The U.S. has long prided itself on being a relatively democratic system, in which the voice of the people could be raised, and also one in which the representatives of the people, for the most part were elected, and could be voted in, or out at regular intervals. We have not been bashful about offering up our system as a model for other countries to follow if they were interested in promoting the legitimacy and stability of their elected governments. Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, fewer and fewer governments seem interested in learning from our model.
Two major problems seem to plague our electoral system. The first is our doubly indirect and hence extremely non-representative method of electing our Presidents. While many voters believe that they are choosing their President in the voting booth (since only those names appear on the ballot), they are in fact, choosing one of three slates of electors, whose names are nowhere listed on the ballot. Many other countries allow their citizens to directly elect their Presidents, which at least appears more open and honest. The second major issue, which is related to the first in several areas, is electoral fraud. While existent throughout our electoral system (think campaign finance, which many governments would call bribery…) fraud appears to be concentrated in our presidential races. Just look at the 2000 elections, in which a whole series of fraudulent activities orchestrated by the future President’s brother (Jeb Bush) as Governor of Florida and the supposedly non-partisan Secretary of State of Florida, Katherine Harris (who was a paid operative of the W for president campaign) delivered that state, and hence the presidency to W. We ended up with a selected (not elected) President, huge and continuing budget deficits, and an illegal pre-emptive war in Iraq, from which we have only recently managed to mostly pull our nuts out of the fire… Though it now looks like the huge disruptions caused by our invasion (one of those famous “unintended consequences”) have empowered an unlikely group (ISIL) to tempt us back into the harms way.
Essay Question: Supposing that we really do want to someday be known as a truly democratic nation, which is mature enough to choose its own President, and not be stuck with a selected loser who can only win by cheating, how would you reform the system to make it what it is supposed to be and what it claims itself falsely to be today? (Again, you needn’t confine yourself to minor cosmetic changes. One day, this whole mess of a governmental system will be dropped in your laps. Will you have the combination of imagination and courage necessary to make our system live up to its ideals, which are indeed quite lofty and worthwhile? That may be the true test of patriotism, rather than gluing flags to one’s car’s roof, and attempting to “punish” countries that disagree with our misguided policy choices…)