Wow. I wish I found this sooner. Thank you for sharing, David. I feel you. I left the Dem party after voting, consistently for Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama, Clinton, Biden, and now...well, I registered Independent and voted Trump to halt the alarmingly bad policies Dems have put in place (nationally, but especially in my Left Bubble of San …
Wow. I wish I found this sooner. Thank you for sharing, David. I feel you. I left the Dem party after voting, consistently for Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama, Clinton, Biden, and now...well, I registered Independent and voted Trump to halt the alarmingly bad policies Dems have put in place (nationally, but especially in my Left Bubble of San Francisco, CA). I am the black sheep in my family and circle of friends. Everyone I knew was shocked Trump won, but I had been telling people for awhile, Harris was the worst Dem candidate since Mondale.
I genuinely appreciate your description of the Theory of democracy that we learned versus the Practice of a constitutional republic with only 2 choices.
I have two thoughts to address this. How we do that, as a nation and people, damned if I know.
1. We need more participation of varying political parties. I don't know if parliamentary systems are better, but from a distance, I like the idea of a parry getting 10% of the vote, and therefore 10% of the seats in parliament. We could apply that to the House nationally and State Houses. Likely would be a States Rights experiment.
2. Return to the Legislative branch Legislating. In our lifetimes the Executive Branch has made a huge power grab, and continues to hold on, and try to increase that power. Executive Orders are not law, and it feels more like we are electing Kings or Emperors rather than an Executove whose sole role is to ensure the Execution of the Law and be the Commander in Chief (only in times of war). This might make the forever war issue more a democratic principal in that our representatives would actually have to deal with the consequences of their electorate when choosing war. I believe we haven't declared war since the Korean War in the 50's.
Basically, I think what you and I (and many others are feeling) is that we no longer have a system of checks and balances, as the Executive is too powerful.
1. Parliamentary systems are even worse. And even if they were better, trying to change the Constitution to change to one is never going to happen. Changing the Constitution is incredibly difficult and only works if there is mass approval of something. And that isn't going to happen here.
2. That's also not going to change.
3. "voted Trump to halt the alarmingly bad policies Dems have put in place" - I really don't think he's going to be able to accomplish that or really anything consequential. The man is wildly incompetent and a total joke. Look at this Matt Gaetz nomination and the other people he's put up who are absurdly unqualified.
Yeah, many people i speak with think the same regarding parliamentary systems. So, maybe it's my pipe dream, but representation feels like it should be simpler.
If we don't go back to legislation being legislated by the legislature, then I am worried reforming the electoral college is still irrelevant, as we are simply accepting that we have emperors.
Adam Schiff ran on, in part, removing the Electoral College. I am going to read what you shared. Thanks David!
Wow. I wish I found this sooner. Thank you for sharing, David. I feel you. I left the Dem party after voting, consistently for Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama, Clinton, Biden, and now...well, I registered Independent and voted Trump to halt the alarmingly bad policies Dems have put in place (nationally, but especially in my Left Bubble of San Francisco, CA). I am the black sheep in my family and circle of friends. Everyone I knew was shocked Trump won, but I had been telling people for awhile, Harris was the worst Dem candidate since Mondale.
I genuinely appreciate your description of the Theory of democracy that we learned versus the Practice of a constitutional republic with only 2 choices.
I have two thoughts to address this. How we do that, as a nation and people, damned if I know.
1. We need more participation of varying political parties. I don't know if parliamentary systems are better, but from a distance, I like the idea of a parry getting 10% of the vote, and therefore 10% of the seats in parliament. We could apply that to the House nationally and State Houses. Likely would be a States Rights experiment.
2. Return to the Legislative branch Legislating. In our lifetimes the Executive Branch has made a huge power grab, and continues to hold on, and try to increase that power. Executive Orders are not law, and it feels more like we are electing Kings or Emperors rather than an Executove whose sole role is to ensure the Execution of the Law and be the Commander in Chief (only in times of war). This might make the forever war issue more a democratic principal in that our representatives would actually have to deal with the consequences of their electorate when choosing war. I believe we haven't declared war since the Korean War in the 50's.
Basically, I think what you and I (and many others are feeling) is that we no longer have a system of checks and balances, as the Executive is too powerful.
1. Parliamentary systems are even worse. And even if they were better, trying to change the Constitution to change to one is never going to happen. Changing the Constitution is incredibly difficult and only works if there is mass approval of something. And that isn't going to happen here.
2. That's also not going to change.
3. "voted Trump to halt the alarmingly bad policies Dems have put in place" - I really don't think he's going to be able to accomplish that or really anything consequential. The man is wildly incompetent and a total joke. Look at this Matt Gaetz nomination and the other people he's put up who are absurdly unqualified.
The big change that we need is the removal of the electoral college. And there are ways to do that which do not involve changing the Constitution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
Yeah, many people i speak with think the same regarding parliamentary systems. So, maybe it's my pipe dream, but representation feels like it should be simpler.
If we don't go back to legislation being legislated by the legislature, then I am worried reforming the electoral college is still irrelevant, as we are simply accepting that we have emperors.
Adam Schiff ran on, in part, removing the Electoral College. I am going to read what you shared. Thanks David!