(no subject)

[pensnest]

The more I read about the electoral "system" in the USA, the more ridiculous it looks.

I mean, forget having the same right to vote as your fellow citizens, no matter where you happen to live. Forget having consistent means available (I'm thinking of postal voting, proxy, etc), no matter where you happen to live. Forget having easy access to a polling station, too, depending on where you live. Forget having a standard design for voting ballots, or a standard method of applying, in essence, an indicative mark to a piece of paper. Forget *having your vote counted* if you happen to send it in rather than voting in person, or so it appears. I mean, what? Oh, and forget having a reliable and secure method of counting the votes. Forget having the chance to vote before the results from the other half of the country start being announced, too.

You get to vote for a lot of people/offices/things that we don't, I get that. But there seems to be such wilful, determined effort to ensure that your elections are *not* free and fair. How have you managed to screw it up so spectacularly?

I think you need UN observers.

Comments

[conuly]

How have you managed to screw it up so spectacularly?

The people who wanted it this way are the ones with the power to make it so. That's pretty obvious.

[pensnest]

Sure, but there are people in power everywhere, and it isn't like that everywhere. I'm not saying there aren't bad things about, well, probably any system - ours could certainly be improved - but the US seems to have *so many* things wrong.

[nopseud]

US elections have had international observers for years, although they're prohibited from entering polling stations in 12 states.

[pensnest]

Good lord.

[copracat]

Oh, but they do - they've had international observers for years

But the problem is that they've never really gotten past the civil war, the GOP got hold of complete power in several states and started gerrymandering the shit out of them, passing laws that targetting specific groups and starving the infrastructure of money. I'm sure left-leaning governments in states have tried the same at times but this time round they just had more power, more backing and more resources to profile groups to target them with specific laws, thanks a bunch Facebook.

[pensnest]

The attitude that government is a bad thing and taxation is theft probably has a lot to do with it, I feel.

[copracat]

Yes, there's a reason those anti-health care mongrels called themselves 'the tea party' even though 'murder party' would have been more apt.

[turlough]

As other commenters have said, there are reasons the US system is so spectacularly fucked up. What always makes me boggle though is how so many Americans manage to firmly believe they're the most democratic country in the world. It just doesn't compute!

[pensnest]

But we hate them for their freedoms!

[frausorge]

hot take bro

[pensnest]

So... tell me what I'm wrong about? Because I'd really like to know that it isn't as bad as it looks.

[frausorge]

It totally is that bad. I’m just saying this is not new information. We know.

[pensnest]

Yeah, I think I just needed to have a rant about it. Unlike practically everyone else's elections, yours matters to all of us.

[frausorge]

I think we share a lot of fundamental underlying values, and I apologize for being snide before. But fighting back against this regime is painful and exhausting and slow, and a *lot* of hard work (a fraction of which was mine) went into this election's massive, important wins, in the face of everything you touched on above. Your comment kind of ignores all that work, and I've been feeling raw enough lately for that to hurt. yanno? We took the House back, plus significant gains in a lot of places at the state level. *Despite* all the vote suppression and intimidation. That's good both for us and, as you say, for you. Let's acknowledge and celebrate that!

[pensnest]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore all the work - I've been reading about it for so long, I'm very well aware how hard people have had to work and what kind of an uphill struggle it is.

[pensnest]

Argh. That doesn't seem to have been a very competent apology, and I meant it to be. Brain is fried today. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings.

And a victory yell for a Democratic HoR and lots of good news across the country.

[frausorge]

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