To Save Democracy, First We Need to Make It Real

[dutch508]

Star Member Nevilledog (30,877 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216209587

To Save Democracy, First We Need to Make It Real

Greg Greene
@ggreeneva
🎯, Jedediah Britton-Purdy: Extreme elements of the Republican Party “have perfected minority rule as a path to political success. An antidemocratic system has bred an antidemocratic party. The remedy is to democratize our so-called democracy.”

Opinion | To Save Democracy, First We Need to Make It Real
What’s often called the crisis of American democracy is the result not of too much democracy but of too little.
nytimes.com
8:52 PM · Jan 3, 2022

The Jan. 6 attack would not have happened in a genuine democracy.

The attack was the most acute symptom — so far — of the political crisis that Donald Trump incited by refusing to admit defeat in the 2020 election. But the roots of the crisis run deep into the undemocratic features of our constitutional system.

The arcane scheme that Mr. Trump’s lawyers hatched to disrupt congressional certification of the vote and perhaps persuade Republican state legislatures to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in states like Pennsylvania was conceivable only because the Electoral College splinters presidential elections into separate contests in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and skews the totals toward small states. In a simple system of majority rule, Mr. Biden’s thumping margin of more than seven million votes would have been the last word. For that matter, so would Hillary Clinton’s national margin of nearly three million votes in 2016: Mr. Trump would not have had a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address in which to barricade himself in 2020.

Would Mr. Trump’s big lie about election fraud have sent the rioters to the Capitol anyway, even without his lawyers and fixers trying to overturn the results? Maybe. But there would have been no constitutional machinery to jam. And even the big lie received a huge constitutional assist. Thanks to the Electoral College, Mr. Trump could have tied Mr. Biden and forced the election into the House of Representatives by flipping just 43,000 votes in three close states, a gap narrow enough that any number of toxic fables can claim to bridge it.

At a more basic level, today’s Republican Party succeeds only because the Electoral College, the Senate and the Supreme Court all tilt in its favor.

That system has handed conservatives a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, despite the fact that only one Republican has won the presidential popular vote after 1988. A party doesn’t have to persuade majorities that it has the best vision for the country. It only has to persuade a selective minority that the other side is a mortal threat. Its grasp on power may be too tenuous for the party to govern effectively, but it has offered conservatives a fine perch to weaken economic and environmental regulation, appoint conservative judges and launch attacks on the democratic system itself.

*snip*

 

Philosophizing Fool (70 posts)

1. 50+ instances of popular vote

Is more democratic than one overall count. Articles such as this is another example of propaganda driving us apart. We are a constitutional republic united together nationally while each state maintaining a sense of autonomy individually. Throwing that out because our side currently has the numbers is immoral at the least and likely to fall prey to the law of unintended consequences. By golly, those Republicans can breed like rabbits, going by count would reward larger clans of red hats.

 

[SVPete]

A "democracy" is two wolves and one sheep discussing tonight's dinner menu.

[Patriot Guard Rider]

A "democracy" is two wolves and one sheep discussing tonight's dinner menu.

And "liberty" is a well armed sheep protesting the vote.

[CollectivismMustDie]

The DUmmy and its feeble screechings do shine a light on something:

We need "electoral colleges" at the state level, to keep cities like NY and chicago from running roughshod over the smaller cities.

[jukin]

IOW, to save a democratic republic, we must first destroy the democratic republic.

Everything the left says is the exact opposite of what they really mean. The examples are too numerous to mention but "affordable" care act and voting "rights" act are two of the biggest whoppers they ever lied about.

[freedumb2003b]

Philosophizing Fool (70 posts)

1. 50+ instances of popular vote

Is more democratic than one overall count. Articles such as this is another example of propaganda driving us apart. We are a constitutional republic united together nationally while each state maintaining a sense of autonomy individually. Throwing that out because our side currently has the numbers is immoral at the least and likely to fall prey to the law of unintended consequences. By golly, those Republicans can breed like rabbits, going by count would reward larger clans of red hats.

Low post count, posting rationally about how our system works, noting it can go both ways -- this guy is looking at a concrete cookie soon if it has not already happened.

[Muddling 2]

I'm always amused when the Left trots out this tired, old canard.  Clearly, if the Presidential election were a national popular vote referendum, campaign strategies would change.  States that were clearly in one column would face increased pressure to turn out even more votes in a race already decided at the state level. 

Imagine a World Series where the total number of runs over 7 games decided the winner.  Game strategy would change immensely.  And, not for the better.

[DefiantSix]

I'm always amused when the Left trots out this tired, old canard.  Clearly, if the Presidential election were a national popular vote referendum, campaign strategies would change.  States that were clearly in one column would face increased pressure to turn out even more votes in a race already decided at the state level. 

Imagine a World Series where the total number of runs over 7 games decided the winner.  Game strategy would change immensely.  And, not for the better.

VERY cogent example.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I'm always amused when the Left trots out this tired, old canard.  Clearly, if the Presidential election were a national popular vote referendum, campaign strategies would change.  States that were clearly in one column would face increased pressure to turn out even more votes in a race already decided at the state level. 

Imagine a World Series where the total number of runs over 7 games decided the winner.  Game strategy would change immensely.  And, not for the better.

Have used a similar golf analogy when a competitor plays in a match play competition.  A player can absolutely "Biden the drawers" on a few holes and still win the match by outperforming on each other.

And for football, if a team outgains the other in yardage but still loses 27-10, shouldn't they get a win too?