Achievement Unlocked: Flawed Democracy

Quote:

US No Longer Full Democracy by Gretel Kaufman The United States is no longer a "full democracy," according to the 2016 Democracy Index. The annual report released Wednesday by the Britain-based Economist Intelligence Unit downgraded the US to a "flawed democracy," placing it 21st in the international rankings. The grading process was based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. While the list was published in the first week of Donald Trump's presidency, the report emphasized that President Trump's polarizing election victory was a symptom – not a cause – of the United States' new "flawed democracy" status. Indeed, the report noted, the US had been "teetering on the brink of becoming a flawed democracy" for years amid a decades-long decline in the American public's confidence in government, and would have earned the same ranking even if 2016 had not been an election year. "Trust in political institutions is an essential component of well-functioning democracies," the report stated. "Yet surveys by Pew, Gallup and other polling agencies have confirmed that public confidence in government has slumped to historic lows in the U.S. This has had a corrosive effect on the quality of democracy."

The process didn’t fail with the electoral system, it failed at the point where
politicians started throwing their hats into the ring. If the parties cared about
winning then they would have a bunch of border collies in the ring that jump
up, catch the hat, and then run off with it. Smart dogs. I am sure they would
have kept Trump out.

For extra credits, try building a third party that doesn’t suck. I mean, a bunch
of old dancing naked guys on the stage ain’t going to grow the libertarian party
by millions of people.

Note: music used in this episode: Tactile Freefall by Dave Kellogg.

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