I don’t see any way around that in a country with over 300 million people and so many incompatible interests and views. The simplest answer is devolve authority down to the state and local level, but we have pretty good experience-based evidence that that works even less well.
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[quote=“William_Holz, post:1056, topic:72574”]
We have a system that gives all the advantages to the worst in us and punishes the best of us.
[/quote]The system’s greatest fault is being agnostic to what causes those issues, but the system itself doesn’t create them. Unless you zoom out to a very high level the combination of modern cities vs rural towns, income distribution, two parties, freedom of information, gerrymandering, and marketing figuring out human psychology has built a surprisingly unsteady scaffolding over the US that a few powerful people are desperate to keep aloft.
Sometimes it’s shocking to realize how much better things could be with a few basic fixes.
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As with so many other “insurmountable” issues in the USA, there is a mountain of international evidence that is ignored. American exceptionalism is alive and well.
Democracy has its flaws everywhere that it’s practised (because people), but the extent and nature of America’s problems are not universal.
Want to limit the excessive power of the rich? Sensible controls on campaign expenditure and party donations, effective disclosure rules, public funding, non-fixed political terms (e.g. a majority of parliament can call an election whenever they want, but must do so at least once every four years) to keep campaigns short.
Want to stop the disenfranchisement of the poor? Elections on weekends or public holidays, properly resourced voting administration run by an independent federal organisation (e.g. http://www.aec.gov.au/) so that voting is universally achieved, easy postal voting, neutral voter education in schools, automatic voter registration at eighteen.
Want to stop the gerrymander? Election boundaries set by fixed, publicised rules and administered by another independent federal agency.
Want to stop extremists from taking over by controlling turnout through enthusiasm or intimidation? Again, well-resourced neutral voter admin and not-too-racist police. Preferential (instant runoff) voting. Proportional representation rather than local members in at least one house of parliament.
I’d also recommend obligatory voting attendance as in Australia; $50 fine if you don’t show up to vote without a minimally-plausible excuse, but you’re free to spoil the ballot if you don’t want to vote.
Want to avoid a two-party system? Proportional, preferential voting and public funding of election candidates. In Oz we give moderate public funding based on the proportion of first-preference vote in the previous election. The cash isn’t enough to really matter for the major parties, but it helps keep the minors in the game while they build credibility and support.
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None of those things are easy to achieve with the USA in the political state it is today. But that isn’t because democracy is inherently undoable, it’s because the US political system is so badly broken already. And it was broken on purpose, by the people who benefit from its breaking.
Some of these problems have been with the US from the beginning. But there has been an active push over recent history to make them worse; “money equals speech” and “corporations are people” didn’t come from the founding fathers. And the “people who benefit” are still here, still in charge, and forever getting richer from the proceeds.
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Every time someone from another country criticizes the US, then offers the political system from his/her own country as the right way to do things, all I can think is
You’re free to run things however you like; your country. If you have a better plan for how eliminating the gerrymander, reenfranchising the poor, guarding against extremism etc can be done, I’d love to hear it.
But you didn’t have a solution, you were suggesting that these problems were inevitable. They aren’t. Lots of different countries avoid them in lots of slightly different ways.
Americans are good people; America is a beautiful and abundant place. But the upper class of America have twisted your state into a thing that endangers the world.
I wasn’t saying “be like Oz”. I was using the example most familiar to me to demonstrate that it’s possible. Be like Finland, be like Norway, be like Germany, be like Canada, whatever. Be like America likes to pretend it is. Find something that works.
But the current system obviously isn’t, and when American politics go toxic it’s non-Americans who do most of the dying. Even if Trump loses, it’s just a matter of time until an equally dangerous representative of the extreme right does. That isn’t a safe situation in which to leave control of the most bloated military in history.
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You did actually say to be like Oz. But, speaking as someone who has lived in the UK and Norway as well as the US, I haven’t seen any alternatives that would be obviously better in a country our size and diversity.
Apologies, then. I intended an example rather than an epitome, but I obviously worded it poorly.
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Your choice of character in the image is … more appropriate than I think you intended.
One of our bigger problems here is blind patriotism. Nobody designs perfectly the first time and our constitution has TONS of flaws. We should be embracing all the best ideas, not saying “We’re exceptional Americans and our government is the best!”
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Well, this is my big issue with Clinton’s speech. Too much American Exceptionalism. But what can be done? A president can’t run on a campaign of “listen up, 99% of people are fuckwits”. But at least the Democratic platform doesn’t have American Exceptionalism as a literal plank.
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Wow.
Just…wow.
I’m not really a Democrat, but I’m certainly the opposite of a Republican. That’s so…immature.
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Yeah, I genuinely thought that was a pejorative term.
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At first I didn’t notice that this was a platform and just assumed it was the generic outline for every political speech in U.S. history.
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Why (** *** ***) to vote for Hillary Clinton
Why (** *** ***) to vote for Hillary Clinton
Whoever pardons Chelsea Manning has my support. If Obama fails…Hillary gets a shot at it!
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Bonus points if they grant amnesty to Snowden while they’re at it!
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Definitely!
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I agree she 
should be pardoned. Chelsea Manning to many Americans is a courageous hero.
I will also add:
The U.S. Military like the U.S. Criminal Justice System, for many of the same violent and discriminatory reasons, needs to be reformed.
Leadership in countries around the world need to end violence against their citizens, end corruption and greed–and truly provide fair and just conomic, social and political relief to their fellow citizens.
The systematic and historical use of American military force to hoard wealth, enhance the greed of the wealthy elite–and the rapacious businesses they represent, needs to stop.
The continued economic exploitation of countries around the world, needs to stop.
The continued use of superior military force to steal the land, resources and wealth of other (weaker) countries; and from the citizens who live on those lands, needs to stop.
Murdering innocent civilians (of all ethnicities) around the world, needs to stop.
Admitting to and reconciling the systematic and historical atrocities perpetrated by America and it’s closest allies around the world–against indigenous people, needs to occur.
Having no respect for the lives of citizens around the world–and America, needs to stop.
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I can’t speak for everyone on BB, but I know many of us will apply (at least what we believe to be) pressure on our Democratic public officials*—municipal, state, and federal. A more interesting matter is: how can we productively apply pressure on our Republican public officials to achieve these objectives you’ve listed?
*I’m using this phrase because the term ‘representative’ makes assumptions that are not necessarily true. And let’s be honest: with some Democratic officials, it isn’t.
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