WARNING!!!!!

[ok_go_570]

The US election in november is a satirical look at democracy. Some Republicans...and a drunken governer from Texas may not share this scense of humor

 

 

 

lol gotta love This Hour has 22 Minutes ;)

[ToadMan]

The US isn't democratic... they are a republic. There is actually a difference.

 

It all boils down to how the votes are considered... but I don't remember quite how... and google isn't showing me the answer in the first 5 results... It has to do with electoral collages

 

Peace

[juanpe]

that's right, the voting system is a bit weird because it doesnt really explain how many votes you need in order to win the elections, or how much load each of the votes has...

 

it depends on the State where you are living in (which is NOT democratic at all): some votes have more importance than others. For example, for some reason (and I wouldnt know how to answer this question), the votes in Florida have much more importance than in other states (that's why, when Bush stole the last elections, everything was decided taking into account the votes in Florida, and didnt really matter the votes in other states)... I don't understand this: democracy means that EVERYBODY is the same, with the same rights and obligations... but that's a utopia, right?

 

The USA the most democratic country in the world? Huh!

[ToadMan]

It may surprise you to know that Russia has a more direct presidential election process than the United States. In the United States, a system called the Electoral College periodically allows a candidate who receives fewer popular votes to win an election.

 

That is from http://people.howstuffworks.com/question472.htm where you can read all about the US Electoral College system... Turns out that here in Canada we also have a more democratic system, since we elect a parliament (and the leader party possessing the most seats becomes the prime minister), however, our parliament is weighted based on province size. The US system weights the votes such that larger states get more votes. The problem is, that even if you vote for the elector for the democrats, they can change their mind (that is legal).

 

Peace

[Dan #1]

learn something new every day ;)

thanks

[juanpe]

Your system is exactly the same as ours: each vote has the same load, except that the final percentage in order to get a seat in the spanish Parliament is also weighted based on province size; for example, Madrid is the biggest province in Spain and it "provides" the Parliament with more seats than, for example, Extremadura (another province, south west Spain) which has much less population than Madrid may have...

 

But of course ONLY the candidate who gets more support and more popular votes will be able to win the elections, not like in the US...

 

Again - and being very very sarcastic - the US the most democratic country in the world???

[ok_go_570]

Ya...thats why its a satirical look at democracy ;)

[S.E. Hardy]

Electoral College is pure bullshit. We need to get rid of it. It is no longer needed, or wanted.

[ToadMan]

I would say that back in the day, when democracy was a new and scary thing, it was a good idea. The Electoral College provides a method of fake democracy. i.e. the electors have the power to decide the election. This would mean that if they where noble (or at least higher in stature, which they most likely where) they could prevent the masses from making poor choices.

 

With the modern technology, it makes more sense to move to a more pure representative democracy. BTW, we aren't truly democratic, we empower people to make decisions on our behalf (otherwise we would spend all our time voting, and counting votes).

 

Peace

[juanpe]

yes, I may agree that in the beginnings of any country being democratic, that system would work.. but Spain has been a democracy only for nearly 30 years - which is not a long time for a country - and we have been using the electoral system like the one you canadians have...

 

I guess that Americans think they have the best democratic system in the world, and actually it is not true. Smaller countries, not as rich as them, with not so much power as them (my country, for example) have more democratic and fair systems to choose their representatives

[ok_go_570]

Hehe the funny part about this thread is that last year we did a comparisons of the governments of Canada, The US and England in school....and i didnt pay attention that DAY!!!!!

 

stupid late nights...

Edited July 14, 2004 by eliselover570