Americans are widely pessimistic about democracy in the United States, an AP-NORC poll finds
Americans are widely pessimistic about democracy in the United States, an AP-NORC poll finds
We haven't had real democracy since Dubya stole office; who are we even kidding anymore?
Speaking in terms of economic power, we pretty much haven't had real democracy ever.
Sad but true; ultimately capitalism can't allow democracy. Its end goal is just feudalism with extra steps.
you'd have to go back a lot further than that - pre-lincoln
Do tell?
Ribbit
Lack of voting is one problem, but the overarching problem is how we select our representatives. We have a two party system with winner takes all elections which cements the two party system. You pretty much have to vote for one party or the other otherwise you're essentially throwing away your vote. Personally, I think a system like ranked choice would be an improvement. At least then you could vote your conscience, and if your first choice doesn't make it then your vote goes towards your 2nd, 3rd, etc. A system like that should produce a result that is closer to the ideological center of the voters.
Ribbit
You have to vote to change all that too. You think people would?
Ranked Choice is about the worst voting system designed. Possible only beaten by Plurality.
This 3-hour long video goes pretty in depth on why it's horrendously bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-dzK3YIAf8
The TLDR is that Ranked Choice is complex, meaning that it cannot be counted at the polling location. It must be counted at a single location, which is a single point of failure. This has led to real world failures in the 2011 Alameda County election and the 2021 NYC Mayoral Election.
Note that these were direct failures that were only possible under Ranked Choice.
Then there are cases like the 2009 Burlington Mayoral election that resulted in the repeal of their Ranked Choice election laws.
Which is the main issue I have with the system. It's so bad that it actually sets voting reform efforts back. It makes it that much harder to implement an actually good voting system.
I am currently recommending STAR. It's easy to understand because everyone knows how 5-star reviews work. It's easy to count, because it's just addition, and then a second round of addition. It can be counted at the polling locations, so there's no single point of failure.
A huge chunk of Trump supporters never voted before he ran, watch out for what you wish for.
That was also how Bush won in 2004. He expanded the electorate. There was also a bunch of other crap going on, but that was crucial to his win.
About one third of our country is
n'tvoting
Check turnout. Even in presidential elections, we rarely get more than 1/3 of the eligible voters to actually cast a ballot.
if one could vote without being signed up for a lot of ancillary bullshit, more people would vote. I personally am not registered to vote in the state I live in because I dont want anything to do with the jury system.
Hard to be pessimistic about something that doesn't exist. The US is not a democracy and never has been. Our votes are not equal and there are many institutions in place to ensure that our vote can just not matter whenever is convenient for those in power, both on state and federal levels.
Edit: remember when we voted for the Supreme Court members? Lol. It's all a joke fam.
Perhaps it has something to do with how popular policies aren't passed but unpopular policies are?
eh, democracy is fine but the current batch of politicians are fucked. we need to get a batch of under 50 year old folks in congress/senate/white house. enough of these 70+ year old geezers.
American's are caught up in so much BS that doesn't matter. We aren't even capable of focusing on what does matter. All the facts are right there in front of us but we ignore them. We are turning away from science and returning to superstition and religious fanaticism. This whole republic/democracy experiment thing needs competent, clear thinking people to keep it together. It doesnt matter if they are believers or not, they just need to be sane. There seems to be less and less of those people running around or at least speaking up about it. If we keep going down the road we are going now, there is no hope for us. We may have already lost the battle and just dont realize it yet.
I don't think the US has ever not been overly religious. Most of its history has been full of religious people doing terrible things and framing social issues in religious terms.
Colonization? Religion. Ethnic cleansing of the natives? Religion. Manifest destiny? Religion. The Mexican-American war? Religion. Prohibition? Religion. The Red Scare? Religion. The Ku Klux Klan and other racists? Better believe it's religion.
There is no democracy in the United States, the ultra rich just gather in the same room and throw money at the table to decide the next president.
Sure vote, but don't fool yourselves that it has a very significant influence. The degree of manipulation by gerrymandering, partisan structures, bias toward rural southern states in the electoral college, and billionaire corporate dark money spending leaves the actual accuracy of voting in question.
Voting is basically the little brother playing the video game in "2 player" mode even though the controller is not plugged in scenario. That's what being working class in the US feels like lol
Yeah, Ohio is so messed up. So many times the map was shot down, but they used it anyway. It's unjust.
I really think we are almost at taxation without representation, we should look into that
lol what are you gonna do, protest? rofl
Maybe it's time to rethink everything, and stop acting like we can just go back to brunch.
We have so much tension because we're at a tipping point between long held religious dominance and a future where religious beliefs alone will no longer have the power to sway public policy. It's just a question of how long this is going to take.
I can't possibly imagine why!
The United States is controlled by oligarchs who are above the law. Big Tech is censoring everyone and gathering data on everyone for law enforcement agencies.
It'd work a lot better if y'all would read a book and we started getting rid of shit like the electoral college. And Congress. And the Supreme Court. And the presidency.
Seriously. We're living in the 21st century. Why are us citizens not the ones voting for every law and policy change? Just spitballing here, but maybe we could use one of those computers we all keep in our pockets?
Will they get off the couch and VOTE this time?
The last two Republican presidents were installed while receiving less votes than the Democrat. If Democrats had spent the past 23 years blaming a rigged system, and trying to change it, rather than vote-shaming and insulting the general public and their intelligence (by claiming that they don't, in fact, vote more than Republicans), maybe they'd have actually gotten something done by now.
That assumes the idea that they actually want to get anything done other than send out more emails about how your 27 dollars is vital to the fight against fascism.
The right thinks the left is going to force their kids to get sex changes, the center and left see the right as wanting to end voting rights
It's less of "see the right" and more of "has observed the right". We just had Moore v. Harper which had republicans pushing the independent state legislature theory where they argued state legislatures had sole authority to decide how elections are conducted and could change the rules however they wanted. Even if it meant disenfranchising voters. Thankfully SCOTUS shot it down.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear. By see I meant literally see it happen before their eyes. See=observe
Meanwhile the actual left is largely ignored.
Right view of Left: satanist groomers
Right view of Center: sheeple
Right view of Right: "you're white enough, you can date my daughter if I can date yours"
Center view of Left: unionized HR professionals with blue hair
Center view of Center: ordinary chill folks
Center view of Right: scary uncles and/or scary incels
Left view of Left: splitters!
Left view of Center: sheeple
Left view of Right: "you realize y'all are actual fucking Nazi pedos, yeah?"
As a center person, this is how I feel as well.
Exactly. Talking heads on Fox or the legion of alpha male/libtards destroyed podcasts will bitch and moan endlessly about problems that only exist in their own vile imaginations, while everyone else is scrambling (or slowly shuffling in the neoliberal grandpa section of the Democratic Party's leadership) to fix everything those manchildren keep breaking whenever they're given a nickel from a lobbyist.