in this experiment Chusquea uliginosa was found to have much a lower protein content than Chusquea quila (10 vs 18% DM) (Siebald, 1978).
The massive loss of the plants after blooming, which lasts several years, is a problem for smallholder farmers who depend on quila to feed their livestock (Barreau Daly, 2014).
No information seems available in the international literature (June 2020) on the utilisation of Chusquea quilea in rabbit feeding. However, as quila is used without problems for ruminants feeding, it may be considered as a potential forage for rabbits like other bamboo species. Since quita is not a very nutritive forage, direct experiments would be welcome.
Quila (Chusquea quila), foliage, fresh
Dry matter % as fed 46.6 36.3 56.8 2
Crude protein % DM 13.9 10 18.2 3
Crude fibre % DM 31 27.4 34.5 2
Neutral detergent fibre % DM 52.7 1
Acid detergent fibre % DM 33 1
Ether extract % DM 2.8 1.9 3.6 2
Ash % DM 10.8 10.2 11.3 2
Minerals Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Calcium g/kg DM 1.8 1
Phosphorus g/kg DM 1.1 1
Magnesium g/kg DM 1.2 1
Ruminants nutritive values Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
OM digestibility, ruminants % 66 *
Energy digestibility, ruminants % 63.1 *
DE ruminants MJ/kg DM 11.5 *
ME ruminants MJ/kg DM 9.2 *
Rabbit nutritive values Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
DE rabbit MJ/kg DM 7.9 *
Energy digestibility, rabbit % 43.6 *
Anrique et al., 2014; Siebald, 1978; Vargas et al., 1965
Alomar, C. D.; Rivas, A., 1985. Chemical treatment of roughage. Use of ammonium hydroxide or calcium oxide at two rates and four hydrolysis times on Chusquea quila and low quality hay. Simiente, 55 (1/2): 39
Anrique, R. ; Molina, X. ; Alfaro, M., 2014. Composición de alimentos para el ganado bovino. Consorcio Tecnológico de la Leche
Barreau Daly, A., 2014. Narrating changing foodways: wild edible plant knowledge and traditional food systems in Mapuche lands of the Andean Temperate Forests, Chile. MSc. Dissertation, The University of British Columbia, 162 p.
Belov, M., 2020. Chusquea quila. ChileFlora,Talca, Chile
Chilebosque, 2020. Chusquea quila - Quila. ChileBosque
Contreras Novoa, A. ; Contreras Rivas, M. J. ; Contreras Rivas, F., 2015. Comparison of the resilience of a conventional and an organic livestock system during a period of drought. V Congreso Latinoamericano de Agroecología - SOCLA, 7 al 9 de octubre de 2015, La Plata
Cooper, G., 2007. Chusquea - mountain bamboo of Latin America. Plantsman, 6 (1): 51-57
González Cangas, Y.; González, M., 2006. Memory and common knowledge. The flowering of quila in the south of Chile: rats, ruins and remedies. Rev. Austral de Cienc. Sociales, 10: 75-102
Jaksic, F. M.; Lima, M., 2003. Myths and facts on ratadas: bamboo blooms, rainfall peaks and rodent outbreaks in South America. Austral Ecology, 28 (3): 237-251
Meza, I.; Villagran, C., 1991. Etnobotánica de la isla de Alao, archipiélago de Chiloe, Chile. Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 42, 39-78.
Oliveira, P. E. ; Cunha, A. G. ; Reyes, G. ; Gacitúa, W. ; Petit-Breuilh, X., 2016. Chusquea quila, a natural resource from Chile: its chemical, physical, and nanomechanical properties. BioResources, 11 (4): 10057-10069
Roasio, J. C.; Peñalosa, R. W.; Khaler, C. G.; Poblete, H. W.; Cabrera, J. P., 2003. Bambu en Chile. INTEC, Santiago, Chile; Universidad Austral, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Valdivia Chile, 144 p.
Siebald, E., 1978. Quila (Chusquea quila) in the feeding of ruminants. Ciencia e Investigacion Agraria, 5 (4): 238
Soto Vidal, J. G., 2005. Study of the effect of pre-germination treatments in laboratory and greenhouse conditions on the bamboo Chusquea quila. Tesis de Grado, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Austral de Chile
Sotomayor Andrade, H. G., 2013. Characteristics of a grove of quila (Chusquea montana Phil) used as forage source in the humid area of Aysén – Patagonia. Memoria presentada como parte de los requisitos para optar al título de Ingeniero Agrónomo. Universidad Austral de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Escual de Agronomía, Valdivia, Chile
Vargas, M.; Urbá, R.; Enero, R.; Báez, H.; Pardo, P.; Visconti, C., 1965. Composición de alimentos chilenos de uso en ganadería y avicultura. Santiago. Ministerio de Agricultura. Instituto de Investigación Veterinaria.
Wilhelm de Mösbach, E., 1955. Botanica indigena de Chile. In: Aldunate, C.; Carolina Villagran, C. (Ed.), Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombiano, Fundacion Andes, Editorial Andrès Bello
17 references found
Heuzé V., Tran G., Hassoun P., Lebas F., 2020. Quila (Chusquea quila). Feedipedia, a programme by INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO. https://www.feedipedia.org/node/473 Last updated on October 15, 2020, 17:30
Pato Novoa
Lin linao
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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START SLIDESHOW7 PHOTOS
FILMSLIDESHOW
Kate Winslet's Gangster Turn in TRIPLE 9, the NY Int'l Children's Film Festival, Cinema Tropical Festival, & More
BY Matt Barone Melina Gills
The best new movies and repertory screenings for you to check out in NYC this weekend.
Good news: Your weekend moviegoing needs have been simplified. Every Thursday morning, our What To See guide will highlight the new releases opening in New York City and NYC repertory screenings that are most worth your time.
Here's your guide for the weekend of February 26 – February 28.
Because you have to respect a movie this grim when it has so many A-list stars…
Triple 9 (2016)
Director: John Hillcoat
Stars: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Kate Winslet, Clifton Collins, Jr., Aaron Paul, Woody Harrelson, Norman Reedus, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer, Michael K. Williams
John Hillcoat's Triple 9 and Ridley Scott's The Counselor would make a great double bill of "Solid and Very Bleak Movies With A-List Casts and Zero Characters to Care About."
That's a compliment.
Shamelessly patched together with elements lifted straight out of superior movies like Heat, Reservoir Dogs, and Training Day, Triple 9 is specifically engineered for moviegoers who enjoy healthy doses of severed heads and hyper-stylized gunfights with their big-time Hollywood movie stars. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the head of a ragtag group of crooks and dirty cops in Atlanta who've been blackmailed by the Russian Mafia, which is led by the ruthless Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet, relishing an atypically despicable, albeit minimal, role), and forced to carry out a highly dangerous heist. To facilitate their plan, they devise a plan for one of their own, crooked police officer Marcus (Anthony Mackie), to arrange the murder of his new partner, Chris (Casey Affleck), and, in turn, distract all of Atlanta's law enforcement officials via a "999" call. Complications arise, though, via a former cop turned unstable junkie (Aaron Paul) and Chris' Sergeant Detective uncle (Woody Harrelson).
It's pretty ingenious counter-programming to release this bleak and pulpy crime thriller on Oscar weekend. Hillcoat's film, a corpse-riddled B-movie dressed in a glossy Hollywood sheen, mercilessly fires bullets into everything the Academy holds dear, namely characterization, nuance, and emotionally potent drama. Presumably because of the involvement of Hillcoat, who's earned a sterling reputation thanks to the excellent and mature genre flicks The Proposition (2005) and The Road (2009), acting heavyweights like Winslet and Ejiofor give it their coldest all in what's ultimately a one-note film that's as hollow as the handgun shells that heavily populate it, which is a large part of Triple 9 ghastly charms. It's an exercise in unapologetic grimness made with technical panache and terrifically performed by actors who endearingly buy into all of its wholesale nastiness.
Where to see it: Opening in wide release
If you love goofy '80s training montages and on-the-nose '80s-movie bully confrontations, this one's for you…
Eddie the Eagle (2016)
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Stars: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken, Jo Hartley, Mark Benton, Keith Allen, Tim McInnerny
Eddie the Eagle doesn't waste any time proudly displaying its cheesiness. As directed by Dexter Fletcher, it's aggressively upbeat and so transparently engineered to inspire that it's surprising theaters won't come equipped with pre-showing introductions given by motivational speakers, and its peppiness is no more apparent than through the synth-heavy score, which sounds like it's been orchestrated by the ghost from silly 1980s movies past. In most cases, such forceful sentiments would feel obnoxious, yet Fletcher makes the feel-good hokum work in this crowd-pleasing biopic on Michael "Eddie" Edwards, England's first Olympic ski jumper. It's the most Cool-Runnings-like movie since, well, 1993's Cool Runnings.
Solidifying his star potential after last year's Kingsman: The Secret Service, Taron Egerton is a delight as Edwards, excitably playing the handicapped but wide-eyed dreamer without turning him into a caricature. Despite his dad's skepticism and his peers' ridicule, Edwards defied the odds as a 22-year-old and competed in the 1988 Olympic Games; Eddie the Eagle follows the exact narrative arcs that inherently match that description. But the clichés feel enlivened thanks to Egerton and co-star Hugh Jackman, the latter playing a totally made-up coach with his own redemption song to sing. And Fletcher, with those Karate-Kid-esque synthesizers in his ear, owns every '80s-wannabe moment, including silly training montages and the egregiously applause-worthy of Van Halen's "Jump."
Consider this a Tribeca Film Festival specifically for the little kids in your life…
The 2016 New York International Children's Film Festival
In a little over a week, Disney's animated flick Zootopia will leave the kids in your life jonesing to visit the multiplex—and, if the early reviews are to be trusted, the movie itself will reward their excitement. But why make the youngsters wait that long for their next movie theater visit? Beginning this weekend, they'll have four weeks' worth of age-appropriate movie premieres, filmmaker Q&As, workshops, and cinema education field trips at their disposal. In other words, New York City's budding cinephiles are about to enter their own private heavens.
While the grown-ups prepare for this year's Tribeca Film Festival, the kiddies have their own very own movie blowout: the New York International Children's Film Festival, which will be held all throughout NYC starting this Friday, February 26, and running nonstop through Sunday, March 20. The program includes 100 new films from across the globe, picked specifically for audiences ranging from 3 years old to 18. Although the big-screen entertainment has been catered to young bucks and buckettes, the festival itself isn't child's play—the jury includes Julianne Moore, Sofia Coppola, and Gus Van Sant.
The NY Int'l Children's Film Festival's opening weekend is quite impressive, too. There's the NY premiere of the critically beloved French animated film April and the Extraordinary World, a documentary about four Norwegian kids who've formed a Beatles cover band (Beatles), screenings of the newly restored print of Brad Bird's amazing The Iron Giant, and the North American premiere of Germany's delightful Molly Monster.
Where to see it: Screening schedule and ticket info here
Spend this Saturday afternoon with Spike Jonze and a gang of "Wild Things"…
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Director: Spike Jonze
Stars: Max Records, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Dano, Michael Berry, Jr., Spike Jonze, Pepita Emmerichs
Speaking of "budding cinephiles," here's some catnip for them.
There's arguably no better place for a young movie-fanatic-in-training to start than by watching Spike Jonze's magical and mesmerizing adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic 1963 children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It is, or at least should be, the pre-teen crowd's equivalent of an adult's favorite Alejandro Jodorowsky or Charlie Kaufman movie. Like a far less disturbing version of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Where the Wild Things Are follows young Max (played by then-first-timer Max Records) as he deals with social anxieties by hanging out with a gang of hairy make-believe creatures who've named him their "king."
It's crazy to think that Where the Wild Things Are was funded and released by a major Hollywood studio. It's heady, surrealistic, and maturely oddball—descriptors that rarely ever accompany children's cinema. But that's why Spike Jonze was the perfect choice for Sendak's wonderful source material. Jonze blends first-class CGI with old-fashioned "actors in costumes" simplicity, rendering Max's dream world as lifelike as it is fantastical. If most films for kids are candy for their eyes, Where the Wild Things Are is a positive-effects hallucinogenic for their minds.
Where to see it: Nitehawk Cinema
NOTE: Spike Jonze will be in attendance to intro Saturday's screening.
Check out the best that modern-day Latin American filmmakers have to offer...
Cinema Tropical Festival 2016
This weekend, the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, is hosting the 2016 Cinema Tropical Festival, which honors excellence in Latin American cinema. The six-film series kicks off Friday night with a special screening of the transgender documentary Mala Mala, winner of the Best U.S. Latino film at the 6th annual Cinema Tropical Awards; filmmakers Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, as well as documentary subject April Carrion, will be in attendance.
While all of the films are worthy of your attention, we highly recommend making it to Sunday night's screening of Best Fiction winner Jauja. Directed by Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso, Jauja is a co-production from Argentina, Denmark, Mexico, and France, and features an entrancing lead performance from Viggo Mortensen. (Although born in New York to Danish and American parents, Mortensen spent the majority of his childhood in Argentina and speaks perfect Spanish.) Having previously been the sole writer of his films and worked with non-professional casts, Alonso slightly diverged from his usual filming practices to partner with celebrated Argentine author Fabian Casas, master cinematographer Timo Salminen (celebrated for his work with filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki), and the famous Mortensen. As for the style and feeling of the film, not much has changed from Alonso's humble beginnings.
Simple yet beautiful, minimalistic and mysterious, Jauja appears to take place during the late 19th century conquest of an indigenous-inhabited Patagonia (a.k.a. southern Argentina) by European-Argentines. It follow the travails of a Danish engineer (Mortensen) employed by the Argentine army as he goes in search of his young daughter, Inge, who's run off with a handsome Argentine soldier. That's the surface narrative of a time-bending, labyrinthine visual journey through vast landscapes loosely tethered by sparse, mostly undeveloped characters. Largely unclassifiable, Jauja tears down cinematic borders and relishes the freedom of having no limits. —Melina Gills
Where to see it: Museum of the Moving Image
@tribeca
"You know, there's nothing damnable about being a strong woman. The world needs strong women." Ginger Rogers, a str… https://t.co/fy35c79Zrp
"Eyes are the greatest tool in film. Sure, it's nice to say very good dialogue, if you can get it. But great movie… https://t.co/8B4EyVCQaK
In Kent Jones' DIANE, veteran actors Mary Kay Place and Deirdre O'Connell deliver two of the year's most authentic… https://t.co/puH89BajRT
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FEBRUARY 25, 2016 |Nyc and Film
The 12 Best Male Film Performances of Early 2019


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Hello everyone, Psyga315 here again. Since my live blogs have been nothing but me being rude to a big teddy bear and his friends who barely do anything and a queen of an utopia she made by casting out people who refused to obey her, I have decided to do a positive Liveblog. And I might as well make it a Let's Play as opposed to a Let's Watch or Let's Read. What is the game I will be playing? A little known game called World War Alpha made by one Mat Dickie. Yes, that Mat Dickie.
For those who do not know who he is, Mat Dickie, or MDickie as he is known on the internet, is a game programmer known famously for his wrestling games and infamously for his religious games. He retired not long after he published The You Testament (and creating an Islamic version called The Making of a Prophet) and had made all his games Freeware. Curious as to how his other games played out (such as Hard Time and Grass Roots) I downloaded most of MDickie's games and played them in the span of an hour for each. And one game stuck to me for a long time.
World War Alpha is pretty much Dynasty Warriors + Risk with the plot from Battle For Terra, but replace space travel with time travel. I just happened to like all three of these so this was to be a killer mixture. I played it and loved it. I wasted a whole weekend playing it while a friend, who was at my house at the time, commented on how crappy the graphics looked. I did not mind. Graphics do not make the game, especially for a homemade game.
The reason why I decide to let's play this game is because this is the only MDickie game that I liked. As in the kind that I would return to, not for a cheap laugh or to test out a new cheat, but to actually play the game. And since I am doing a positive Liveblog where I gush about stuff instead of bashing them, this seemed like a fit. Unlike any other of my liveblogs, I will not dig right into the game in this post, but in the next one.
Well, see you in the war.


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I have a client who has an aversion to new age teachings. Books like The Secret, which purport that we can all have a perfect life merely by thinking positive thoughts, send her up a wall. She regards such claims as Pollyanna fluff, a feel-good defense against the darker, meaner, more tragic side of life and a poor substitute for an authentic spiritual practice rooted in tradition. A healthy person, she argues, is able to face evil with courage, and can handle loss with grace. They do not resort to "spiritual bypass" as a means to avoid legitimate suffering.
She might be right. I'm reluctant to be an apologist for any teaching (even astrology), as all have their faults and failings. However, those doctrines that trigger our animosity are likely to be associated with some sort of wound or issue that goes beyond the teaching itself.
In this woman's case, she has a Yod with Saturn sextiling Uranus and both planets quincunxing Jupiter in Aquarius. With Saturn in the 10th and Uranus in the 8th (but signifying the 4th), both Saturn and Uranus are parental indicators. To survive a harsh and unstable childhood with cold, abusive parents, she was compelled to rely upon her Aquarian Jupiter, the focal planet of her Yod, and the means by which she rose above the tragedy of her childhood by embracing age-old, universal truths embodied in Buddhism.
Her Jupiter in Aquarius was a bulwark of hope against a black tide of creeping despair. Under chronic pressure from circumstances symbolized by Saturn and Uranus, it hypertrophied into an overdeveloped but brilliant ally. Jupiter enabled her to find meaning in what were otherwise intolerable conditions. And it provided her with the overview and detachment that enabled her to see a purpose to her suffering, much like the Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Victor Frankl, who wrote an objective account of his ordeal in a German concentration camp in his famous book, Man's Search for Meaning.
One could say that she resorted to Jupiter as a "spiritual bypass," but I believe it would be more accurate to say that Jupiter served as a necessary defense against frightening childhood realities that threatened to overwhelm her. The point here is that Jupiter is associated with a childhood wound—albeit, as a defense against experiencing the full emotional impact of that wound. Accordingly, when she sees others resorting to a spiritual bypass to avoid pain, it stirs an awareness of her own emotional suffering that still, to this day, is partially bound and managed by her Jupiterian defense.
Her animosity toward spiritual short-cuts is an entirely understandable reaction. Intellectually she is fully cognizant of the necessity of facing emotional pain; yet, knowing this and doing it are two separate things. The resultant incongruity in her psyche creates cognitive dissonance, which she partially resolves by projecting onto "new agers" her own tendency to by-pass pain by jumping to a high-minded, philosophical perspective.
I suspect that most of us do something similar in an attempt to manage conflict. Any planet can be utilized as a defense against any other planet if that other planet is bound up with experiences that are painful or frightening. Like a bird furiously flapping its wings to escape the jaws of a leaping wolf, planetary functions shift into hyper mode—compensatory overfunctioning—to ward off experiences that threaten annihilation. The very chronicity of these defensive postures paradoxically allow for control and stability, thereby enabling a slower, dose by dose working through and integration of the painful, threatening experience.
I can provide another example from my own chart. My well-known opposition to reincarnational astrology is a reaction to the pretension of omniscience that resides at its core. I bristle at the unwillingness of its proponents to acknowledge the limitations of their knowledge in the face of an ineffable mystery—how karma is reflected in the horoscope. I associate such pretension with hubris and, ultimately, with deceit. Hubris, it seems to me, is a defense against dealing with real emotional pain—pain that originates in an unfathomable, bottomless void beyond our control and beyond the light of our intellectual formulations. We cannot avoid it by explaining it away with half-baked ideas, fantasy, and flights of the imagination.
That I grew up with an alcoholic mother who refused to admit her drunkenness (and pain), and a father and sister who refused to admit it, too, sensitized me to deceit and its companion, denial, in ways that make it difficult for me to respond with neutrality whenever I think I encounter it. I say think because I'm certain that on at least some occasions I confuse deceit/denial with fallacious reasoning, misguided idealism, or some other less virulent disposition.
On such occasions, my Moon opposition Mars is activated; old emotional pain (Moon Sag in the 8th) is triggered, to which I respond with Mars in Gemini anger—a guided missive at the heart of the offending ideas. Mars is my defense against experiences that stir lunar memories of deceit and denial.
But am I responding to an objective reality, or a subjective one?Am I merely projecting the deceit and denial of my family onto a family of practitioners—exponents of reincarnational astrology? Am I trying to get them to admit what my family could not?
In the immortal words of Steve Martin…Naaaah!
Just kidding, of course. Suffice to say my radar for deceit and denial has hypertrophied from childhood into a knee-jerk system of Martian self-defense; thus, I must exercise caution when assessing Mars' signals. There's no wisdom in shooting a sparrow that one mistakes for an enemy aircraft. In admitting this, I am not changing my opinion of reincarnational astrology. It is what it is. The fact that it appears large and menacing on my radar, however, says something about me, too.
One new age teaching, which I must admit has an intuitive appeal, is offered by Esther Hicks in the Abraham material. She says that the goal is not to avoid looking at the thing that upsets us; rather, we should strive to see it and feel good at the same time. This is a curious idea. It would seem to require that we stay grounded in our actual feelings, working to find a meaning that admits the truth of the perceived wrong while simultaneously placing it in a larger context that enables us to feel better about the thing perceived. Truth, in effect, is not a one-dimensional perception, but a layered phenomenon with lesser truths contained within greater.
The meanings that emerge from this exercise do not deny one's pain, but make it bearable by placing it, slowly and painstakingly, into a more encompassing framework of compassion. As one's thinking moves increasingly in a direction that feels good, emotions soften, the heart opens, and pain begins to evaporate. Growth toward an authentic, enduring happiness is a gradual process that requires effort and intention. In the interim, however, we need to honor the wisdom of our defenses.


text:
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Book Launch: The Great Horizon
RSGS Community
The evening of Wednesday 1st November 2017 will live long in the memory of the RSGS. And, no doubt, in the memory of RSGS Writer-in-Residence, Jo Woolf.
Though cold and dark on the streets of the Fair City, over 60 people braved the elements on this nippy winter's night to attend the launch party for The Great Horizon, the first book in post from author, Jo. Penned and researched over the course of three years, it was a fitting celebration – complete with fizz, speeches and a cake worthy of the 'Bake Off' – to mark the release of what is a remarkable piece of work. And, for Jo, it was made extra special by a surprise visit from both of her grown-up daughters.
Detailing 50 stories from explorers linked to the RSGS, The Great Horizon covers 150 years of exploits from a raft of extraordinary people. Some, such as Neil Armstrong, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Sir Chris Bonington, you will, probably, have heard of. Others, however, you may not. Isobel Wylie Hutchison, Craig Mathieson, Isabella Bird and Fridtjof Nansen are not household names, but the beautifully crafted vignettes unearthed in Jo's book outline many reasons why they should be…
Fridtjof Nansen, for instance, was a handsome Norwegian explorer, who, during the latter part of the 19th century, spent much of his time travelling to the poles. Most notably, in 1889, Nansen completed what many at the time considered an insane plan. With a team of just five other men, Nansen and company made a remarkable east-west crossing of the Greenland ice sheet using only human-powered endurance and the primitive equipment available to them at the time.
Along the way, Nansen struggled with ill-discipline amongst his men, and faced a myriad of dangers including ferocious snow storms, polar bears and deep crevasses. Nevertheless, Nansen's forceful leadership somehow brought the team together, enabling them to cover a staggering 260 miles in total and discover, for the first time, the interior geography of Greenland's ice sheet. Nansen's findings and experiences were reported to the RSGS in a lecture presented in Edinburgh in July 1889, along with an associated article – currently stored in the RSGS archive – submitted to the Scottish Geographical Magazine that same year.
Bringing The Great Horizon smack bang up-to-date is another name that might not be too familiar: Craig Mathieson. Brought up in Stirlingshire, Craig was captivated by the stories of the great polar explorers as a child, always dreaming of recreating the sorts of expeditions regaled by Shackleton, Scott and our aforementioned friend, Nansen. But, growing up, he found that many of the teachers around him were not that supportive of his ambition. As a result, his dream gradually began to fade into the background as he embarked on a career in the military, then later, finance…
However, becoming bored with his career choices, 33-year old Craig soon realised it was high time he fulfilled his life's ambition. So, with the support of benefactors such as Chris Tiso – head of outdoors shop chain, Tiso – Craig managed to raise over $80,000 to launch a Scottish-led expedition to the South Pole.
Setting off in 2002, Craig began his two-month journey across the frozen southern continent, hauling his 160lb sled over snow and ice and burning in excess of 10,000 calories per day. Eventually, however, after trekking over 700 miles and surviving temperatures as low as ‑51°C, the South Pole base station popped up on the horizon, signalling the final destination of Craig's long-held dream.
On his return home to Scotland, Craig began talking to school children about his trip, and it was during this time that the idea hatched for a new charity, The Polar Academy. Spearheaded by Craig, this was formed to help quiet, low-self-esteem children embark on trips to extreme polar locations, building their confidence and furthering their ambition. Since its conception in 2014, numerous young adults fitting this criteria have gone on to fulfil their potential in the high latitudes of our planet, with the most recent trip in 2017 seeing ten school children from Edinburgh trekking over 100km of the Greenland Ice Sheet. For his services to polar exploration and his charitable vision, Craig was awarded the title of 'Explorer-in-Residence' by the RSGS, a post he has held since 2013.
So, now that you've had a taste of The Great Horizon, and some of the marvellous characters detailed in Jo's book, you're probably wondering how to get hold of it…
Well, the official release date given by the publisher, Sandstone Press, is Thursday 16th November. So, head online (http://sandstonepress.com/books/the-great-horizon) or get along to your nearest good book store, and you should find it there, retailing at a recommended price of £24.99.
With Christmas on the 'horizon', it's a perfect gift idea…
Written by Communications Officer, James Cave. Research notes taken from Jo Woolf's 'The Great Horizon'.
Updated: 23rd May, 2019
Author: RSGS Community
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Chief Executive Climate Change & Environment Opinion RSGS History & People Travel & Adventure Writer-in-Residence
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