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frustrated democracy
Original post made
by Bob Pierce, Portola Valley: Brookside Park,
on Nov 11, 2016
For the second time in five elections, the winner of the popular vote---the person the most Americans voted for---did not win the presidency. How can we continue to brag to the world that we are a functioning democracy when the basic principle of democracy is not followed in the USA? When the Constitution was written, the electoral college was designed to restrain democracy, which at that time was viewed as a radical and dangerous governmental system. A lot has changed in almost 230 years, but our nation is still saddled with a system that prevailed when slavery was legal and women were denied any voting or civil rights. Because the Constitution cannot be amended without three-quarters of the states approving a change, a legal remedy of this farcical impediment to a true democracy is never going to happen. This is true taxation without representation, as laws will be proposed and signed by a candidate who did not win the support of the most voters. There seems to be little discussion of this perversion of democracy by the talking heads and pundits of today, as there was an absence of concerned comment following the 2000 election, which saw George W. Bush win the presidency with fewer votes than Albert Gore. Perhaps California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington and Oregon should just stop sending any tax money to the federal government until a true popular vote is provided so the majority of the public would have some say in how to run this nation?
