The U.S. needs a democracy overhaul. Here’s what Biden’s first step should be.

BidenPresident said:
Every election I am aware of is done by popular vote. I do not understand why it is "mob rule" to elect the President the way we do every other public office.
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Because this is not always the best way to do things. In the case of the President and national leaders what you generally get is one-size-fits-all rule. That is, they make policy, regulations, etc., and apply it to everyone everywhere in the country equally. If you have a President and national leaders beholden only to a popular vote then areas that are sparsely populated get no real representation at the national level. By apportioning the electoral vote not only on the basis of population, but by state, region, etc., you give those areas with less population a bit more say in how things are run. Yes, the high population areas still dominate, but not so completely.

I for one, don't really want the US as an entirety run by the sort of decision makers that have wrecked the high population states like California and New York.
 
BidenPresident said:
To enemies of democracy like yourself, the people are always an unruly mob.
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Funny I took an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the US. Which I am doing so it appears you are the enemy because you want to ignore or drastically change our system of government. Nice try comrade Putin will be proud of you.
 
BartenderElite said:
Begs the question: how would you elect, say, a Governor?
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There are several methods that could be used:

Runoff voting. This is pretty common worldwide. The first round of the election is a straight popular vote with no primary. All candidates from each party or just all candidates run and are voted on. The top two or three are then forwarded to a second round of voting. This eliminates less popular candidates. It also eliminates party primaries. Thus, the candidates with the most broad public appeal end up in the second round. This would eliminate fringe and unpopular candidates from obtaining office. It also eliminates a party manipulating their primary to favor one candidate over another.

Ranked choice is another. You select in order your preference for an office your first, second, third choice.

One danger with a direct popular vote is that it ends up being a plurality vote. That is, more than two candidates end up on the ballot. The dilution of the votes among several candidates means it is possible, even likely, that a minority candidate that is not very popular but has a dedicated core of voters gets enough votes to win on a minority of overall votes. This is how Hitler and Allende--two examples--came to power.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
Because this is not always the best way to do things. In the case of the President and national leaders what you generally get is one-size-fits-all rule. That is, they make policy, regulations, etc., and apply it to everyone everywhere in the country equally. If you have a President and national leaders beholden only to a popular vote then areas that are sparsely populated get no real representation at the national level. By apportioning the electoral vote not only on the basis of population, but by state, region, etc., you give those areas with less population a bit more say in how things are run. Yes, the high population areas still dominate, but not so completely.

I for one, don't really want the US as an entirety run by the sort of decision makers that have wrecked the high population states like California and New York.
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Are you saying Trump should tell California to fuck off because he is not president of them? I don't understand why all elections but the presidential one can be by popular vote.
 
Flash said:
I think it is just a way to defend the electoral college (which I support); although, now the Trump supporters seem to be looking for a way around that pesky electoral college and states' rights.
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No coincidence. Trump and his supporters hate democracy.
 
Eagle_Eye said:
So you believe the oath taken by every member of the armed forces every cabinet member and every member of congress including the president and vice president is dumb. That says volumes about your patriotism. Comrade.
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No, you are dumb. Your comment is dumb. I could give a shit you were in the military.
 
BidenPresident said:
President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts should be to convene a high-level commission to recommend a democracy overhaul.

Maybe the cleanest way is simply to abolish the electoral college in favor of a straight national popular vote. Or maybe there is another idea — such as proportional allocation of electoral college votes between the top two candidates in each state — that makes more sense.

The commission should look at encouraging more voter participation. That could mean universal voter registration, which would make the process less arduous but potentially more secure, or making Election Day a holiday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...c92cba-498a-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

We need a democracy overhaul, Washington Post is correct.
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That’s crap the institution has served us well for 250 years . We don’t need to change things up we just need to follow the law.
 
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