Been seeing a lot about how the government passes shitty laws, lot of mass shootings and expensive asf health care. I come from a developing nation and we were always told how America is great and whatnot. Are all states is America bad ?

  • ThrowThrowThrewaway7@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The history of the Electoral College is a lot more complex than just slavery. Slavery became involved later during the 3/5th compromise which was used to determine census counts of the slave states (which determined the numbers the of representatives they were appointed).

    The electors were supposed to be elected by the people and serve as an independent committee whose sole purpose was to choose the President/VP. They were to make an independent decision using the best information possible to vote for the candidate that would most faithfully be able to carry out the administration of the laws passed by Congress. The Presidency was supposed to be a boring, somewhat administrative role.

    What the Founders failed to account for is the rise of political parties. The Presidency was never meant to be an office you ran for. It was supposed to be an appointment. That concept basically fell apart after Washington when the role political parties began to rise and coordinated campaigning truly started.

    In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned that the rise of political parties would lead to absolute chaos as the elected officials would be less focused on their jobs and become more interested in gaining power over their rivals or enacting revenge. He was right.

      • ThrowThrowThrewaway7@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Another interesting tidbit: one of the questions on the USA Naturalization Test is “What are the two political parties in the USA?”

        That should be apportant to every American. Not the fact that the question is included (it’s viral knowledge to know if you want to live here), but the fact that we’ve allowed ourselves to be trapped in this hellish system where we’re being held hostage by two overly powerful political parties. In what “free” country are we only (realistically) allowed to choose between two options?

        I imagine we’ll continue on this death-spiral until one party finally manages to “defeat” the other and we unofficially become a one-party state.