America's flawed democracy: the five key areas where it is failing

[marmar]

America's flawed democracy: the five key areas where it is failing
The US system has survived four years of a norm-busting president by the skin of its teeth – which areas need most urgent attention?

Ed Pilkington
@edpilkington
Mon 16 Nov 2020 03.00 ESTLast modified on Mon 16 Nov 2020 03.02 EST


(Guardian UK) On 7 November the United States pulled back from the brink of re-electing a president who has repeatedly shown disdain for democratic norms and institutions. Donald Trump has fused his own business interests with the White House, dubbed the media “enemies of the people”, embraced foreign strongmen, sidelined science and politicized the justice department, falsely cast doubt on the electoral process and is currently distinguishing himself as the first sitting president since 1800 to frustrate a peaceful transition of power.

But as great escapes go, this one came bone-rattlingly close to collapsing. More people voted for Trump in the 2020 election – some 71 million Americans – than for any other presidential candidate in US history, other than Joe Biden himself. It took gargantuan determination to unseat him, with historically high turnout and black voters leading the way. And it happened in spite of, not because of, the unique features of US democracy.

The election exposed deep flaws in how Americans choose their leaders. Some of those flaws are as old as the nation itself, while others are more modern creations that have been weaponized by Trump and the Republicans. Combined, they present an existential threat to America’s reputation – and survival – as the oldest constitutional democracy on the planet.

....(snip)....

1. The electoral college

The US is recovering from a severe bout of stress, caused by nerve-shattering waiting for the swing states to be called. The 2020 presidential election will go down in people’s memories as unbearably close.

It wasn’t close at all.

....(snip)....

2. Voter suppression

Huge turnout in the 2020 election was all the more impressive given barriers to voting. “We have seen this cycle an effort by the Republican party to make it harder, wherever possible, to vote – especially for black and minority populations,” Bassin said.

He added: “I don’t know of another advanced democracy in the world where one of the two major political parties has invested in voter suppression as a core strategy.” ........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/16/america-flawed-democracy-five-key-areas

[underpants]

1. a core strategy

Indeed.

This makes Biden’s win that much more impressive

[dugog55]

2. Yes, our Democracy is flawed because it was the first and is the oldest modern democracy.

There needs to be a Constitutional Convention to update and modernize the framework of our laws. Certainly, we could study Europe's various constitutions to get some ideas how on to move forward. The Senate and the Supreme Court are a big part of our system of governing, and they are also the least democratic. When California gets two Senators for 39 million people, and the 12 least populated states with less than 39 million get 24 Senators, that is rule my minority. There is certainly no way the founding fathers could have imagined one state having three times the population at the time of conception.

Nor could they ever imagine that their country where only 10% of the population lived in cities would morph into a country where 90% of future populations would live. We are being governed not only by the minority, but also by a group of people that live different lives than the vast majority.