It’s not necessarily that the U.S. is bad, or is choosing the worst option.
There are undoubtedly a lot of very intelligent and deep analysis on the topic, but here’s a pretty simplified explanation that I’m going to try to rush through because I should be doing something other than commenting a whole novel.
The American electoral system is completely fucked.
It was not designed for or implemented with the concept of political parties, and some of its fundamental assumptions are predicated on political parties not existing in order to function as a working democracy. However after the first election, political parties formed, and began working on codifying and entrenching their power.
It’s like game theory run amok. The win condition is first past the pole, so there’s only one winner, and by default, if there’s more than 2 contenders, then the vote is split inefficiently, so naturally there can only be two major parties at a time. And the two parties must exist such a way that they do not dilute or share their power, so they do not modify the system to allow for the inclusion of other parties, or allow for the vote to be split. It’s unlikely the parties would pass laws that they know would dilute their own power, even if it also diluted the power of their opposition.
As a result, voters in the U.S. must either: Vote for the party that most closely aligns with their interests, vote against the party that aligns against their interests, or abstain from voting.
With only two options, it’s sometimes challenging to find a party or candidates that represent your interests. Many people in the U.S. feel that no party represents them, or that their vote simply does not matter. In 2024, a little more than 2/3 of eligible voters did not vote.
The process of financing and prosecuting elections in the U.S. is completely fucked.
Well before the 2011 Citizens United ruling, the U.S. had a lot of issues with voter suppression and voter turnout: Election Day is not a national holiday in the U.S. and many employers will simply tell their employees to figure out a time to vote that isn’t during work hours. Every state, and sometimes individual cities can execute elections differently, with different laws, however, so the experience is not consistent. Some places make voting more approachable, and some make it more difficult, but the federal government has limited authority over states when it comes to the election, so decisions about voting hours, whether to allow mail in voting, and the reasons for which mail in voting is allowable, are left up to various municipalities, creating a confusing patchwork that is a challenge to navigate by citizens. This lowers turnout to those who have the time and ability to navigate it all.
Since 2011, unlimited corporate bribery has become the norm, and politicians are now nakedly bought and owned by corporate interests. Studies show that regardless of party or political belief, that most politicians align with donors way more than than the ‘rank and file’ voters, so the average person does not have the ability to impact the outcome of the laws that are passed.
The third leg of this, which I’m unfortunately out of time to really discuss, is the media, and the internet.
But the U.S. isn’t shutting down TikTok over user data. It’s shutting it down because it could not influence the algorithm to viewpoints that were favorable to the political goals of the U.S. and its corporate sponsors. All the major platforms in the U.S. are somehow beholden to the U.S. government, save for, well, Lemmy.
And beyond that, you have corporate control of the media, and corporations that own vast swaths of the information that comes into the U.S.’s TV’s, newspapers, and inboxes. It’s impossible to get viewpoints that are not influenced or controlled by (again) the U.S. government or its corporate sponsors.
So if the public perception is controlled, the ability to vote is hampered, and the political parties have a noose braided out of dollars around their neck, then what does the average person do?
Go shoot a healthcare executive and watch major news networks freak the fuck out trying to villainize you while the government throws every possible law at you? Try to start your own political party and be drowned by the conspiracy of the two in power? Citizen-led voter initiatives, that are routinely challenged by monied interests and even the government themselves, when the citizenry don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees to fight frivolous lawsuits? Try to start an armed insurrection against the U.S.? Psh.
The citizenry of the U.S. are hostages, whether they believe it or not.
The American electoral system is completely fucked.
It was not designed for or implemented with the concept of political parties, and some of its fundamental assumptions are predicated on political parties not existing in order to function as a working democracy. However after the first election, political parties formed, and began working on codifying and entrenching their power. It’s like game theory run amok. The win condition is first past the pole, so there’s only one winner, and by default, if there’s more than 2 contenders, then the vote is split inefficiently, so naturally there can only be two major parties at a time. And the two parties must exist such a way that they do not dilute or share their power, so they do not modify the system to allow for the inclusion of other parties, or allow for the vote to be split. It’s unlikely the parties would pass laws that they know would dilute their own power, even if it also diluted the power of their opposition.
As a result, voters in the U.S. must either: Vote for the party that most closely aligns with their interests, vote against the party that aligns against their interests, or abstain from voting.
Care to comment on Alaska and it’s Ranked-Choice Voting system?
Care to comment on Alaska and it’s Ranked-Choice Voting system?
Honestly, I was going to be a little snarky and say “No.” all petulant-like and leave my response as just the quote of your question and my dumb response but I did a quick skim of the headlines about it because I, well, forgot they passed ranked choice. I know, at a time of upheaval, pandemic, and highly mediocre personal depression, I should have been thinking of Jewel’s home state.
But it’s kind of interesting, right?
A citizen-led ballot initiative passed in the 2020 “blue wave”, and using ranked choice in 2022, Alaskans elected their first Democrat state senator in over 50 years. And Republican aligned groups are now repeatedly bringing petitions forth to to to get it overturned - which have so far continued to fail.
That’s a solid counter to my “Americans are hostages” line of thought. Unfortunately, Alaska represents less than 2% of elected officials, and about 0.25% of the U.S. population.
But those ballot initiatives won’t stop. Talking points from the strategists trying to undermine ranked choice will be played, parroted, and drilled into people’s heads. Until enough folks rethink their decision to vote for ranked choice on one of the upcoming votes to repeal it. And then what happens. Is there a political party that will fund ballot initiatives until it gets passed again?
Nah. Just two parties, pretending to oppose each other while pocketing a paycheck. It’s pro wrestling. Scripted fights. Misdirection. Anything to turn a profit and keep the show going.
Fitting that Trump sits at the top.
It’s not necessarily that the U.S. is bad, or is choosing the worst option.
There are undoubtedly a lot of very intelligent and deep analysis on the topic, but here’s a pretty simplified explanation that I’m going to try to rush through because I should be doing something other than commenting a whole novel.
The American electoral system is completely fucked.
It was not designed for or implemented with the concept of political parties, and some of its fundamental assumptions are predicated on political parties not existing in order to function as a working democracy. However after the first election, political parties formed, and began working on codifying and entrenching their power. It’s like game theory run amok. The win condition is first past the pole, so there’s only one winner, and by default, if there’s more than 2 contenders, then the vote is split inefficiently, so naturally there can only be two major parties at a time. And the two parties must exist such a way that they do not dilute or share their power, so they do not modify the system to allow for the inclusion of other parties, or allow for the vote to be split. It’s unlikely the parties would pass laws that they know would dilute their own power, even if it also diluted the power of their opposition.
As a result, voters in the U.S. must either: Vote for the party that most closely aligns with their interests, vote against the party that aligns against their interests, or abstain from voting.
With only two options, it’s sometimes challenging to find a party or candidates that represent your interests. Many people in the U.S. feel that no party represents them, or that their vote simply does not matter. In 2024, a little more than 2/3 of eligible voters did not vote.
The process of financing and prosecuting elections in the U.S. is completely fucked.
Well before the 2011 Citizens United ruling, the U.S. had a lot of issues with voter suppression and voter turnout: Election Day is not a national holiday in the U.S. and many employers will simply tell their employees to figure out a time to vote that isn’t during work hours. Every state, and sometimes individual cities can execute elections differently, with different laws, however, so the experience is not consistent. Some places make voting more approachable, and some make it more difficult, but the federal government has limited authority over states when it comes to the election, so decisions about voting hours, whether to allow mail in voting, and the reasons for which mail in voting is allowable, are left up to various municipalities, creating a confusing patchwork that is a challenge to navigate by citizens. This lowers turnout to those who have the time and ability to navigate it all. Since 2011, unlimited corporate bribery has become the norm, and politicians are now nakedly bought and owned by corporate interests. Studies show that regardless of party or political belief, that most politicians align with donors way more than than the ‘rank and file’ voters, so the average person does not have the ability to impact the outcome of the laws that are passed.
The third leg of this, which I’m unfortunately out of time to really discuss, is the media, and the internet. But the U.S. isn’t shutting down TikTok over user data. It’s shutting it down because it could not influence the algorithm to viewpoints that were favorable to the political goals of the U.S. and its corporate sponsors. All the major platforms in the U.S. are somehow beholden to the U.S. government, save for, well, Lemmy.
And beyond that, you have corporate control of the media, and corporations that own vast swaths of the information that comes into the U.S.’s TV’s, newspapers, and inboxes. It’s impossible to get viewpoints that are not influenced or controlled by (again) the U.S. government or its corporate sponsors.
So if the public perception is controlled, the ability to vote is hampered, and the political parties have a noose braided out of dollars around their neck, then what does the average person do?
Go shoot a healthcare executive and watch major news networks freak the fuck out trying to villainize you while the government throws every possible law at you? Try to start your own political party and be drowned by the conspiracy of the two in power? Citizen-led voter initiatives, that are routinely challenged by monied interests and even the government themselves, when the citizenry don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees to fight frivolous lawsuits? Try to start an armed insurrection against the U.S.? Psh.
The citizenry of the U.S. are hostages, whether they believe it or not.
Care to comment on Alaska and it’s Ranked-Choice Voting system?
Honestly, I was going to be a little snarky and say “No.” all petulant-like and leave my response as just the quote of your question and my dumb response but I did a quick skim of the headlines about it because I, well, forgot they passed ranked choice. I know, at a time of upheaval, pandemic, and highly mediocre personal depression, I should have been thinking of Jewel’s home state.
But it’s kind of interesting, right? A citizen-led ballot initiative passed in the 2020 “blue wave”, and using ranked choice in 2022, Alaskans elected their first Democrat state senator in over 50 years. And Republican aligned groups are now repeatedly bringing petitions forth to to to get it overturned - which have so far continued to fail.
That’s a solid counter to my “Americans are hostages” line of thought. Unfortunately, Alaska represents less than 2% of elected officials, and about 0.25% of the U.S. population.
But those ballot initiatives won’t stop. Talking points from the strategists trying to undermine ranked choice will be played, parroted, and drilled into people’s heads. Until enough folks rethink their decision to vote for ranked choice on one of the upcoming votes to repeal it. And then what happens. Is there a political party that will fund ballot initiatives until it gets passed again?
Nah. Just two parties, pretending to oppose each other while pocketing a paycheck. It’s pro wrestling. Scripted fights. Misdirection. Anything to turn a profit and keep the show going.
Fitting that Trump sits at the top.
This comment fucks