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Unlike in many other countries, where provinces or regions are merely administrative divisions created to decentralize or streamline administration, the US eme
by Centrino 11mo ago
Unlike in many other countries, where provinces or regions are merely administrative divisions created to decentralize or streamline administration, the US emerged when states voluntarily came together and decided to create a country. The states were willing to outsource part of their autonomy to a federal level, on condition that guardrails were put in place to limit the power of that federal level. Those guardrails were: bicameralism, equal representation of states in the Senate, and the electoral college. The House is the voice of the people, the Senate is the voice of the states.
The practical consequence of this system is that it effectively prevents a majority of voters from large urban centers from imposing their will onto rural populations, at least at the federal level. It was designed that way.
I've seen comments here claiming that countries like Canada or France deliver better outcomes than the US. They are stronger welfare states, yes, but they also have become overly paternalistic nanny states, with heavy-handed regulations, and high taxes stifling individual initiative.
- spankalee 11mo agoThe practical consequence of this system is that it effectively allows a minority of voters from rural areas to impose their will onto large urban centers
- mlrtime 11mo agoWhich you want the opposite to happen , not a better system.
- spankalee 11mo agoHow in the world is minority rule better than majority rule?
- newfriend 11mo agoWe don't have minority rule though, we have a balance.
- spankalee 11mo agoWhat? We absolutely do have minority rule. In both the Senate and the House, the Republican majorities represent a minority of the population.
- newfriend 11mo agoTrump easily won the popular vote. What makes you say that they represent a minority of the population? The fact that both the House and Senate are nearly 50% by party again points to the fact that we have a good balance.
- acdha 11mo agoTrump got 49% of the votes cast, which is roughly a quarter of the US population.
- newfriend 11mo agoDo you have a better way of determining which party is the "majority" in Congress? That is what we are discussing here. Whether the current makeup of Congress accurately represents the votes of the people or not. Obviously I understand that not every person voted in the election (many are not even eligible). It is simply not relevant to this conversation, and is an often trotted out diversion meant to diminish the mandate given by the actual voters.
- acdha 11mo agoIn this case it’s much simpler: the question was minority rule and you can see that power in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches is held by Republican politicians representing less than a majority—Trump is arguably the best claim they have on plurality since he is come very close to winning the popular vote since so many Democrats stayed home—and enacting policies which are very unpopular, in most cases policies which are unpopular even among registered Republicans.
- 11mo ago