I've read and seen more about it than I should have, as a non-American that's never going to live in the US. Press cycles in smaller countries are inundated with US news.
There is probably a lot I don't know so please ask and I'll do my best to explain my knowledge on the topic to the best of my abilities.
This was done intentionally, with great care, by people far smarter than a ragebait post on HN.
Ad-hominem, you're assuming things without knowing me.
Those people had no prior art except for the Athenian democracy and a handful of other partial examples. They were not gods. They lived in an age without the telegraph, the telephone, TV, the internet, and many other force multipliers for intelligence, communication and country level organization.
They did all right for their time but every garden needs... periodic gardening.
There are two houses of Congress (the second of which is allocated by population).
Again with the assumptions. I know about the House of Representatives.
It was done for balance of power
Back in the day when there was no American nation. There are other ways to protect state rights these days, for example by adding more explicit state rights in constitutions.
The EU has literally emulated this model (see European Commission allocating one per member state).
LOL. Are you comparing the EU, a loose confederation of nation states, with a full-blown federal states? The EU starts from a VERY different historical context (Latvians, Portuguese and Austrians have far less in common than Oregonians, Virginians and Texans). The EU is also hobbled by this system and the US and China constantly mop the floor with the EU in geopolitical terms. Required reading: history of the Articles of Confederation and its outcome.
Imagine if Germany was allowed to overrule every law and decision in EU because of population alone. EU would cease to exist.
Again, totally different starting position. Also, there are ways to avoid this. The EU uses some for Parliament voting.
Oh, the US badly needs to pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, that would help with lots of things.
* * *
Any way, the worst part of this discussion is: the US has such outsized international impact that its shortcomings inflict pain on people around the world, otherwise I would not care.
1. Intentionality does not preclude a mistake. The makeup of the Senate gives outsized power to rural states with very few people in them, and in practice is a huge giveaway to the right wing.
2. The House's size is also capped, and not directly based on population, which is completely unnecessary in this age of digital communication. There is no reason why we couldn't return the number of representatives to being explicitly population-based—say, 1 representative per 50k constituents, or the like. That would increase the size of the House by about 15-fold, make every representative much more dependent on the votes of their particular district, make gerrymandering much harder (as districts will be smaller and there will be more of them), and make the electoral college much more representative and harder to game.
3. See #1.
4. The European Commission is widely criticized as being the least democratic, most unresponsive, most oligarch-friendly body in Europe.
5. "Representative government" does not have to mean "tyranny of the majority". There are plenty of checks and balances even in the current system that would prevent that sort of thing, provided the enforcement mechanisms weren't entirely operated by and for Trump.
Comments
Their democratic system is completely broken at the moment.
1. Fixed number of Senate spots, regardless of State population.
2. First past the post voting everywhere leading to 2 party system.
3. Broken electoral college voting system for presidential elections.
4. Legalized gerrymandering.
5. Legalized bribes, sorry lobbying.
Their democratic system is stuck in the 1870s and they can't reform it. And on top of that they have outsized corporate political power.
It's really hard even for masses of determined inviduals to reform anything.
I don't think you understand anything about how the American government works.
I've read and seen more about it than I should have, as a non-American that's never going to live in the US. Press cycles in smaller countries are inundated with US news.
There is probably a lot I don't know so please ask and I'll do my best to explain my knowledge on the topic to the best of my abilities.
You might not like it but he's not wrong.
enlighten us please, been awhile since I’ve taken Gov course at the Uni
Start with the first complaint, the Senate seats being fixed, which blatantly ignores:
1. This was done intentionally, with great care, by people far smarter than a ragebait post on HN
2. There are two houses of Congress (the second of which is allocated by population).
3. It was done for balance of power
4. The EU has literally emulated this model (see European Commission allocating one per member state).
5. Imagine if Germany was allowed to overrule every law and decision in EU because of population alone. EU would cease to exist.
Good start with the personal attacks:
Ad-hominem, you're assuming things without knowing me.
Those people had no prior art except for the Athenian democracy and a handful of other partial examples. They were not gods. They lived in an age without the telegraph, the telephone, TV, the internet, and many other force multipliers for intelligence, communication and country level organization.
They did all right for their time but every garden needs... periodic gardening.
Again with the assumptions. I know about the House of Representatives.
Back in the day when there was no American nation. There are other ways to protect state rights these days, for example by adding more explicit state rights in constitutions.
LOL. Are you comparing the EU, a loose confederation of nation states, with a full-blown federal states? The EU starts from a VERY different historical context (Latvians, Portuguese and Austrians have far less in common than Oregonians, Virginians and Texans). The EU is also hobbled by this system and the US and China constantly mop the floor with the EU in geopolitical terms. Required reading: history of the Articles of Confederation and its outcome.
Again, totally different starting position. Also, there are ways to avoid this. The EU uses some for Parliament voting.
Oh, the US badly needs to pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, that would help with lots of things.
* * *
Any way, the worst part of this discussion is: the US has such outsized international impact that its shortcomings inflict pain on people around the world, otherwise I would not care.
1. Intentionality does not preclude a mistake. The makeup of the Senate gives outsized power to rural states with very few people in them, and in practice is a huge giveaway to the right wing.
2. The House's size is also capped, and not directly based on population, which is completely unnecessary in this age of digital communication. There is no reason why we couldn't return the number of representatives to being explicitly population-based—say, 1 representative per 50k constituents, or the like. That would increase the size of the House by about 15-fold, make every representative much more dependent on the votes of their particular district, make gerrymandering much harder (as districts will be smaller and there will be more of them), and make the electoral college much more representative and harder to game.
3. See #1.
4. The European Commission is widely criticized as being the least democratic, most unresponsive, most oligarch-friendly body in Europe.
5. "Representative government" does not have to mean "tyranny of the majority". There are plenty of checks and balances even in the current system that would prevent that sort of thing, provided the enforcement mechanisms weren't entirely operated by and for Trump.