America Is Not a Democracy

By Shlomo Maital

    The US often portrays itself as the global defender of, even paradigm of, democracy. 

     Writing in the New York Times Op-Ed section, Michelle Goldberg suggests this may not be the case.   Consider this:

      “Republicans have won the popular vote in only one out of the last eight presidential elections, and yet have had three Electoral College victories.”

       This includes President George W. Bush, 2000,  and Donald J. Trump, 2016, who lost to Hillary Clinton by 2.9 million votes, yet became President. This is because of the weird electoral college, which gives great power to smaller states.

       “The Senate gives far more power to small, rural states than large, urbanized ones, and it’s made even less democratic by the filibuster.”

        Senate crackpots can halt legislation by talking endlessly on the floor of the house, and ‘closure’ (vote to end it) has not been accepted in the protocol.

       “An unaccountable Supreme Court, given its right-wing majority by the two-time popular-vote loser Trump, has gutted the Voting Rights Act.”

        This act gave voting rights to all,  Republicans have amended it to destroy it.  The Supreme Court now has a 6-3 majority of conservatives, including Justices who during confirmation hid their true views and prevaricated (lied).  They include two justices who travel widely at the expense of wealthy tycoons who have cases before the court.

        One reason Republicans keep radicalizing is that, unlike Democrats, they don’t need to win over the majority of voters.  Because of the twisted system of ‘democracy’ in the US, giving power to small Republican states,  Republicans can support causes like banning abortion, against the opinion of the vast majority of Americans.

       Democracy?   It’s broken.