STEVEN FRIEDMAN: US system rigged in favour of the minority
Midterm elections show citizens are not confused but entrenched system ensures a predetermined outcome
The US used to claim it was bringing democracy to the world. Somehow, it never got around to bringing it to itself. Last week’s midterm elections underlined a reality that is routinely ignored: the US is not a democracy. One of the core features of a democracy is that each adult should enjoy a vote of equal value. America does not even come close. People who don’t know the US system may have been confused last week because the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives but may end up losing two or three seats in the Senate. This seemed to show voters were confused. Actually, it showed that the system is rigged. More than 55% of voters in Senate elections voted for Democrats, 43% for Republicans. In a fair system, the Republicans would have been humiliated. But in the US, a state with a population of 39-million gets the same two senators as one with half a million. This was never fair but has become grotesque: if the trend continues, not long from now 70% of the US populat...
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