Re: My preciousssssssssss.......
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 12:38 pm
Philosophy aside, people outside the US might not appreciate how odd the US political system is. It's pretty grossly undemocratic by design. For example, the Senate: each state gets two Senators, so Wyoming and Vermont, which have fewer people than my county of about four square miles, have the same representation in the Senate. Here's a map of states that have a smaller population than just Los Angeles County:
So Californians are grossly under-represented. The city of Washington DC is larger than Wyoming and Vermont, in terms of population, but it has no senators and no voting congressperson. Puerto Ricans are US citizens, but have no senators of congresspeople. Puerto Rico has more people than more than twenty states
Then gerrymandering--multiple states have rigged the electoral districts so that one party casts far more votes, but ends up with fewer representatives. Wisconsin is the most notorious example.
Finally the "electoral college," which few actually understand but which means that a candidate for president can lose the total popular vote by, say, 5 million votes and still win the white house.
So yes, there are good reasons why we look like idiots
So Californians are grossly under-represented. The city of Washington DC is larger than Wyoming and Vermont, in terms of population, but it has no senators and no voting congressperson. Puerto Ricans are US citizens, but have no senators of congresspeople. Puerto Rico has more people than more than twenty states
Then gerrymandering--multiple states have rigged the electoral districts so that one party casts far more votes, but ends up with fewer representatives. Wisconsin is the most notorious example.
Finally the "electoral college," which few actually understand but which means that a candidate for president can lose the total popular vote by, say, 5 million votes and still win the white house.
So yes, there are good reasons why we look like idiots