Analyzing Weaknesses In American Democracy

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Analyzing Weaknesses In American Democracy

[Senna]

Americans have hypnotically convinced themselves that the USA is “the best country in the World” for decades instead of truly recognizing the weaknesses in their society and honestly trying to address them.

[ricksimon]

The weakness is your attitude towards politics. Do you even know that you are the only country in the world where people are frowned upon when they want to talk about politics? In Europe, we talk about politics all the time, everywhere. At a restaurant. At parties. At weddings. At football matches. Even when getting together after a funeral. Politics is a part of life over here, not a taboo. And that is how it has to be.
Your American Exceptionalism is incompatible with democracy.
_

[ramonguzman]

Main weakness: Electoral College.

If every vote counted the same there would be no "swing states" that can be manipulated.

[ezion]

All democracies that came later have looked at the US as example, took inspiration from it and decided "No no no, lets not do it that way..."
The general model that seems to kind of work:
- No 3 coequal branches. Instead the House (the chosen representatives of the people) is the boss. The House forms, employs and can fire the executive branch. But if the House sends the executive branch packing, there will automatically be new elections for the House.
- Keep the head of state away from politics, preferably just a ceremonial position with no real power (You are the king or president? Sure, but listen and do as you are told).
- Keep the judiciary and police a-political, NO elected judges, prosecutors, sheriffs and the like.

Oh yeah, a Electoral Collage and the opportunity to gerrymander, also big no, no's.

[MarcF.Nielssen]

The USA has never been a good example. But it has never before been so far off the accepted democratic minimum standards in e.g. Western Europe. And the USA is even further off regarding the rule of law.

[newoldvideos]

WE NEED to Stop worrying about who has what letter next to their name and START voting for people who are HELPING OUR Country..

[timkaldahl]

Thanks for pointing this out. What I am curious about is how many of the 57% have diametrically opposing viewpoints. Some think the election was stolen and that's the problem, and some are pointing to the voter suppression and saying that's the problem. Our willingness to meddle in foreign nations to prop up "American Interest" aka corporate profits is the greatest evidence of our lack of credibility as a model of democracy.

[CantHandleThisCanYa]

A national president should have a national election by national popular vote, as he represents the entire nation.

[zogzog]

Oh for goodness sake - a country that has an electoral college system to elect a president is simply not a democracy.

[Bat_Boy]

We are a failing democracy because of 1) the electoral college 2) plurality voting 3) the Senate 4) gerrymandering 5) voter suppression 6) legalized corruption, Citizens United

[scotchbarrel]

Nailed it, topic covered, sugar coat any way you want, foreign nation's cannot ignore the points mentioned here, despite a new president, unfortunately that doesn't change the deficiencies that were exploited during cptn Bonespurs tenure, nor the fact that justice is still lagging, or even extinct for some people.

[ThankGode]

I don't know who needs to hear this but stop saving all your money, invest some of it if you really want financial freedom

[Nyte-Owl]

The US was never a good example of democracy. Case as point: Slavery. Have a nice!

[Anonarchist]

23% get it
57% are getting it
17% are delusional

[Xaxtarr_Neonraven]

The loss of democracy is not a racial issue but a human rights issue.

[Pradeep-srsz]

Honestly even I share the same sentiment of the world on our democracy

[wilywascal]

As political commentator and former Republican presidential advisor Mark McKinnon so aptly put it recently, "The Republican party is at dysfunction junction." May disagree with conservative ideology and with their stances on many issues, but do value and respect LOYAL opposition--a duty that the GOP has for too long forgotten and abdicated, putting personal and party interests before country. That is not only harmful to their party, it is harmful to our democracy and institutions. And it has come to represent a clear a present danger to our nation, a serious threat to our very security.

All of this is mentioned because it is firmly believed that this is not a time for diplomatic, soft-spoken words. This is not a time to be timid or Pollyannaish about our current political landscape, but a time for frankness, a time for acknowledgment of defects, a time for courageously confronting stark unpleasant realities. Our democracy is a fragile construct, only as sturdy, vibrant, and enduring as we maintain it, requiring constant vigilance and due diligence. Just as we don't forget Pearl Harbor, or 9/11, even more so the attack against our nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021 by fascist Reich-wing domestic terrorists incited to insurrection by a deranged President against his own government must never be forgotten or forgiven.

Thus, we MUST condemn both cowardly, corrupt Republican so-called "leaders" defying truth, justice, duty, democracy, and Constitution--and their dysfunctional political party that behaves as a cult--in the strongest possible terms, using the most muscular language that can be mustered. For it is necessary; the very fate of our nation depends upon it. Disaster was narrowly averted with the defeat of Trump, with Democratic control of the House and Senate, but the battle for the soul of this nation is far from over, and we must never again allow ourselves to become complacent. And so it is vitally imperative that we remind each other of this, that we impress these things upon our children and fellow citizens of this nation.

"Call this civic barbarism. Instead of promoting the values of responsible citizenship, Trump, Republican leadership, and their media enablers have elevated and blessed the very worst among us. They are making many Americans less suited for self-government and more dangerous to their neighbors. And they are doing so for the reason some of the Founders most feared: To lead the mob against true democracy."
~ Michael Gerson, from _'Trumpism is American Fascism'

[wilywascal]

"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" ~ Walt Kelly
"The secret of freedom is educating the people, whereas the secret of tyranny is keeping them ignorant." ~ Robespierre
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” ~ Voltaire
"There can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet." ~Abraham Lincoln
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence." ~ Charles Bukowski
"Everybody has a right to their opinion, but nobody has a right to be wrong in their facts." ~ Bernard Baruch, quoted in 1946 AP article.
“It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.”
~ Mark Twain
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” ~ James A. Baldwin
"When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." ~ Isaac Asimov
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” ~ Ulysses S. Grant, 1875
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” ~ Typically misattributed to Sinclair Lewis, the original source of this quote is unknown, but likely derived from labor activist Eugene V. Debs 1917 quote, "Every robber or oppressor in history has wrapped himself in a cloak of patriotism or religion, or both."

Before World War II, Charles Lindbergh typified American heroism with his daring flights, including the first solo transatlantic flight, and his celebration of new technology. He parlayed his fame and heroic stature into a leading role in the America First movement, which opposed America’s entrance into the war against Nazi Germany. In 1939, in an essay entitled “Aviation, Geography, and Race, ” published in that most American of journals, Reader’s Digest, Lindbergh embraced something close to Nazism for America:

"It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again. This alliance with foreign races means nothing but death to us. It is our turn to guard our heritage from Mongol and Persian and Moor, before we become engulfed in a limitless foreign sea."

The America First movement was the public face of pro-fascist sentiment in the United States at that time. In the twenties and thirties, many Americans shared Lindbergh’s views against immigration, especially by non-Europeans. The Immigration Act of 1924 strictly limited immigration into the country, and it was specifically intended to restrict the immigration of both nonwhites and Jews.

Once again, nationalism, aka fascism, has risen its ugly head in America, in European nations, and in some other countries around the world. The fight of good people against ignorance, the fears that sprout from it, the hate which then blossoms, culminating in the bitter toxic fruit of evil, senseless brutalities and deaths, is a constant, never-ending battle we fear, but it is a battle from which we must never shrink.

In this era, the likes of Toxic Trump and Marginalized Greene have become the face of the new "America First" fascist movement built up over the last four decades by the GOP, Reich-wing plutocrats, demagogues, and media. But, as with Lindbergh, the American people gradually come to recognize their dysfunctional poison and reject it. Most Americans understand, accept, and appreciate that the enduring strength of America is that we are a nation of immigrants and multiculturalism, a "melting pot" where the best ideas rise to the top, and superficial differences are meaningless in the face of our common humanity and purpose. Most Americans want competent leaders who speak truth, who strive to unite, who are not corrupt, who care about them. So, it should come as no surprise that President Biden is already receiving high marks from the public, while Toxic Trump never managed to rise above even a 50% approval rating. To conclude where begun, the following quotes are submitted for further reflection:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana
"History doesn't repeat itself. But it does rhyme. ~ Mark Twain
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history." ~ Aldous Huxley
"If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

[parslowpongbert]

Best way to save democracy is to stop corruption. A permanent investigator should be assigned to each politician as a monitor. Republicans can appoint them for the Dems and Dems can appoint them for Republicans, Joe Manchin & Kirsten Sinema. It is very hard to invent evidence of corruption, but all too easy to hide it, as we have seen under McConnell. So appointing investigators for the opposition should work well.

[hatsapp-ozol]

*In few months or so, people will definitely be kicking themselves in regrets for missing the opportunity to buy and invest in cryptocurrency*