There’s nothing Republicans hate more than democracy.
That is because Democracy includes most of the letters of democrat.
It’s also the reason why they keep repeating “were a republic not a democracy” because republic… republican. Fucking brain rot.
Just in case anyone reading this thread has ever been flummoxed by this “we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic” bullshit…
“Republic” and “Democracy” are two among many adjectives that describe the US governmental system. Here’s some other ones: “constitutional”, “bicameral”, “presidential”, “liberal”, “federal”.
None of these words fully and accurately describe our system. None of these words are mutually exclusive of each other. They’re just adjectives. Words that can be used to get you closer to the truth.
We have a system of government that relies on elections because it believes fundamental sovereignty flows from the will of the people. That defines us a democracy, regardless of whether votes are direct or indirect.
We have a system of government in which power sits in the hands of the public – in our case via selected representatives selected through elections. We do not have a king or similar formal nobility. We fit the definition of a republic.
Most people who make this stupid argument are just being trolly, disingenuous twerps that get off on sounding clever. Ignore them if you don’t have the will to clearly correct them. But a few of the people making this argument legitimately dislike democracy and want it done away with – they are authoritarians and they are the enemy of the people.
More simply, a republic is a form of democracy. The people who say ‘we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic’ are basically saying ‘that’s not a dog, that’s a golden retriever’.
That’s not a schooner, it is a sailboat.
That kid is back on the escalator!
There are non-democratic republics. Fascist states often fall into that category.
One small correction: The US has a system of government in which power sits almost exclusively in the hands of the wealthy.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/study-congress-literally-doesnt-care-what-you-think/5466723
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My American History class had one question on every test: What form of government does the United States have? The answer: a democratic republic based on a federal system.
They hate freedom and liberty even more.
I like the term representative democracy because it implies that politicians should represent their constituents. Getting elected is not a license to vote your personal opinion - it’s to represent every one of your constituents. So if you get elected by one vote margin, you should vote in the middle. I know that’s not reality but it should be.
I don’t know, I think your attitude cleaves pretty tightly to the current president. It’s a thing he gets a lot of flak for from the left – that he compromises and consensus-builds against opponents that do not reciprocate when he ought to just be doing everything the people who voted for him want and ignore the opposition.
I think you’re alluding to a well-discussed term in the world of political science – delegation versus representation. A delegate who gets voted into office should do exactly what the voters want them to do through some theoretical poll before every decision, injecting no will of their own. A representative is picked based on their own convictions, personality, and belief, and so they should do the things they want and let the voters decide whether or not to keep letting them do so. Big upsides and downsides either way, but the US officials definitely tend to look more like reps than delegates.
Appreciate your reply. I’m no fan of Biden but he’s a million times better than the guy that clearly tried to subvert the will of the people. Without one man, one vote we have nothing.
Yeah, in this day and age of much easier communication compared to 1776, I’d like the idea of constituents at least having the ability to vote on policy of interest. Even though I don’t always agree with majority opinion, I continue to respect it.
So making it harder for the elderly to vote in Florida?
Is this really the best idea to help you guys out, Republicans?
sigh, As a Canadian, I find it odd that the US doesn’t have independant and non-partisan agencies responsible for running elections.
For instance, the federal elections are conducted by Elections Canada (https://www.elections.ca/home.aspx), Ontario provincial elections are conducted by Elections Ontario (https://www.elections.on.ca/en.html), Québec provincial elections are conducted by Élections Québec (https://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca), etc.
The US was originally envisioned as a federation of independent states, and the Constitution reflects that. Our elections are all run by the states. The states select their senators and representatives to send to the federal legislature. The states select the President.
In fact, originally, our senators were selected by the state legislatures, not a statewide election.
Even today, the popular vote doesn’t really matter in the Presidential election. Those elections simply inform the state how to appoint electors to the Electoral College. Some states are “all or nothing”, some states appoint them proportional to the popular vote.
As such, how those representatives and senators are chosen is left to the individual states, and how the elections are run is the domain of the state.
The Constitution specifically delegates that authority to the States, though, it includes a provision that the federal legislature can claw back that authority in whole or in part by simply writing new laws. The Voting Rights Act, for a great many years, demanded that the various racist states in the South had to have changes to their election process vetted by the Courts before being implemented. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Roberts, declared racism was over and gutted that requirement. That’s when you started to see a bunch of this tomfuckery.
Interesting, thanks for that. I’ll do more research to understand the American context.
As an American, I wholeheartedly agree. It’s horrible.
If we had them, the GOP would say it’s rigged and would spread lies to defund and dismantle the independent body. That’s what they do with independent bodies who don’t support their lies.
Yeah! Canadian elections are still far from perfect. We still have first past the post and the size of constituencies can vary wildly. But it’s still vastly better than what Americans have. Elections Canada is very good at being non partisan and having reasonable rules for voting. There’s countless options for ID and even options if you have absolutely no ID.
This is because every election here is run by the State or local governments. The President is the only office here that people in multiple states vote on, and even that election is really the weighted result of separate State elections, due to the Electoral College. The Federal Government can set standards and regulations for elections, but the States administer them.
I actually think this is a good thing. If a fascist were to be elected President, and there were a central Federal body administering elections, then the President could just put a crony into that position and do a lot of harm. But not only can he not do that, but since the elections are controlled in each State the President doesn’t have any direct influence on the counting of votes at all.
Unless he makes one of his perfect phone calls of course.
If voting didn’t matter they wouldn’t make it hard.
My area demographics is 80% white 20% asian. My polling place is walking distance from my house. If I fell lazy and want to drive the parking lot is nice and big. In the entire history of the provisional ballot system not a single vote has been thrown out.
The area right next to mine is nearly 100% POC and every single election there are stories on the news of multihour long waits to vote and at least once I heard that a judge tossed out a mess of votes.
Vote! Vote! Vote! There is a reason why they are making this hard.
All Democrats have to do to even it out is make where to vote you have to turn on a computer fill out your votes via pdf, and then submit them. Cancels out all the elderly republican votes.
Also cancels out poor Black & Hispanic Democrat votes tho.
Anyone have that gif of Bugs Bunny sawing off Florida?
This ?
That’s the one. Nice 👍
This is so dumb, he must not realize that a significant portion of the GOP voter base has relied upon mail in ballots here for many years.
I suppose they have run the numbers and think it will still benefit their party somehow or another, but I think they grossly over estimate the competency of the average GOP voter here.
I wonder how much of that population is already six feet under because of how Floridians handled COVID. He’d be in a way to know, he’s got top men working for him. Top men.
Oh no people have to vote in person now, what a tragedy!
Edit: It’s obvious that a lot of you don’t understand how this works. They either need to request a mail in ballot for each election or vote in person https://www.myfloridaelections.com/Voting-Elections/Ways-to-Vote/Vote-by-Mail-Absentee-Ballots#request
Why are you ok with making it difficult for those in underserved areas to vote? A lot of people don’t have cars and don’t live near a voting center. A lot of those people can’t afford to take the day off to vote. I’m curious why you think they shouldn’t have an easy way to participate in our democracy
I think you know thee answer to that
Yes but I want the commenter to reply so that I have the satisfaction of clicking on another downvote
Cool opinion, just explain to me how say a mother of 3 that can’t find or afford a sitter is supposed to vote? Or her husband who is working 2 jobs to pay rent is supposed to find time? How about the elderly that don’t have a car? The handicapped? What if I have a contagious disease? I should just turn on up to a busy polling booth and spread my TB all over the place? Or am immunocompromised and could die from a cold, probably spread by that sick person that had to turn up to vote? All those people lose their right to vote because they can’t get to a polling place on the one day they allow voting? You are removing their rights why?
Yeah but don’t you see, those people usually vote blues. We can’t have those people actually excersing their right, then the will of the people might actually happen
I agree with what you’re saying except the first one. Not only can the mother of three take her kids with her to vote, she should take her kids with her to vote. They should see that this is a basic American duty.
Not when it can take an hour or more to vote in some places. In one county I used to live in, it was common to break a chair to sit on in order to vote, because you were going to be there a while. Even in my much better district with more sites, etc, it took me standing for 30mins in order to early vote during the last midterm. Absolutely not would I bring even a single child to that. Not in the cold and outside since elections happen in November.
Ok, the cold and outside things are a good point, I can’t argue with that.
Some people wait hours to vote, and have to bring chairs and food and water to vote. I’ll let you guess what communities generally experience that. Think of having 3 kids in a line for 6 hours… Because that’s the reality. It’s not just walk up say hey I’m here to vote…ok I’m done. People have to make a entire day to vote and prepare. The republicans are making laws like you can’t give voters water or food or chairs when they have been standing for 6 plus hours. They are making it impossible for certain people to vote
Your own personal failures to express your rights does not mean you don’t have those rights.
Yeah, but it does. I have the right to bodily autonomy, but watch me try and get an abortion in some states in the US and see what happens.
Why the fuck do you even care where they vote from?
A vote is a vote. You must not want our armed services to vote. Guess how their votes get counted in many cases? Hint: not in person.
Glad you recognize the gravity of the situation.
Give me one good and verifiable reason why it is ever a good idea to restrict voting if the intent isn’t suppression.
Because it’s entirely impossible to verify who is the person filling out and sending in a piece of mail.
Are you suggesting that people are running some scheme of running multiple households of people and requesting mail in ballots and then forging the info and voting for people without their knowledge? The united states elections has been one of the most scrutinized elections in the world and it’s been proven to be one of the most secure elections in the world and that’s with mail in ballots. Your fear of identification is null and void. Mail in ballots require more identification then walking in and voting in person.
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The one nice takeaway from this is that it’ll affect the old ass Fox News idiots far more than the younger generations voting these republicans out
