When you crunch the numbers, is democracy being done right in america?
With approximately 322,762,018 people in america only 131,656,360 voted in the 2016 presidential election and only 62,625,786 voted for the man who is to be president. That means that 19.4% of the total american population made a decision that also affects the other 80.6%.
Kind of spelled it out two ways so here is basically the same info but presented differently;
40.79% of American Citizens Voted, 47.57% of those that voted, voted Trump, but that still means that only 19.4% of all American Citizens voted for Trump... I'd say that the 59.21% who didn't vote, were still voting by saying these two options are trash, but that just further proves that the actual majority doesn't matter.
Shouldn't we have looked at this and demanded new, better, candidates? That to me is true democracy.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.To Remember a phrase from Rodriguez... "Nothing Beats Reality". This is the democracy USA created. Results are your reality. So don't complaint. We created this. What you are wishing for now as democracy is not the democracy we created. You want to talk about the electoral college too? Reality Rules.
GipsyOfNewSpain
Level 9
Jan 9, 2018
0
You say it as though it's either not worth changing or not possible. I don't know about you but just because I create a first draft doesn't mean I hold onto it without revision and introspection on whether it is up to snuff. It was either Gandhi or Buddha that said; "know the rules well so you can break them efficiently" or something close to that. Which I interpret as; "accept reality for what it is so you can change reality to how you dream it to be"
@DreadlySmart well our "founding fathers" or "fumbling fathers" dreamed of a small america not of 50 states across two oceans. Be careful of what you dream of, many dreams end up in nightmares. But go for it. I am not trying to persuade you not to dream or not to act on your dream.
The president is not elected by popular vote and I’m damn glad because we would have had Al Gore and Hillary Clinton as presidents and both were incompetent or corrupt. Without the electoral vote the NE and west coast would elect the presidents and they seem to be very liberal.
Trajan61
Level 8
Jan 7, 2018
0
You are happier with Bush and trump than Gore or Clinton???? that's quite a statement.
I felt that the lineup in 2016 was horrible and I think those numbers reflect that. Also the fact that congressmen represent the highest bidder and that we still use the electoral system hinders our democracy greatly. A majority of people support net neutrality and marijuana legalization and yet this administration is coming down against it. If we ran things by popular vote this wouldn't be an issue. Maybe we should take a cue from Britain and introduce to our constitution a way to have votes of no confidence for our politicians.
MrControversy
Level 7
Jan 6, 2018
1
Democracy is where people govern themselves. What does it take for people to govern themselves? One thing is they must have a certain level of engagement along with some amount of critical thinking skills. I am not convinced the majority has either of these tools but I believe the verdict on whether democracy works here or not is not far off.
legshowoff
Level 5
Jan 6, 2018
2
This is democracy. The present ruling party in India had just 31 percent of the votes casted. Still they have a brute majority in the lower house of the Parliament. The point to be noted is only 66 percent of the total eligible voters had voted. This accounts to 20 percent of the total eligible votes. In America I thought it was 55 percent turn out
Srijith
Level 7
Jan 6, 2018
0
Looks like the 55% is what Wikipedia has too, and my 19.4%, so I think where we differed is I took the total american population into account and not just registered voters... maybe that's the difference, still odd that the 19.4% would be the same though... Either way it sounds like other democratic countries, based on your reference to India, are improperly executing democracy just like America... sad
The rich and powerful quietly and subversively own this country. That seems as clear as day to me now. We can dick around with the "voting system" aka the quaint concept of democracy until we're blue in the face, but that whole thing's a racket as well. After several years of watching and waiting and hoping, I no longer believe anything short of an armed revolution will bring the power back to the people, assuming we ever had it to begin with, and only until some other charismatic figure steps in to obliterate that, too.
Since I'm not into brandishing weapons against my fellow citizens, regardless of creed, I'll await the inevitable collapse or takeover instead...with a keen eye cocked toward sufficient self defense.
Not hopey-changey enough? I know. I'm working on it.
Shawno1972
Level 7
Jan 6, 2018
0
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