Happy International Day of Democracy!
It’s with a heavy heart we tell you that the United States is considered a “flawed democracy” by the Thinkers at The Economist, a respected British publication for rich people.
We’re lumped with the likes of Estonia and Israel, Slovenia and South Africa, Hungary and Latvia, Malta and Malaysia. Ouch. “Flawed democracies are nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honoured but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics),” The Economist explains. “These nations can have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.”
The good news is the U.S. did great on “electoral process and pluralism,” “political participation” and “civil liberties” — but tanked on “political culture” and “functioning of government.” Hmmm. Wonder why that is!
In the interest of furthering the cause of American Democracy on this International Democracy Day — a day the United Nations sets aside to reflect on democracy as a “universally recognized ideal” providing for the protection and realization of human rights — we’d like to share a few ideas.
Elections
How about expanding the U.S. Senate so states like South Dakota, with fewer than 1 million people, have more senators than a state like California, with 40 million people? Right now they have exactly the same number of senators, and that can’t be right!
While we’re at it, let’s rejigger the Electoral College, which had the right idea by refusing to grant the great unwashed (non-land-owning/non-White/non-male) masses the direct vote for president. The Electoral College gives small states like Wyoming one Electoral College vote for every 193,000 people or so, while California gets one Electoral College vote for every 727,000…
Read the full article here
