Actually it's the states who pick the President. The current system is
an approach used by the various state legislatures that approximates
direct elections. However the State Legislatures pick the way Electors
are selected under the federal constitution. The USA never was a
democracy at the federal level, nor was it meant to be. The Federal
constitution does however mandate that states _must_ be representative
democracys.
Graywolf wrote:
A politician can win the popular vote, and not be elected president.
In fact it is possible that someone who was not on the ballet could
become president, though that never has happened to my knowledge.
What you really vote for is something like which party gets to appoint
the president. In fact Kerry won the last election based on popular
votes, but Bush got more electorial votes (barely). That is not
democracy!
A representive form of government does not by any means have to be a
democracy, and in no case is it a pure democracy. However, that is
pretty meaningless because no government that I have ever heard of is
exactly what that government claims to be. Even in a pure dictatorship
there is a lot of influence pedeling going on.
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
Keith Whaley wrote:
Graywolf wrote:
I think a republic does not have to be a democracy. A democracy on
the other hand pretty much has to be a republic if it is the
government of much more than a town. The way we elect the president
in the US is diffinately not a democratic process.
graywolf
Why cetainly it is, Tom!
Each person has his or her very own vote in the process. If they
deign to vote at all, that is.
Now, if you mean a one man, one vote process, where we tell the
States' representatives to go home, and each vote has the same
strength, well, that's another ball of snakes. I forget why, but my
reading tells me that is (supposed to be) so.
It would seem, intuitively, that if you dump all the levels of
interference between the person voting and the people counting all
the votes, and let each tick mark count as one vote...how better can
it be done?
keith
