It's time we finally admit it - the United States of America is not a democracy. Sure, we may often like to brag about how we're the freest country in the world, that it's our duty to help spread our democratic principles to other parts of the globe, and even that we're the greatest country in recorded history. Unfortunately, our actions don't validate these words.
A democracy is a "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."
Yet we continue to make it more difficult for certain demographics to vote on election day, we refuse to acknowledge the day as a national holiday (or at least hold it during the weekend), and at the end of the day, it's not a guarantee that the candidate with the most votes will be rewarded the presidency.
Let's take this past election as a prime example. In this country, there are approximately 319 million people, including 232 million registered voters. This past Tuesday, Donald Trump won the election with a little over 60 million votes, compared to close to 61 million votes for runner-up Hillary Clinton. Yes, read that over again. Clinton currently leads by close to 600,000, and due to where the uncounted votes remain, it's predicted her final margin of victory will be at least 2 million votes. Imagine trying to explain this to a foreigner unfamiliar with the electoral college.
Foreigner: "So, I heard you recently had an election."
American: "Yes, yes we did."
Foreigner: "Who won?"
American: "Donald Trump"
Foreigner: "Oh yeah? Was it close or did he dominate people's votes that day?"
American: "Actually, his loser opponent got about 2 million more votes than him."
Foreigner: "Say what?!?"
Not only that, but let's break down these numbers a bit further. If we were to include all 319 million residents of this country, Donald Trump won the presidential election by earning the vote of just 18.9% of them. If we were to just count registered voters, he won the support of only 25.9% of them. In other words, approximately 1 in 4 voters supported our next president and only 1 in 5 people overall did so.
Think about that for a moment. An estimated 2 million more people voted for Donald Trump's opponent than him; just 25% of registered voters supported him, 20% overall; and he will be our next president. If that isn't a twisted form of democracy, I don't know what is.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/democracy?
A democracy is a "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."
Yet we continue to make it more difficult for certain demographics to vote on election day, we refuse to acknowledge the day as a national holiday (or at least hold it during the weekend), and at the end of the day, it's not a guarantee that the candidate with the most votes will be rewarded the presidency.
Let's take this past election as a prime example. In this country, there are approximately 319 million people, including 232 million registered voters. This past Tuesday, Donald Trump won the election with a little over 60 million votes, compared to close to 61 million votes for runner-up Hillary Clinton. Yes, read that over again. Clinton currently leads by close to 600,000, and due to where the uncounted votes remain, it's predicted her final margin of victory will be at least 2 million votes. Imagine trying to explain this to a foreigner unfamiliar with the electoral college.
Foreigner: "So, I heard you recently had an election."
American: "Yes, yes we did."
Foreigner: "Who won?"
American: "Donald Trump"
Foreigner: "Oh yeah? Was it close or did he dominate people's votes that day?"
American: "Actually, his loser opponent got about 2 million more votes than him."
Foreigner: "Say what?!?"
Not only that, but let's break down these numbers a bit further. If we were to include all 319 million residents of this country, Donald Trump won the presidential election by earning the vote of just 18.9% of them. If we were to just count registered voters, he won the support of only 25.9% of them. In other words, approximately 1 in 4 voters supported our next president and only 1 in 5 people overall did so.
Think about that for a moment. An estimated 2 million more people voted for Donald Trump's opponent than him; just 25% of registered voters supported him, 20% overall; and he will be our next president. If that isn't a twisted form of democracy, I don't know what is.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/democracy?
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