Is This Really What Democracy Looks Like?

[louis c]

In Six (6) of the last Seven (7) National Presidential Elections the Democratic candidate received more votes than the Republican.

Now, the Republicans control every lever of government.

Some Democracy.

[TimeSnowDemos]

1. Few serious people

think the US is much of a democracy.

Saying that, it was always fairly inevitable that a system NOT built on the popular vote would elect people who lost the popular vote.

[louis c]

2. But it's always been a Republican that wins over the Democrat (5 Times)

Only five US presidents in history have been elected despite losing the popular vote: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

[TimeSnowDemos]

3. That's because

The electoral college is meant to balance the cities vs the countryside. Etc.

[louis c]

4. I know the dynamics,

but it certainly does dispel the age old notion of "one man (or woman), one vote", doesn't it?

[TimeSnowDemos]

5. oh yes

I stopped buying that ages ago... between gerrymandering, a crooked justice system that strips voting rights from minorities and the poor at a greater rate than the rich and white... I mean c'mon... add to that the studies that show the government does the bidding of corporations and the rich - no matter what the public want - and agin... c'mon...

Add to that voter turnout rates that the US itself would consider almost too small to be considered legitimate in OTHER countries... the poor media and schools... endless propaganda from, etc., etc., etc.....

And the fact that elections cost so much that those with monied connections are more likely to win...

It's pretty much nothing like a real democracy...

[dumbcat]

6. Except for the fact that there is no National Presidential Election

by the People. The National Presidential Election is, in fact, the vote of the Electoral College.

Fifty State elections to select the electors. Nothing National about those.

I know we don't like it, but that's the way the Constitution set it up. We can try to change it.

No, that's not what a Democracy looks like, which is why some people get upset about calling our Republic a Democracy. Close, but not quite.

[louis c]

7. Jesus. I know the Constitution...

...but common sense Democracy dictates that the most votes win.

A Democracy can't survive if more people vote from Democrats for Congress, but gerrymandering gives the House to the Republicans. Same thing in the Senate. Democrats win by overwhelming majorities in big states, like New York and California, so much so, that the aggregate national vote for the Senate is in favor of Democrats, but the Republicans control the Senate. You add to that the fact that Democrats win the national popular vote in Presidential elections, nearly every cycle and have no say in the levers of power. That type of Democracy cannot survive.

[dumbcat]

8. I think what you just explained

Is that our form of government is not a "common sense" democracy.

I think most of us already knew that, but whatever.