How America’s Democracy Is ‘Ripe To Be Exploited’

This article first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1433543
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Furst

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The problem with democracy is that every individual is in the minority and a surprising number of individuals think that’s wrong…

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“Oh, I think he’s crazy and he may get us killed, but at least he’s going to be truthful with us.” – Ultimate Trump voter quote

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I wish I could give partial credit for two out of three.

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Every old software system needs to be rewritten periodically or it just stops functioning. The same is true of political systems. The US used to have a mechanism for this in the form of constitutional amendments, but that has not been used in over 50 years, the longest gap in US history. There are too many powerful forces that rely on the status quo. Thus the ridiculous electoral college, the uncertain status of DC, Puerto Rico and the Pacific territories, the glitches w.r.t. Indian rights, SCOTUS gaming, and worst of all, the filibuster.

Every 80 years or so the country has gotten locked up. First it was the Revolution, then the Civil War, then the Great Depression. Each time it remade itself and went on to better things. It’s distinctly time for America 4.0

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Our American democracy … already had a whole series of undemocratic natures that no other healthy liberal democracy has.

Aside from the forces pushing so many other countries around the world towards authoritarianism, this is the core problem in America. We were never really democratic.

Can we blame those “undemocratic natures” for the things America did to undermine democracies and stable systems around the world, particularly in Central America and the Middle East? America failed to actually implement democracy at home and abroad.

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The every 80 years is possibly also exemplary of generational forgetfulness. Once your grandparents die off, there isn’t anyone around to represent the lessons from a past era.

I think that people basically want a democracy when it can be achieved. In most times and places in history it hasn’t even been on the table nor was remotely possible. But where it IS or HAS been and people vote themselves into trouble and away from democracy is because they can be feared into giving it up.

Why is that happening across Europe and the Americas today, when famine, war, or crushing economics aren’t necessarily a contributing factor? Media.
The wealthy, the powerful, and those able to seize the mechanics of the mics and cameras are able to manipulate the masses quite easily. That is a fairly new phenomenon, only available in the last 150 years, and going back that far it was much more rudimentary. Print only and it took weeks or months for that print to reach a majority of literate folks who cared about politics or state/national affairs.Radio became prominent, when, about 1920? Followed by newsreels and finally TV about 1950? So we have about 70 years experience of being a mass-manipulated organism in Western societies. There was no evolutionary preparedness for this.

Today you have billions locked onto screens and radio and you merely need to control the message.

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These fine folks don’t seem to understand they are here to die for Trump not to be told the truth.
They are living his problems not theirs.

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It’s rather amazing to think where we would be today if the electoral college never existed. Thinking democracy would be less threatened now but I’d have to dig more into previous elections to confirm where the electoral college beat out the popular vote. Thinking only two or three times and really only in the last 50 years.

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Per Wikipedia

Correlation between popular vote and electoral college votes

Since the mid-19th century, when all electors have been popularly chosen, the Electoral College has elected the candidate who received the most (though not necessarily a majority) popular votes nationwide, except in four elections: 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016. In 1824, when there were six states in which electors were legislatively appointed, rather than popularly elected, the true national popular vote is uncertain. The electors in 1824 failed to select a winning candidate, so the matter was decided by the House of Representatives.[69]

All four circumstances had some shady dealing to make it so as well.

The 19th century example are clear shams.

The 21st century items involved some shady shit too

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Thanks for looking. So, we wouldn’t have had TFG and the world climate would probably be much healthier. Says it all.

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Prof Walter’s book is very readable, a thing that doesn’t always happen with quantitative analysis in social science. It’s also very scary, and at the end she acknowledges that she and her husband are worried enough about American democracy to consider moving elsewhere.

As am I.

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True.

In all cases where the EV overrode the popular vote lead to disaster.

I think we should revert a little to the early republic rules where the top two vote getters are Pres and then VP.

I mean, not every election and Not exactly, but for this situation exactly when the EV & popular vote conflict. (Like we have rules for an EV tie)

In the case of EV and PV conflict, EV winner gets to be president and PV winner is VP.

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Fascism is the ultimate goal of capitalism. It is a monopoly on the human animal.

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But the human spirit will survive and adapt. Our era right now is being defined by a generation who can’t discern content on the internet. The younger generation are brighter and have more heart. They will continue to be so.

Speaking for my recent knowledge of the UK, millions wait in the ghettos waiting to drink the blood of those that make this pantomime. The lie has become too obvious.

Great comment, by the way.

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Totally OT:

But I get this Futurity newsletter, often has some very good articles, well sourced.
And we have had plenty of discussions on TPM about whether alternative energy or electric cars, etc. carry as much environmental damage as earlier technologies. This is about something that might not occur to a lot of minds…Solar panels vs. power plant water usage.

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Pretty sure that “truth” isn’t the first discriminator in their minds, more like, “Oh, I think he’s crazy and he may get us killed, but at least he’s telling me what I want to hear.”

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If G*d was a committee!

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