Ranked Vote: What are the Nation's Top Issues Most Needing to be Addressed (US)(2020-Edition)?

Hey folks! Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays. Hope that you all had a safe and enjoyable Christmas yesterday. Or at least as enjoyable a Christmas as could be hoped for this year. Speaking of which... finally!! it's almost over. Thank God! From murder hornets and wildfires... to toilet-paper shortages, riots, floods, earthquakes and all the rest... 2020 has certainly been a... challenging ...year to say the least, and as I'm sure anyone who has lived through the year knows, what I listed above isn't even the half of it. Some pretty big and impactful crises have been left out, but 2020 was just so chock full of them, that if I tried to list off each of them by myself, I could be here all day and I'd still end up missing quite a few. And unfortunately, the end of what has been for many of us the worst year of our lifetimes, isn't necessarily the end of all the troubles that came with it. So I'm asking the forum for help here in identifying the top issues facing the U.S. as of today and in then determining which among them we as a country should consider the most pressing.

BTW, if any of this sounds like a familiar 'Blast from the past' to any of the more seasoned members of the forum, that's because it is. This thread is basically a follow up to one I posted back in 2018 which posed the very same question.
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ssues-most-needing-to-be-addressed-us.533587/

Of course... a lot of things have changed since then...

​

For newer posters, I should explain that I set up Ranked Voting threads like this one as part of a multipart series geared towards testing out the efficacy of alternative voting methods such as Instant Runoff and Ranked Pairs as compared against the standard Plurality Voting method. For anyone wanting to know more about how that's gone, feel free to ask about it or check out any of the following threads:
Ranked Vote: Discussion Thread (includes schedule)
What To Do To Reduce Partisan Dysfunction In Politics
Solutions Oriented Approach to Restoring Meaningful Civil Discourse​

Getting back to the subject of this thread though, the question being asked here is simply... What are the Nation's Top Issues Most Needing to be Addressed? E.g. Problems that the country is facing here now in the present or things that may arise in the near future. I ask this specifically in relation to the U.S., though I'm sure a lot of our issues are shared across borders at this point. (if anyone from a country other than the U.S. wants me to set up a thread like this for their country just let me know)

Anyway, because this is 2020, and I'm pretty sure that there will be a whole lot of issues to choose between, I want there to be a nomination period just as there was in the old thread. To start things off, I've taken the top 15 issues from the results of that old thread, the previous 2018 vote, and listed them off below ( sorted by the rank they received in 2018 ). So, for this nomination phase, just post whatever major ongoing and or potential nation-wide issues you can think of that aren't already included, and I'll add them to the list as we go. Feel free to pull from the old list if you'd like if any of those items still strike you as major issues. After 24 hours have passed or after we exceed 30 nominated options (whichever occurs first) I'll go ahead and assign letters to each of the nominated options and we can kick off the voting.

Then voting will run through Friday ( 1/8 ) after which the results will be posted.

​

What are the Nation's Top Issues Most Needing to be Addressed (US)?:

A. Immigration
B. Back-room Dealing in Politics
C. Partisan Dysfunction in Congress
D. Campaign Finance Laws
E. Gerrymandering
F. Unemployment and Underemployment in General
G. Debt And Deficits
H. Economic and Social Inequality
I. Automation-Induced Job-Loss
J. Fake News and Disinformation
K. Healthcare
L. Global Warming
M. Partisanship in General
N. General Lack of Meaningful Civil Discourse
O. Executive Branch Corruption
P. Damaged Credibility of our Federal Government
Q. COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Fallout
R. Lack of Trust in our Democratic Institutions (Courts, Elections, Intelligence Agencies, Free Press, etc)
S. Infrastructure
T. Too Much Involvement in Foreign Regional Conflicts
U. Leftist Censorship/Monopoly on Media and Social Media
V. Cyber Security
W. Election Security
X. China
​

Write-ins:

Z. Neoliberal Policies (Low Taxes, Low Spending, and Limited Regulation)
W0. Lack of a Strong Economic Recovery with Full Employment and Rising Incomes
W1. Increasing Government Regulations
W2. Tax Rate Increases
W3. Energy Security, Availability, and Cost
W4. Crime, Violence, and Police Protection
W5. Increasing Demands for Socialistic Policies
W6. Supreme Court Packing
W7. Need for a Constitutional Convention
​

^That's the list so far,
To sum things up... the process will go like this:

1. If you think of a major issue which isn't in the list, post it in the thread between now through the end of today.
2. Wait for me to edit the above list of options. The ?? s will be replaced with lettered labels by (12/27).
3. After letters have been added to the above options list,
cast your ballot by making a post with a list of those letters sorted in your order of importance.
(you don't have to include them all, but including more gives your vote more chance to have an impact)

Spoiler: Example Ballot from a past vote:

B, C, D, F, H, M

B. Automation-Induced Job-Loss
C. Unemployment and Underemployment in General
D. Partisan Dysfunction in Congress
F. Too Many Restrictions on Abortion
H. Too Much Gun Violence
M. Global Warming

That's it! And as always, try to keep things civil and non-partisan. Thanks!

Spoiler: Ranked Vote Notification List

This list is for sending out notifications for whenever new Ranked Votes are set up.
If you want to be added to the list (or taken off of it) please visit the following thread:
http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/ranked-vote-contact-list.534668/

@Derideo_Te @Pollycy @fifthofnovember @redeemer216 @BahamaBob @modernpaladin @yiostheoy @Spooky @Jonsa @Crawdadr @Longshot @Distraff @Moi621 @Seth Bullock @Thought Criminal @jmblt2000 @61falcon @mamooth @Chronocide Fiend @Merwen @Bob0627 @fmw @clg311 @Mac-7 @APACHERAT @kazenatsu @Socialism Works @Moonglow @FreshAir @rtts48 @perdidochas @Bridget @Bowerbird @scarlet witch @Andrew Jackson @Sallyally @Kode @crank @Bluesguy @AlifQadr @tealwings @Capt Nice @Moriah @Ndividual @wyly @Woogs @DennisTate @Ritter @Junkieturtle @cerberus @Homer J Thompson @JohnnyMo @Smartmouthwoman @ARDY @reallybigjohnson @Falena @PatrickT @StillBlue @JakeStarkey @Nerd of Liberty @drluggit @PARTIZAN1 @Aleksander Ulyanov @Canell @The Rhetoric of Life @Lucifer @vman12 @btthegreat @Mr_Truth @JakeJ@DoctorWho@Loving91390 @Honky Kong

-Meta

 

Thanks peeps! I have added these to the list.

For myself, I'm also going to add in these two old ones that didn't quite make the top 15 cut
but I still kind of feel they should have a place in the list,...

-Infrastructure, and
-Too Much Involvement in Foreign Regional Conflicts

 

^Added. Thanks,

 

And I'm going to add in the following:

-Cyber Security
-Election Security

 

Ha ha. Very funny. Lol,
Well sorry to tell you this, but you're just a tad late for that vote. By about 2-3 years give or take.
But... if you want, feel free to add a vote there anyway and I'll let you know how your vote would have changed the results.
Ranked Vote: What is the Best Flavor of Ice Cream?

-Meta

 

Alright, letters assigned. Let the voting commence!

Ranked Vote: What are the Nation's Top Issues Most Needing to be Addressed?

A. Immigration
B. Back-room Dealing in Politics
C. Partisan Dysfunction in Congress
D. Campaign Finance Laws
E. Gerrymandering
F. Unemployment and Underemployment in General
G. Debt And Deficits
H. Economic and Social Inequality
I. Automation-Induced Job-Loss
J. Fake News and Disinformation
K. Healthcare
L. Global Warming
M. Partisanship in General
N. General Lack of Meaningful Civil Discourse
O. Executive Branch Corruption
P. Damaged Credibility of our Federal Government
Q. COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Fallout
R. Lack of Trust in our Democratic Institutions (Courts, Elections, Intelligence Agencies, Free Press, etc)
S. Infrastructure
T. Too Much Involvement in Foreign Regional Conflicts
U. Leftist Censorship/Monopoly on Media and Social Media
V. Cyber Security
W. Election Security
X. China​

Remember, to vote, just list the options/their labels out in your order of importance,...
You don't have to rank them all, but the more options ranked, the more chances your ballot has to impact the final results.
To vote for anything not on the list, just add it into your rankings list as a "write-in".
See example ballot below for reference on formatting:

Spoiler: Example Ballot from a past vote:

B, C, D, F, H, M

B. Automation-Induced Job-Loss
C. Unemployment and Underemployment in General
D. Partisan Dysfunction in Congress
F. Too Many Restrictions on Abortion
H. Too Much Gun Violence
M. Global Warming

Spoiler: Ranked Vote Notification List

This list is for sending out notifications for whenever new Ranked Votes are set up.
If you want to be added to the list (or taken off of it) please visit the following thread:
http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/ranked-vote-contact-list.534668/

@Derideo_Te @Pollycy @fifthofnovember @redeemer216 @BahamaBob @modernpaladin @yiostheoy @Spooky @Jonsa @Crawdadr @Longshot @Distraff @Moi621 @Seth Bullock @Thought Criminal @jmblt2000 @61falcon @mamooth @Chronocide Fiend @Merwen @Bob0627 @fmw @clg311 @Mac-7 @APACHERAT @kazenatsu @Socialism Works @Moonglow @FreshAir @rtts48 @perdidochas @Bridget @Bowerbird @scarlet witch @Andrew Jackson @Sallyally @Kode @crank @Bluesguy @AlifQadr @tealwings @Capt Nice @Moriah @Ndividual @wyly @Woogs @DennisTate @Ritter @Junkieturtle @cerberus @Homer J Thompson @JohnnyMo @Smartmouthwoman @ARDY @reallybigjohnson @Falena @PatrickT @StillBlue @JakeStarkey @Nerd of Liberty @drluggit @PARTIZAN1 @Aleksander Ulyanov @Canell @The Rhetoric of Life @Lucifer @vman12 @btthegreat @Mr_Truth @JakeJ @DoctorWho
@Loving91390 @Honky Kong @nobodyspecific @Lee S

-Meta

 

Nope, not too late at all, we can still add things.
I'll go ahead and add China back in as lettered option "X".
And . . . Added!

For the folks who already submitted a vote,
if you want to change your vote to add China in somewhere
(or for any other reason) just lemme know. Thanks!

 

Here's my vote:

C, Q, E, J, R, N, M, O, D, F, I, S, V, H, L, K, B, W, G, A, X, P, T, U

C. Partisan Dysfunction in Congress
Q. COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Fallout
E. Gerrymandering
J. Fake News and Disinformation
R. Lack of Trust in our Democratic Institutions (Courts, Elections, Intelligence Agencies, Free Press, etc)
N. General Lack of Meaningful Civil Discourse
M. Partisanship in General
O. Executive Branch Corruption
D. Campaign Finance Laws
F. Unemployment and Underemployment in General
I. Automation-Induced Job-Loss
S. Infrastructure
V. Cyber Security
H. Economic and Social Inequality
L. Global Warming
K. Healthcare
B. Back-room Dealing in Politics
W. Election Security
G. Debt And Deficits
A. Immigration
X. China
P. Damaged Credibility of our Federal Government
T. Too Much Involvement in Foreign Regional Conflicts
U. Leftist Censorship/Monopoly on Media and Social Media

I compared this against my old vote from 2018, and turns out that most of the items at the top of the list still match up pretty closely for me, but then there were also a couple that shifted around quite a bit.

-Meta

 

Hey Seth, looks like you have an extra BA there...
Trying to show the rest of us all up by brandishing
your advanced educational credentials?
BTW, like the new profile pic.

 

Thanks for the update.
And yeah, its nice and Patriotic, but with a real mellow feel due to that soft yellow "desert?" sunset.