The Difficult Truth About Democracy and Primaries

promo code: theexploration

For commercial use of AP archive and MovieTone

★ NOTE ON SOURCING IN CAPTIONS▼▼▼▼▼▼▼

I've added a citation system into my closed captioning. In order to be respectful to the hard of hearing members of this community, I've tried to make this as non-intrusive as possible., so as not to distract from reading.

At the end of a sentence with sourcing, something like this will appear:
"The sky is blue. The ocean is blue (17,89)."
In this example, the 1st number represents the source # from the source list in the description.
The 2nd number represents the page number, if the source is a book.

1. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, (Strassler translation)
2. “Thucydides' Portrait of Cleon” by A. G. Woodhead Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 13, F4
3. National Voting Rights Museums and Institute, “Voting Rights Act”
4. Letter from John Adams to John Taylor, 17 December 1814
5. Constitutional Convention Debate, May 31 1787
6. Merriam Webster entry for ‘Republic’
7. “Electoral College & Indecisive Elections”, US House dot gov
8. “Selecting A President” Britannica
9. Leaderless Government, Woodrow Wilson 1897
10. State of the Union Address: Woodrow Wilson (December 2, 1913)
11. Presidential Selection: Theory and Development. James W. Ceaser. 1979

Photo:
By Kheel Center - Flickr: Louis Stulberg looks on as Hubert H. Humphrey gives a speech during his November 15, 1968 presidential campaign., CC BY 2.0
Music:

[saraskywalker]

A new exploration, best time of the month.

[iammrbeat]

The word "democracy" doesn't appear in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. However, neither does the word "republic."

[sophiareed]

It's neat getting two very different videos exploring the subject of democracy on the same day (you and Philosophy Tube)

[williamcfox]

@williamcfox
This video is meant as both a celebration and a warning, such is the nature of democracy.
Quick correction 23:11 - that’s Federalist 57, not 52.

[cheydinal]

The Electoral College wasn't elected by the people originally but by state legislatures. Gradually more and more of them just allowed them to vote on their behalf

[Smitty_Werbenjagermanjensen]

Whoa, this is really good. This sheds light on topics that have long since existed within humanity, histories and lessons that are often forgotten with time. This is a well made production with fitting dialogue and visuals that furthers the understanding of our past and present

[xaivierpoixlife]

Assignment in an American politics module this semester is on how democratic is the US and I feel like this Exploration is going to end up being invaluable to explaining the history, thanks for the quality content!

[qwertyuiopaaaaaaa]

Great video, but the optimistic ending is unrealistic. We, the people, don't have agency over collective action. The average action of groups is better defined by game theory than the sum of individual desires. They, the politicians, have greater agency to change the political system to influence collective action; but even they are bound by the collective action and competition of their peers.
There is no chance that we can "prove the founding father wrong" because we can only make rational decisions in the political system we have and those rational decisions will prove the founding fathers right.
All civilizations end and rarely does any one person make the decision to end them. Civilizations end because the collective action of the people commands the end, regardless of the will of any citizen or group of citizens.

[oldskyggen]

A fine explanation of the evolution from the elitist republic model towards a more democratic system for choosing US presidential nominees. However, you fail to mention the role of political donors in the process today. Do US voters really pick the candidates, or are they able to vote only after the Kochs, the Mercers, the Adelsons, the DeVoses, etc. have funded their preferences? It seems these oligarchs have taken over the role of the party bosses 'in smoke filled rooms', and we have shifted back to an extreme Pure Republic version of the electoral process.

[Grzzgwzz]

Great video, very interesting! I would also like to see something about the balance between electoral and popular vote in regards to the electoral college and the winner-takes-all principle in some states.

[johnl.]

“Democ­ra­cy is the worst form of gov­ern­ment, except for all the oth­ers.” Churchill

[oslonorway]

Was just planning to catch up your last two videos this evening, and then you uploaded this. This is supposed to feel like a teacher giving me extra homework in addition to the homework I haven't done yet, but the difference is, the teacher (You) has already done the research for me. I promise this homework will be ready before the next upload. .... Thanks for the great work, is what I'm trying to say :-)

[aaronkaiser]

Another amazing video, William. There were some things here that I never realized or simply forgot from school, like the Senate originally being voted by state legislators. I definitely give pause to popular voting and see it as mob rule.

[HxHDRA]

Democratize the workplace first. Mass line, Protracted People's War.

[minutemanstarlines]

What people fail to realize is that the Electoral College is Necessary, without it, the majorities in the large states would shut out places like Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, etc. With the Electoral College you vote for who your state nominates, in this way, every state has a voice and a states population has an equal say and no region is shut out.

[TheAndrew]

did you synch this with philosophytube? lol

[ayoubsassi]

This is absolutely great, Thank you so much William <3

[sjenner]

This video was history done well. A relevant analysis of the past, in so doing highlighting the current problem or issue, underscoring the challenge, and leaving the audience better and acutely informed.

[juanmanuel]

Im curious where you would put Switzerlands semi-direct democracy government on your scale?

[soapopera]

Ha. I think the Constitution is obsolete. Those people way back could not have possibly seen the country extend across the continent. 535 people “representing” 350, 000, 000 people.

Madison actually did see wealth inequality as a problem even back then. So, he was concerned about the total sell out of the people in government. As aristocratic as they may have been, they would simply be aghast at people like the Koch brothers, Sheldon Addison or Jeff Bezos.

The problem of a demogogue currently has less to to do with the people being mislead by a politician, than a political class that is entirely unresponsive to the needs of the society. THAT is how Trump got elected.