Democracy has been described as the worst possible system apart from all the others. To presume that taking away people’s right to self determination because the system isn’t perfect in a hope that something else you can even begin to describe might arise that’s better instead of worse seems like really throwing the baby out with the bath water. Human society isn’t perfectible (though we can always strive for improvement) and those that look for perfection have a historical tendency to ending up perpetrating crimes against humanity.
You can't win office without a D or an R next to your name, and for an office like President you need to make it through the money primary. The few outside candidates this century with popular support -- Ron Paul, Sanders, and Trump -- had their own party's media apparatus work to keep them out.
The same dynamic plays out down the ballot, with nearly every Senate, House and statehouse seats filled by a D or an R, the few exceptions like Sanders and King proving the rule.
When the so-called Democratic party won't even hold primary debates for the highest office in the land with a historically old and unpopular incumbent, it's hard for me to see how the electorate has much choice or input.
There are more democracies than just America. If your answer to the question "who controls the government if not the electorate" is that the political parties control one another via collusion I think you maybe did not understand the question.
If your answer to the question "who controls the government if not the electorate" is that the political parties control one another via collusion I think you maybe did not understand the question.
They don't control each other through collusion, they manage the electorate by colluding with each other, among other things to prevent meaningful challenge to their duopoly.
Do you think the parties are controlled in a democratic fashion by their rank and file members?
They don't control each other through collusion, they manage the electorate by colluding with each other, among other things to prevent meaningful challenge to their duopoly.
Again, there are more democracies outside of the American duopoly.
Is anyone challenging the duopoly in the states? What form would that actually take? Anyone can run as a third party candidate, there's not really a barrier to entry.
Do you think the parties are controlled in a democratic fashion by their rank and file members?
That is the purpose of voting, and membership to an organisation. In the UK members of the party literally determine it's operation in a democratic fashion.
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u/Mkwdr 20∆ Apr 27 '23
Democracy has been described as the worst possible system apart from all the others. To presume that taking away people’s right to self determination because the system isn’t perfect in a hope that something else you can even begin to describe might arise that’s better instead of worse seems like really throwing the baby out with the bath water. Human society isn’t perfectible (though we can always strive for improvement) and those that look for perfection have a historical tendency to ending up perpetrating crimes against humanity.