This is supposed to be an educational thread (for myself and - perhaps - for others), so please no judgments or fights.

Some questions:

1) What were the benefits of the Electoral College at the time of its creation and how do these benefits still apply today?

2) California having as many senators as Wyoming: How can that be justified in modern America and do Americans care today?

3) Rearranging and reshaping congressional districts (I was looking at Illinois) with intentions to eliminate political competitions in many parts of America: Is it really that bad?

I would like to come to the conclusion that, while the situation isn't perfect, democracy standards in the US are still very high. Is that still true? I would rather have a struggling
America in the position of world leader than a freedom-denying, authoritarian China..

This post was edited by TheOnlyDenny on Jul 26 2022 04:42pm

1. Democracy is Mob Rule, the Electoral College is meant to represent what their area truly desires. Instead of a mob of people forcefully deciding what's best for everyone.

2. There are a total of 100 US senators, two from each state.

3. loophole that both sides of the two party system utilize.

If everyone's aware of the loophole in 3), how do people motivate themselves to go the election and actually vote?

Also why would, let's say, Californians accept that, in the Senate, their opinions matter as much as those coming from voters in Arkansas?

If all fails constitution superceds all. The major problem is lobbying and corruption of big institutions controlling the politicians. The people have fuck all control. They just get to vote for a panel of puppets

Keep in mind, The United States is not a Democracy. Many people, especially the media, will over advertise the word Democracy.

America is a Constitutional Republic.

As it states clear as day in the US Constitution Article 4 Section 4



It does not say Democratic form.

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Edit- No it's not referring to the political republican party. The republican party is just as bad as the democrat party, they are two sides of the same coin.



So if The People elect bad representatives, it is The People's fault.

This post was edited by Mondain on Jul 26 2022 05:38pm

Can close the thread to be honest, Mondain took care of all of it.

Nailed it.

The United States is composed of many individual states. Conceptualizing the United States as a collection of (unified) states, rather than as a singular entity, helps answer your questions.

1) The states are allocated electoral votes by population, with a minimum of 3 irrespective of population. That ensures that smaller states are provided some measure of representation, a concern for the founders given that they were revolting against unrepresentative rule. The states vote as blocs because the United States is federal, and the states retain powers not granted to the federal government. The first concern clearly applies today. The second concern applies insofar as you think there are substantial differences, culturally and socially, between the various states. For my part, that's also clearly the case.

2) For the same reasons it was justified at founding. The unification of the colonies involved allaying concerns that larger states would dominate, and oppress, their smaller neighbors. Equal representation was necessary in order to bring those smaller states on board. This also links back to #1. Can you imagine how little time politicians would spend discussing the concerns of Delaware or Wyoming if both the Senate and the Presidency were decided by raw, unweighted popular votes? They wouldn't spend a second thinking about them, let alone actually getting in a jet and making the trip.

3) Gerrymandering is a problem, especially in some of the more egregious examples, but its a hard problem to solve in a world where districts need to be redrawn to accommodate the population shifts between states and within states.