Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: www.motherjone...
Everyone seems to be talking about saving democracy this year. “American democracy, that’s what the 2024 election is all about,” Joe Biden has emphasized, painting the threat of Donald Trump’s return to power as the central issue in the 2024 campaign. “We have to prove that our model isn’t a relic of history.”
But the crisis facing American democracy is much older and deeper than Trump and it is, indeed, a relic of a very different time in US history.
In a new video companion for Mother Jones, based on my forthcoming book Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People-and the Fight to Resist It, digital producer Sam Van Pykeren explores how the US political system was created to restrain democracy, not protect it. The founders essentially placed a ticking time bomb at the heart of our political system-and this could be the year it explodes.
As Ari explains in his book, it all dates back to the birth of American democracy, when the Founding Fathers created political institutions within a system that concentrated power in the hands of an elite, propertied, white male minority. More than 200 years later, the series of compromises the founders made have increasingly vested the majority of political power in the hands of a minority of the population-a reactionary conservative white minority that is seeking to entrench and hold onto power through a wide variety of anti-democratic means.
You can pre-order Minority Rule here: us.macmillan.c...
Find the published excerpt here: www.motherjone...
#MinorityRule #AmericanDemocracy #FoundingFathers #UShistory #AriBerman #JoeBiden #DonaldTrump
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Gerrymandering and lobbying should be outlawed.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
AGREED
The People that fear Democracy “it will lead us to Mob Rule” is the typical talking point, are the same People that want the US to be Ruled by “The Mob” 🤔🤡
Lobbying? Why is trying to influence govt officials to vote a given way undemocratic? That would go against personal freedom to express opinions. Do you mean private campaign funding?
Lobbying was party of the original system the founders envisioned. You know they never intended the poor to have a vote, right?
I'm 65 years old and watched the great slide of America into this mess. Never has there been a representative government in this country. Just a lot of BS. The more I see content like this from a very young man and that of Bernie Sanders ... the more hopeful I become that the future may hold hope for a better more fair society in America. Well thought out and presented piece, when your generation stands up and says NOW THIS MUST CHANGE! Stop letting the Billionaires own and control everything! and for God sake stop worshipping them! The only way to accumulate that much is to underpay workers and over charge customers. We are only here for a brief time, so try to be a decent caring Human Being rather than live to pile up money.
Yup, and after 55 years of paying attention I have come to realize we have so many Bullsh!ters because we have so many naive ignorant suckers. Hell, most people i know still worship reagan.
I'm only a little over 60 but I observed the same trend. Back in the 1970s the USA was pretty great for all the reasons unbridled capitalism has destroyed in the meantime. Working class people got two weeks of paid vacation and wealthy people paid high marginal tax rates, college education was affordable. Now we are a nation of wage slaves and private equity mega- millionaires. Remember: The Constitution permits the federal government to spend for the General Welfare and the Supreme Court said around 1818 already in McCulluogh that there is no limit on the government's right to tax: "the power to tax is the power to destroy." So the redistributive welfare state is right there in the Constitution, staring us in the face.
We ascended steadily for two centuries. We became the standard....the ideal of what other nations only WISHED they could be. And now, the most spoiled, entitled, insulated generation in the history of the planet....thinks they know better than our Founders...and idiotic old people like yourselves are dumb and weak enough to listen to these CHILDREN? I hope you're not using your actual name or photo...you should be embarrassed...
Wow. A real history of the "founding fathers"
I’m also 65 and I have never seen such an extreme takeover by not even a party because all the good Republicans have been pushed out but by these extremists who don’t care about the American people and their welfare, there are in bed with all the dictators For one party, one rule, one military against the rest of us
The Electoral College has got to GO.
So you want to gut the constitution. Typical leftist. Ever heard of 'checks and balances'? That's what the electoral college is there for, unless you're stupid AOC who thinks its a holdover from slavery.
Gear up for Republicans version of Sharia Law.
I've been saying this ever since they tried to ban Sharia Law. They dodn't want any competition.
That's what they are attempting to do but the hell if I'm not going to fight against that every single day.
What about you? 10:06
why not leave?
They will never be able to shove that nonsense down out throats.
😂😂😂😂😂 sharia law is a lefty ideology 😂😂😂
Thank you. I’ve been seeing this for years. It’s only been since 1913 that we could vote for U.S. senators. In the 21st Century, we need to amend the constitution to get rid of the electoral college. And we need to expand the Supreme Court to 13 justices.
Some of us got to vote for US Senators in 1913. Unfortunately, after over 30+ years of actively campaigning, protesting, and raising issues around the denial of their voting rights, it wasn't until 1920 that women would be part of that voting process!
Might be able to expand the Court but no way eliminate the Electoral College.
I think that there is nothing basically wrong with the Electoral College. The problem is this winner take all system that all but two states do. The states should be required to distribute their electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote in the state. We should get rid of the electors themselves, though. That's an out of date extra step. Distribute the electoral votes and send a report to Congress. That should be all that is necessary.
We have 13 districts we need 13 judges Thomas holds two of those districts and we know who he is
@@jerometaperman7102It takes 2/3 of each house and 3/4 of the states to amend the constitution. There is a movement, sorry I don't recall the name, where states will pool their electoral votes and give them to the winner of the popular vote. This would probably be easier than amending the constitution.
I used to be a rightwinger. If you dug deeper than the surface level rhetoric, the push to overturn Roe was always about building a court that would also overturn the New Deal era decisions that make our modern way of life possible, from the EPA to minimum wages.
Our founders considered the possibility that concentrated wealth would become a threat to democracy. But they were living in an agrarian age when wealth overwhelmingly was land, so the ability for wealth to become excessively concentrated was relatively limited, though it had happened in Rome. Our constitution was already out of its depth in dealing with the industrial revolution, and has nothing to offer dealing with corporate power in the information age, let alone the coming age of AI and mass automation.
This content is so important. I am a retired teacher, and much of what you talk about I did not know. Please keep hammering Home this subject far and wide. Please go on stations like MSNBC, Meidas touch network, and other fair minded journalistic outlets.
thank you for watching and engaging! appreciate it.
No go anywhere they give you air time!
What can we do? This supreme court is out of touch with the MAJORITY!
@@BenjaminSantiago6591 Biden plan for 18 years terms for the court is a start
The Supreme Court is out of touch with the Constitution. They are not there for the majority. They are there to interpret the Constitution and assure adherence to it.
And all six of them are Catholic just saying
Supreme Court justices should be chosen by Nationwide popular vote, that would at least give some control over who gets enthroned for life. End lifetime appointments. Voters should be able to do a recall when they do a stupid unpopular or corrupt law. The supreme Court should be deciding right or wrong not interpreting the law as it pertains to the Constitution. The idea that the constitution is perfect is bull the founding fathers were not gods or prophets or seers. The supreme Court should never refuse to make a judgment it's literally their job. They are overpaid and underworked live like the ruling clas and literally ruling over and overruling the majority
USA is not a full democracy. The electoral college is WEIRD.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
That is primarily why the Republican Party of today is still viable.
The electoral college is affirmative action for Republican Presidents making them essentially DEI hires
It protects the smaller States from the total control of just the three most populous States.
@@goofusmaximus1482The College hasn't squat to do with anything but the Presidential election. Should your Party ever ammend the Constitution to remove the College, which would ensure Democrat control of White House for who knows how long, you feel the Republican Congressional Representatives would just go home? And you no issue with one Party having a lock on one Branch of our government?
The electoral college is a great example of not for the 'people'.
The electoral college is a great example of why our Republic is "for the people".
The Electoral College is outdated and keeps this "One Nation" from becoming a true Democracy.
@@imperialmotoring3789 You mean "for the rich people".
@@imperialmotoring3789 for the rich people.
@@timlinator You are impoverished?
This is the first time I've heard someone say "screw our democracy" and then proceed to agree with basically everything they said. We need serious reforms. ETA: this is not an endorsement to sit this election out. Yes our democracy is imperfect. But you don't fix your democracy by handing it over to a fascist dictator. We still need to vote. And voting 3rd party does nothing but hand your vote to the winner. Letting your country be thrown head first into full of fascism is just self defeating and irresponsible
You should have been listening to more people earlier.
So how about voting for the party that is not taking away women's rights and is not banning books and is not gerrymandering black folks out of their vote? Vote blue in November. You want a utopia, read fantasy books.
@@8ofwands300 How about not voting for a genocidal leader?
@@8ofwands300 Lol I'm not one you have to explain to. I'm very much in your camp. I'm of the mind that in order to work on our democracy we first need to not hand it over to a fascist
@@8ofwands300 I'd rather have the blue over the red, but we can definitely do better than choosing the lesser of two evils.
The electoral college should be abolished
@@barbarahering484 not if we take it over
College should be free.
and the senate.
@@robertmarken3794 you misunderstood the assignment
@@robertmarken3794I think you misread OP's comment.
Definitely going to have to check out this book. Really appreciated the way this video was broken down to make understanding accessible. Kudos to the video narrator.
❤️ thank you for watching!!
@@MotherJonesoligarch college, gerrymandering and the Senate itself the trifecta of oligarchs
I have been trying to raise awareness about minority rule for years. To blame: electoral college, immoral republican party gerrymandering, and senate 60 vote rule.
💪 thank you for your service. now hopefully you have a good resource to help explain more! and definitely check out ari's book. so much more in there about it all! thanks for watching 🙏🫶
and corporate personhood, and the Supreme Court, and voter suppression, and judicial capture...we have a lot of work to do.
@@inthehouse1960 the only issues the far right are truly stuck on are having no gun laws whatsoever, and implementing their twisted version of Christianity into policies that affect everyone. Christofascist Sharia Law. Defeat them at the ballot box!
Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today
Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Romans 6.23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
So brave
Keep educating us! Thank you ❤
Always! Thanks for watching 🫶💪
This is an oligarchy.
Eat the rich.
Every illegal must be deported.
Eat Tacos! I'm going to Taco Bell want something?
You reap what you sow. Behold your harvest.
@@Nathaniel_Peterson Obama is a billionaire.
No thanks, too many chemicals.
@@Vickjc I prefer to eat vegetarians.
I've been screaming this since I was 19 years old in 1993.
Not only the oligarch college but gerrymandering and the Senate need to go as well
Stop it. You will only get a 5150 ticket. Go take your stress pill. Besides all the mentally ill are in the Senate and HOR. There is no room in the insane asylum. Corporate government employed them all. Gotta get a beer now. I have decided to make my own and thus become a prepped prepper.
I was born in 1993, and I was screaming about it as a teenager in 2010
@@franciscoacevedo3036 My first battle cry was "Abolish the Senate" and FYI, I live in New Mexico, which benefits greatly from our disproportionate power. But it's still undemocratic.
Been screaming the same for 50 years. I guess it was worth it for people to finally begin to hear it.
I completely agree, we've feared this train wreck rolling 50 years and the tool has been separating the working class into warring factions.
Unions build solidarity between workers. White people DO favour strongest rights for people of diverse colors, because we all do better when we work together-against capitalist oppression of the people.
That’s why socialism was so vociferously fought against in the early 20th century. Socialist parties and unions were starting to consolidate a racially diverse set of people into a real power block and it scared the bejeesus out of the monied elite. So they did everything possible to encourage racists to keep that from happening. Some of the largest unions at the time were intentionally multi-racial and we started seeing poor white workers banding together with black people; and it did not last long.
Most sane and thoughtful reply I've seen on this board. 👍👍
I am in the Teamsters. You must not be in a union. I wish I wasn't forced to join the union. The union sucks balls.
@@imperialmotoring3789 I am. Sorry it hasn't been working out for you. But, unions even help to determine what people in the non-union line of work are going to make. Otherwise, the Robber Barons can just throw whatever already gnawed bones our way and call it "pay." Healthcare works that way, too.
I hope things get better for you.
JJ
@@JJLom777 "Robber Brons" Unions are robber barons. I am a TEAMSTER and I make barely above minimum wage. Unions are a scam.
All of this! Every time someone tells me that "the system is broken", i point out that America was founded by a bunch of rich white men who didn't want to pay their taxes. The system is working exactly as designed.
USA was founded by men fighting against the Monarchy (socialism), and fighting to eliminate slavery (republicans taking the democrats' slaves away).
You don't want to pay your student loan so don't lecture me sweetie.
America was founded by Climate Migrants that came here to work! I just looked it up.
Precisely! Well said!
@@RobertRodgers-r5h How was Hamas founded?
@@imperialmotoring3789 what about beluga whales
We need to get big money out of politics, end the electoral college, the Supreme Court needs to have a limit of tenure on bench. TY for the info.⚖️💙🇺🇲
We need a labor party that will take the bosses out of politics.
Exactly
@@kimobrien.
Exactly
I've had extremely politically active friends talk about this exact problem for years and it's only now that I'm starting to realize it myself, mostly thanks to Trump.
I wanted to add something interesting that doesn't get brought up enough, but I remember watching a video of some professor explaining this. When the founders were writing the Constitution, one of the contemporaneous critiques was that, in certain areas, they were not constraining the executive office enough. And there was, at the time the Constitution was written, real fear that the document itself did not protect against demagogues, who could easily work within the framework of the Constitution to amass populist power -- all of it completely legal and gained simply by gaming our government the way it was built. But rather than go back and add failsafes or clarify certain things, the founders felt that the fears would not actually be substantiated because they really did not believe a populist movement could have sway in American politics. Because they were living in the 18th century, they never imagined that a single person would be able to reach such a broad audience and also have their message broadcast 24/7. They also felt that the people who were actually choosing the men who would go into power would be smart enough to not fall prey to demagogues. They never had a crystal ball so I don't suspect they would have ever thought about it, but it's fascinating to me that they were also completely disinterested in preventing America potentially falling into some sort of a dictatorship. They just figured it was never going to happen and that a lot of the things that they had written were good enough basically. And for the past 250 years, the country has pretty much run on this belief that they were geniuses who had this perfect image in their mind of what needed to be to build this perfect country. But so much of what makes our government run is really just handshake agreements and gentlemanly conduct. It was inevitable that we would get to this point, is what I'm saying. Not once did somebody stop and say that we should amend the Constitution to clarify things, plug up some holes, etc. We all just figured this would never happen. But it did and now we're dealing with it.
Hannah Arendt, who watched and documented the rise of Fascism reminds us “We can change the World”, toppling people off their pedestals is all well and good but having a plan for cleaning up the mess is the way to better conditions and lives for everyone.
If you know Atlas Shrugged, the productive minority had enough, prepared, & then disappeared ... it was majority of society that failed.
@@doodad77 Atlas Shrugged was fiction by a writer who did not live her philosophy in the least. And I would also like to point out that “ the productive” minority, or let’s call it oligarchy, is not and cannot be productive without the labor from the rest of us.
Destroying works of art and history is childish, and at the best, Marxist. Do better.
@@doodad77we are not selfish enough. Thanks SS collector ayn rand. Geez
@@liesesadler5295Even Lincoln said that Labor came before Capital.
This is the first time I've come to recognize that we need to jettison our current governing arrangements and set up a proportionally representative parliamentary democracy. Every other country that has copied our constitution for their own governing arrangements have fallen to tyrants.
And we are far behind the conservatives in this task too. They are a few states shy of being able to call an Article V constitutional convention that would rewrite the constitution so that _they_ can jettison our current governing arrangements in favor of openly authoritarian minority rule.
You want us to fail like other nations? Plese do not come to the USA.
Parliamentary government would be an improvement, but if we're going to do a revolution, we might as well build a radical direct democracy. PR parliamentary governments are also behind the times in terms of where we should have progressed to
I agree with the parliamentary government plan, but it would take a Constitutional Convention and getting the timing on that right is tricky as fogk, but maybe with the whole Project 2025 thing the time has come to throw down on all the structural inequality issues!
Fascinating video and take, thank you.
thanks for watching! glad you enjoyed it.
AGREE
This is like “School House Rock” for adults!
Best compliment!! Thank you 🙏 ❤
I agree with you completely. Whenever someone tells me what's the founding fathers wanted; I always reply that the founding fathers also never intended for women, African-Americans, anyone without property or native Americans to have the right to vote or sit on the federal bench.
Is that why Senator Warren is not on the bench?
Key to add, propertied, or kind of well off white men, say top %25 of wage earners, 25% could vote in 1776. Kind of like earning $100,000 today, top 25% wage earners today. And probably higher as owning land may be a bit more difficult today. Say today you'd have earn around $150,000 to be able to vote?.
A little context would help with the start of the discussion, the American Declaration of Independence was at its time a radical concept and action, the US Constitution was a series of compromises with slave holding states and just the concept of having states was never seen before. A lot of the powerful monarchies were just waiting to see it all fall apart.
Our constitution has been amended and reformed to make it better and we today have to continue making our country better. So my hope is that the people making this vid production get busy with part 2- how people can bring more equality, fairness and justice to our constitution and civic life. The first step is to be an informed voter - even school board positions and similar are being used by the minority to change your local government. Second get involved with your local and state government or encourage young people to be involved. We need those voices, thought and perspectives.
For more nuanced information on our history and how to change our world I listen to Jill Lepore, Heather Cox Richardson, Ken Burns has had some good vids. There’s more I’m sure and maybe people could listen their resources too.
"The first step is to be an informed voter" and yet the entire country is being baragged with propaganda saying that all you need is job training so forget about higher education. We don't want no damned informed voters!
@@bryanemmel6516 higher Ed isn’t the only answer, after all many people behind Trump and the attempted coup were elite school grads. My grandmother was a high school grad but continued to read and educated herself. I’ve learnt more on my own than in a class. My in- laws were blue collar and very intelligent both mentally and emotionally, but my mother with her doctorate is a Trumper.
One thing nobody mentioned was the filibuster. This procedure blocks bills from even coming up for a vote unless they have a 2/3 majority.
What the founders wanted - and expected- was that we the future generations would be MORE INCLUSIVE and more fair - Better.
Read their stuff_ their letters, not just the founding documents. The Federalists ( Hamilton, Madison) were very scared of the "Great Beast" (the People) but others among them were absolutely devoted to the idea that we'd become a country of free mostly self governing farming communities. With NO official religion.
"future generations would be MORE INCLUSIVE and more fair" Here is you attempt to modernize history and tell if from a WOKE position. Merely because they used grandiose language in the late 18th Century, doesn't mean they projected anything over 200 years into the future.
@@bryanemmel6516
You completely misunderstood me. One can't modernize history. It is still history. I was giving a hint into some of their thinking. Read the original sources. It is fascinating. This was the era of the international political social and scientific etc .theory known as Enlightenment and the Founders were neck deep in it.
*I don't think they projected that far either. But they were optimists.* They thought several of the problems, like slavery, the obvious one, was a problem of colonialism and would go away, be replaced by small farms. They thought most free men would earn the right to vote very soon.
They were wrong about a lot of their assumptions about what would happen and how soon and HOW, they started the American bad habit of trying to solve problems with just money and technology, unevenly applied.
They were not "woke" nor were they anti -"woke" the concept did not exist!
I have no idea whether I am "woke" because it is up to a POC who knows me personally to decide if I am or not. Not someone in YT comments- no offence, but I do not know you. - If I got called woke by such a friend or acquaintance I would accept the compliment.
And BTW that language was not grandiose at the time, simply how one wrote.
Please don’t think you’re the first generation to realize this! I’m an old hippie…what years of observation has taught me is…some of my then “ elders” were right in that, while we protested, the route to change was to diligently and unwaveringly work for change from within the system. The only leverage with any sanity and chance of success is slow, pragmatic and patient long term and incremental system change through legislative and judicial modification. Here’s the sad part…the majority on the left side, became complacent and inattentive, slid into a naive comfort that rights and precedents, once done were written in stone. Meanwhile…the right side f the spectrum slowly, methodically and patiently laid the groundwork for today’s power moves. THEY indeed did use the “ system “ to usurp, and/or dismantle every “ check and balance” we more naive citizens thought would save a system that in the first place was not entirely in our best interests. We are, however at a crossroads, wherein we might leverage what little power we can ring out…then face the very difficult reality of evolving to a revised abandoned updated version that actually represents and does not rule its citizens.
Where do you live? You talk like everyone been knowing this and not worshiping the ghost of Ronnie Ray Gun for the last 40 years. I've been trying to get the attention of Gen X since New Jack Swing but apathy is like heroin for my generation. Meanwhile every boomer called me a lazy commie who didn't want to work. My grandfathers both fought WWII just so the US brass could import fascists to the US, back to the place of it's birth. Gen Z might be the fist generation to actually *DO* something about this mess that the rest of us acknowledge but do nothing about. Don't you sneer at them
I would add that the Me Generation (original boomer moniker) and subsequent generations (including disenfranchised groups such as racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ) became enthralled and satisfied with “identity politics”. New paint, new drapes on the same old corrupt systems, celebrated as progress.
A prime example is H.Clinton proving she could be just as cynical and corrupt as a male politician. Yay women?
Conflating the skin color and gender of the exploiters with the motivation for exploitation, has kept many exploited white men and women from fully engaging in the fight for change.
Unfortunately, some in the new generation are falling into the same trap, promoting race segregation on campus and “no whites” (BIPOC ONLY) public events. Your opponents love you for this. Your opponents have wealth and power, your opponents come from many races and vary in sex, gender and sexuality.
The first movement that unites poor whites (the majority of impoverished people in the US) with other exploited and disenfranchised people might have a chance to effect real reform.
I agree. Deport every illegal.
Yes! Beware a politician that tells you what you want to hear. They will screw you behind your back.
@@BardovBacchusi too get the vibe theyre not going to put up with it
We have to get over this hump and then reform. Vote Biden.
unless you live in a consistently blue state. If that's the case, vote third party
@cement_eater There are no facts that support your view. Third parties have failed us because they keep repeating the same mistake decade after decade, running in a presidential race they have no possibility of winning. All this time, they could have worked for things like ranked choice voting and getting rid of the electoral college. They could have run for local, state, and congressional seats that were winnable to build political power and recognition. It’s time to acknowledge they will make zero difference until they change and develop strategy that works.
Also, with the Republicans engaging in massive voter suppression, no one should take anything for granted. Marc Elias of Democracy Docket and Greg Palast are good sources of information about what is going on with voting and elections. They’re worth checking out.
throw the baby out with the bath water, huh?
first things first:
defeat the Fascist Theocracy under authoritarian rule, *then* We The People FIX the system
If we dont do the first, the second is impossible and the USA will fall like every other empire in human history.
Its that bad and its a binary choice.
@@cement_eatercomment was a reply to you
lol except youtube's reichwing AI deletes fact and truth when it goes against the phashists
If anyone here in the US truly stops and thinks about how "free" we are, they would realize that we aren't nearly as free as some (most) or our allies. We dont have ubiversal healthcare guaranteed time off, gun control, we sure as hell don't have an election process wherein the popular vote wins. Yes, things need to change, but how?
Vote in progressives. There's people on the Democrat side that see the inherent problems in our system but need more allies to change it. We're actually making decent strides in terms of the electoral college. Republicans are gonna fight tooth and nail to never give it up so we have to outnumber them in every branch of government
@@AuntieMamies There’s people on the Republican side who see the same inherent problems. Does California not have a very high homeless crisis right now?
@@wtfdidijustwatch1017 California and progressive are not necessarily one and the same. California is very expensive. But they also just raised the minimum age for food workers to $20 an hour and that could help. The housing market isn't a partisan problem. That's a capitalism problem. Not that capitalism is a terrible model but the way we do it is horrible. There is not one Republican that doesn't work solely for the rich. You actually get some of those on the Dem side. Not all, but some. When Dems wanted to expand the child tax credit the only way they could get Reps on board with that was to reduce taxes for the rich.
Those aren’t freedoms, those are protections and entitlements. You may still want them but it’s purely rhetorical to say people are ‘less free’ living in a society that doesn’t have them.
The first chief justice of the supreme court said the people who own the country should be the ones to govern it. Since then every supreme court except one has favored wealth over people. The sole exception was the Warren Court. It gave us Brown versus Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and several more.
We all saw the writing on the wall a while back regarding changing demographics leading to a more diverse electorate. People on the left watched this with complacent enthusiasm, supposing that when we get the votes we’ll also get the power to effect transformational change.
What we didn’t realize - but had better understand now - is that if elections lead to a loss of power for the elites they will do everything to undermine elections. This is why the party that has always billed itself as the US’ most patriotic cheerleaders is now insisting to the world that our elections can’t be trusted, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Now any loss at the ballot box won’t be attributed to the majority of Americans wanting more progressive policies, it’ll be attributed to “our broken elections”. The minority of Americans who believe this narrative will be encouraged to be armed, and eventually to turn to violence to protest losing their power.
This is where we on the left need to be very careful. Because the violent activity will come from the right, and we’ll be glad to see government crack downs on these deluded fools, but the crackdowns will be the point. Just as GWB reached ~90% approval after 9/11 and implemented the Patriot Act, illegal wiretaps, and a disastrous war with very little pushback, so will conservatives lied to and goaded into violence be the perfect pretext for government to exert more control over all of us.
We need to be vigilant NOW against the message that elections can’t be trusted, that immigrants are voting illegally, etc. The media needs to do all they can to correct the barrage of lies and misinformation about elections that will be heading our way constantly from now on.
Excellent reply 👍
Very good, nicely explained. An informative tour through the process of how we lost our national mind.
Honestly though it is not just "elites"- it is certain money elites and certain technology elites aiming for a political class they can control, thereby controlling the rest of us.
Not really government doing the controlling in that case.---well it won't be government that works for us, will it?
I can't deny I feel as if it is high time the wing nuts learned how we were treated, but it would be better to prevent all of that by being watchful, fighting disinformation, making SURE elections AND THE VOTE COUNT can be trusted and busting up these institutional barriers to democracy ie NOT getting complacent again.
It's a rule of a tiny very rich minority or if you will an oligarchy.
I won't.
Im VOTING BLUE 💙, so that I can vote again, I'm Voting 💙 BLUE for my DAUGHTER'S RIGHTS, I'm voting 💙 BLUE for healing NOT Hate!
@@KittyS-gg5gd Obama let men into women's bathrooms...tell me how safe your kids are now?
I agree completely with your thinking here!
We really need a new constitution!
I kind of like the idea of a smaller “upper” house of a bi-cameral legislature which is smaller than the “unwashed masses” of the large, unruly House. But instead of dividing the larger chamber among the states, maybe make it simply divided into a number of seats, like maybe fifty, which are divided on the basis of population without regard to state lines and whose members serve one twelve year term only, subject to impeachment.
The lower legislative chamber should have maybe 500 members, again divided into districts with near-equal numbers of voters, who can serve no more than three or four terms, also subject to impeachment.
The fifteen Supreme Court justices should also be elected by districts for a single terms of perhaps 16 years, subject to impeachment. Let the justices choose their own Chief. The currently serving ones could rotate off in their turn based on how long too long they have already served. They should be governed by the same rules adopted as the rules of professional conduct by the American Bar Association now in effect for all federal judges for recusal from cases and for reporting financial and personal misconduct. And put some teeth in those rules.
The American presidency, I think, works pretty as long as the President isn’t a fascist, so I would leave that alone.
The real hitch in our current constitution is that it is inherently undemocratic UNLESS it is explicitly designed and defined as being ruled by One Person, One Vote!
Democracy is the best system. Biden’s current campaign about American democracy is fine in my opinion, because it doesn’t rely of the bullshit current supreme court’s “original intent” doctrine which freezes the meaning of the constitution into the warped right wing vision of 18th century horse-and-buggy “old white men” mentality rather than 21st century pluralistic values.
At last, someone with ideas. Thank you.
Now, the supreme court are justices, not politicians. You should not even need to know their political affiliation. Same for sherrifs, they are police, not politicians. You don't need to know which party your doctor or pilot is, do you ?
Next, you need more than two big parties, which means you need proportional representation instead of FPTP. Not a single party should ever be able to get a majority - they need to collaborate.
... For more ideas, just look abroad, for once 😊
Electoral College 💩
Socialism 💩
@@imperialmotoring3789oligarch college is crap the Senate should be abolished entirely same with gerrymandering no oligarchs, colleges or non one person one vote ideologies
The senate is worse.
This video is frighteningly uninformed and plays very fast and loose with the facts and it’s points.
The main point is that the founding fathers set up the country for minority rule by making it so that only certain groups could vote and that they were “scared of democracy.” But this isn’t at all the case.
The founders expressly directed the right to vote to individual states. In other words, rather than restrict it to the minority at the top: the Fed. They passed it down to the next, more expansive, more democratic rung in the latter.
This is why we have states like Vermont who, at its founding in the 1700s extends the right to vote to all men regardless of color property ownership. New Jersey, which allows black men to vote.
Or states like Kentucky, who in the 1800s who extend the right to women well before the 19th amendment.
Beyond that, it speaks volumes about the inauthenticity of the point this video is trying to make that on one hand to suggest that the founder’s (of which Madison was one) wrote the constitution to enshrine inequality and then just 3 minutes later suggest that “Madison would be shocked by the level of inequality today.” Oh really? I was one of the founders, I thought he was supposed to be FOR inequality and minority rule. Something isn’t adding up. 🤔
Am I surprised that guy in basically a leftist version of a MAGA hat gave a one sided misleading take on American Democracy that paints the picture of an evil 1% controlling elite because they were scared of “some revolution.” No, not at all.
The founders didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree you guys. Stop expecting them to be perfect. They had to democratically wrestle with the undemocratic values of their time. The fact that our constitution has been around for so long AND has been able to allow unimaginable progress during its lifetime is a testament to how valuable American democracy is.
The court was never supposed to be Democratic, it’s just not supposed to be politicized. Jesus the twisting of reality to bend it to the rhetorical points of this video is unreal.
This accelerationist “American democracy” bad and including dog whistles to “revolution” as if it would get us closer to democracy (because the “antidemocratic” founders were trying to protect themselves from it) is actually unhinged and dangerous.
We can call out gerrymandering and voter suppression without any of that. It’s unnecessary.
The overarching point seems to just be: there are currently some minor anti-Democratic aspects of American democracy (okay, yes, it’s a representative democracy so that checks out) and they are being exploited in anti democratic ways that actually really have nothing to do with the founders or the constitution.
The Weimar Republican was the most Democratic time in Germany’s history. They had proportional representation making it arguably more democratic than voting in America, yet just 12 years later the got Hitler.
Y’all are so married to your assumptions (capitalism, representative democracy, America in general all = bad) that it seems to completely blind you from contradiction and contrary evidence against your points. There has never been a constitution which has protected democracy from authoritarians for longer than the American one. That’s just a historical fact.
Super disappointed in the this one mother Jones. I didn’t realize y’all were just making accelerationist propaganda now.
Ari can’t even decide if his point is “founding fathers were bad” or “current day Republicans are bad” so ends up a confusing wash of the two. Republicans are expressly trying to thwart the constitution Ari, you have to pick one.
I research political psychology at an actual academic institution and it’s no wonder I haven’t heard of this guy before. His points aren’t thought out enough to be taken seriously.
Let's get rid of the electoral college
Someday I hope we do but I'm not holding my breath.
YES
Other democracies may be better designed in the way Tokyo is better designed than LA. They were built from the ground up later in the learning curve.
By the USA.
Lack of democracy in the United States system of government is not a shortcoming.
Undemocratic white minority rule was the objective of the founding fathers...and they were successful.
Two hundred years later we have an undemocratic government with the real power concentrated in the hands of white minorities.
It’s so simple to have everyone’s vote count equally, that’s the most basic tenant of democracy right? That there are still people advocating for the electoral college is insane to me 🥴
That’s because they are more interested in keeping power for themselves or their patrons than in “democracy” as an ideal.
I asked myself if millions of people could be corrupt together. Not just a single Wall Street crook, but millions of people collectively saying being the bad guy is a good thing. Of course it happens through out history, Its just weird to realize it.
An imperfect democracy is better than NO democracy.
That sounds like you want to preserve the status quo. Or maybe you're just too lazy to try to make things better.
That doesn't erase that Democracy is corrupted over and over again.
Imperfect is not the same as disfunctional.
agree, constitution has to be a living guiding document, society and life have changed significantly, forcing the original is forcing us to go back, artificially imposed for self interest. Supreme court originalists return to the original of the constitution, ignoring any adaptation/ adjustment for the new society, new technology, new economy…and new people. We need governing people who like diversity and real democracy for harmonious cohabiting
Please lose the music: in no way does it aid the important message.
The easiest way to get reform, at least in the House, is to change electoral systems, which are controlled by the states. The more states that bring in voting systems that support multiparty representation, like ranked choice or proportional representation, the better.
First-past-the-post voting rewards pluralities (also called minorities) and punishes participation (for fear of vote-splitting). It is a terrible, unfair system that takes away fair representation even before votes are cast.
Don't forget about ranked choice voting.
Australia only has ranked choice voting because there was a time when the conservatives had a split vote while the labor movement had just organised a massive party to represent itself.
No-one else will get ranked choice voting unless they keep demanding it until they get it.
When you have ranked choice voting, you can vote for the candiate you really want, without throwing your vote away.
Imagine going to an election and voting for the best candidate on the ballot.
Bernie would have swept that year he ran. Nobody liked Trump nor Hillary but polls showed he had a 60% favorability with voters while those other two were somewhere in the low 40’s.
I’m going to do that this year regardless. The idea that I’m throwing the election with my one vote which doesn’t actually count because the popular vote tally is just a pacifier so we don’t get the pitchforks. Screw both sides, they don’t represent me. Probably don’t represent you either…
@klingonsexydo you have some link or reference for what you’re saying?
This is a very good argument.
We already knew this but it needs to be told much more often. Thanks for this video
The Founders did put in the Bill of Rights. What country in the world at that time was more democratic? We have evolved, it's never going to be perfect. It can always get worse.
Took a lot of wrangling, and COMPROMISES. And many were certain if they could keep the sham running long enough to get a few more coins they could just take their share and set up kingdoms of their own. Musk wishes he had the visceral control wealthy had back then. Rich meant you were closer to god, someone to be followed and directly obeyed. You took your hat off when you spoke to rich people, not memed them and their shitty cars. AND YES IT CAN AND VERY WELL MAY GET MUCH, MUCH WORSE. People think progress is a physical thing like a rock. Even with a Space Station, the internet, jets, meds. America and the world could revert to Serfs and Lords or worse.
Not a lot different from hare in UK. Where your vote only counts if you live in a marginal constituency..
Facts
Minority rule will only end when the Majority decides to stamp it out and yes… that will come at a steep price 🤷🏻♀️
Its ridiculous that states with hardly any people get 2 Senators.
No no Vance said it was childless cat women ruling us!!
We need a " million man" March and settle to Wyoming to balance out and increase our power. The state is there waiting for a tiny percentage of US to move in and claim 2 Senate seats.
I'm liking the way you think.
@@tarajoyce3598 We need to start thinking with our heads instead of our emotions. How do you think this whole system got set up like this It's because these people were willing to go up there settle and claim the land in that case take it away from native people but now that the taking has been done wouldn't it make sense for us to move up there get the political power start returning land to the native people and sharing those Senate seats? The way that we look at things is all ass backwards because we're all too lazy and want to stay comfortable while we bitch about America when we can take it over by just being a little bit less comfortable and dealing with some harsh winters that are getting milder because of climate change.
yup, piece of paper, that apparently only elite judiciary decides how to read.
We have the oldest, most difficult-to-amend constitution on the planet. If we want to fix democracy in America, it won’t happen unless we replace the constitution with a truly democratic one.
Ok notsee
@@sayulitalyfe5299This notion is literally the opposite of nazism.
We also must incorporate technology into our constitution with added amendments ..
It’s unconscionable that we are using a document that was written 200 years before the ink pen was invented, and it was designed to be a LIVING DOCUMENT.
Are you in the Taliban?
@@fromeveryting29 No, he is literally endorsing Nazism being against our great Constitution. I will defend the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic.
Most of us are not idiot or idolize democracy” what happens is that at this moment and time their is nothing better, but if we keep this system we all have a chance to improve on it, humans will never be perfect but we can aspire to be better for all
“The rule of the people will always be incompatible with the rule of the rich.”
-Astra Taylor
5:45 "Over an dover, an... dover again"
Thank you. I needed this explained. Now…I must read the look.
Please do! The link to pre order is in the description if you need it. Thanks for watching 🙏❤️
5:11 “over time it’s become biased”? That’s the way it was designed from the beginning, only originally it wasn’t about small versus large (population) states but pro-slavery versus abolitionist states. See: the Connecticut (“Great”) Compromise of 1787 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
But to be fair to (most of) the founders, if they hadn’t compromised in 1787 we might not have a United States today. The 1820 compromise on the other hand merely postponed the inevitable conflict. It’s worth noting that the greatest advancements in changes to the Constitution occurred after the Civil War, when practically all congressmen who were on the Confederate side were ousted from Congress.
Great, incisive, intelligent, clear minded video, excellent work. More like this please!!! 😊
The US is an oligarchy with meager democratic features, and it's been that way (according to Professor Larry Lessig) at least as far back as Boss Tweed, circa 1860.
_Behind The Bastards_ notes how industrialists were sore about even FDR's New Deal (the people were living in cardboard and stacked paint cans, and eating flour paste and dying of malnutrition, and people were _very_ interested in what Lenin had been doing over in USSR). Hoover and his industrialist pals were more interested in what the Austrian fellow was doing, and took to the ministry James W. Fifield Jr. starting a post-war propaganda campaign linking Christianity to American patriotism and anti-communism, shaping USSR as a foreign threat.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, in her book _Jesus and John Wayne_ notes how Jerry Falwell, freshly sore regarding the decriminalization of interracial marriage and the beginnings of school integration, formed the _Moral Majority_ creating a voting bloc that fixated on criminalizing abortion (it was the one issue that drove the most passion among the community. The Evangelist ministries picked it up based on its motivational power), this figured into Reagan's 1980 landslide, which is the same period that lobbies regained access to Washington, essentially decriminalizing bribery.
From there, it was super clear the US was headed for one-party autocracy. Of note, the OG Conservatives who attest to not being MAGA knew even in the 1970s they were laying the rails and buying the ticket to Trump-flavored one-party autocracy. So when they tell you they're not that kind of Republican, remember they still believe in policy that brings us to Dictatorship City, they just wish it was still a few hundred miles away.
Retired CIA analysts interviewed on PBS have stated that all the conditions that typically lead a state to civil war are present in the US as it is. In other instances, restoration of power back to the public correlates with pulling back from the brink. But it is very difficult to do that. Biden's push to restore accountability to the executive and to create an enforceable ethics policy for SCOTUS (including generous term limits of eighteen years) is a small first step but far from enough, and we can't even be sure these will be enacted decades from now.
So _if_ Harris is elected, _and_ we are able secure a legislature willing to pass mass reforms, _and_ we get a mandate from the public to massively reform elections so that the public has significant power, (some emergency-enacted social safety nets much like the _New Deal_ or the _Green New Deal_ would provide some relief), then we may be able to dodge civil war and may be able to address the early stages of a US holocaust. (Take a look at our prison system and deportation system if you have an iron stomach for it. It compares to the early stages of the German Reich's effort to address _The Jewish Problem._ )
Currently the path of least resistance shows that we may resist transition to one-party autocracy for a term or two longer at most. DHS analysts have warned the US national security state and police state are not prepared to respond for an expanded coup d'etat or a civil war triggered by Trump's electoral defeat. I can't speak to the efforts by the Trump campaign to engage in voter intimidation or violence to change the election, or to procedural coup d'etat efforts. So resistance may be triggered just by the brutality of law enforcement enforcing Trump's new regime (e.g. executing pregnant women, massacring labor unions on strike, razing minority neighborhoods). However bad you imagine it will be, it'll be worse.
And they're trying to sue Mother Jones out of existence.
Oligarchy/Authoritarian leaning Conservative Billionaires ?
@@CyberspacedLoner Yes,
Gee, that’s sounds like cancel culture.
Please consider not using background music. Here's why. If we have someone on the spectrum, it's very distracting. If we have someone listening to the video speeded up (or slowed down), it's very distorted. If someone who speaks English as a second language is listening, the background music is just an extra cognitive load. It just isn't necessary. Please consider eliminating the background noise. Thank you.
Never forget it was majority rule that gave the wrong minority ultimate rule. Majority rule sometimes gets it right, but more often than not majority rule gets it completely wrong, especially from an absolute moralist and absolute truth perspective.
Florida is a perfect view for gerrymandering Rethuglicans policies. Thy need to go. Vote Blue 💙💙💙💙💙💙
Not helpful at this precise time. What do you suggest? Throw out the baby with the water and just let Felon One and the Heritage Foundation with the billionaire funders win??
That's what the Supreme Court 5-4 or 6-3 could very well be about to do. They'll have the formalities of oral arguments and then they'll decide. If they rule that he's immune to all criminal prosecution both federal and state then basically he has a free shot at winning this November.
@@EdwardM-t8p If they rule that we have a rogue court, for starters. And two, this moron is going to lose by ten points.
@@EdwardM-t8p Not really. The SCOTUS can't make him win my vote...
Defendant One and the HC and the Christian NatCs would defend the EC and the underrepresentation to the hilt, and that is why getting these things on the table now is good.
@@eric2500 Felon One is going to lose this election, thankfully, also Florida in my opinion, so a landslide. Which makes this gaslighting attempt of democracy at home academic at this point.
For the longest time our system appeared to be evolving equality for all. The Civil War in the end did accomplish that. This video is helpful in explaining what the original vision was; sadly actual changes have been slow in coming so that we are now left in a crisis putting us in a crisis calling for a process to create a purer form of Democracy; the difficulty is how do we do this without making a mistake we don’t catch. We’re at a fearful crossroads. What are we blind to in our efforts to correct; democracy is always vulnerable; no way to do it without that risk. Is it possible? Hope the book provides depth in understanding the challenges of the evolution of our democracy without laying the groundwork for tyranny.
That's a utterly useless system that's not fit for purpose. It needs complete overhaul and reform.
You might be the useless part of the system.
@@imperialmotoring3789how do you know that I might be the uesless part of the system. You might or could be the uesless part of the system ! Your self.
@@barriewright2857 Of the USA system? No I'm cool with it and fully support it. You have the problem, not me!
God Bless America Deport EVERY Illegal!
@@imperialmotoring3789what are you 12?
@@avinashreji60 Which stripe on the pride flag are you hon?
Background task: support NPVIC National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in your state to give popular vote winner Electoral College votes, neutralize stupid EC
Keep NOT voting. It helps foster corruption and undermining what our country should be. About 70% of Americans fail to vote in elections at the lower level and we are lucky if 50% prioritize voting at the presidential level over taking their kids to soccer practice. If you want reform (I sure do!), then vote, vote, vote. And communicate no matter w hat firewalls the 20 something interns in our congresspersons' office throw out. Keep emailing and calling. And VOTE!!!
OK, I will. Thanks for your approval.
Exactly!! It’s 200 years later and what “they” wanted back then just doesn’t match or fit who we are NOW. Vote Blue!!🪣💩🕳
Sanders has had the answers for decades.
Who’d you vote for?
04/12/24 Bernie Sanders , introduced as best speaker, best awareness brought…
At Harvard Kennedy School Discussing Oligarchy
People want change. The question is: What kind of change will it be? Will it be a change dominated by the wealthy and the powerful? Or will it be a change that creates a more just and democratic society, based on solidarity and compassion?
At Harvard Kennedy School Discussing Oligarchy - UA-cam
I love Bernie. Voted for him every time!
By the time MY state primary rolled around, Sanders had endorsed Biden. So had Warren.
Now they have endorsed Harris.
Both of these Senators went back to the Senate to push the Progressive Agenda without missing a beat. They play smart politics and have made many gains toward the just and democratic society. They don't quit!
Excellent information which is not allowed to be taught in school. Also not taught is that the Constitution was correctly rejected by each colony until the Bill of Rights was added. I have never heard of this background history.
Freedom and Liberty are, and have always been, marketing terms. Your independence may vary
If you want a very clear understanding of our nation, read Colin Woodard’s book “American nations..” To say we live in an imperfect union is a understatement.
Silence IS complicity!!
I always thought the electoral vote made no sense! What pick the States with the most people per citys! I never understood it. The win should be by popular vote end of story!!!!
I've always said; like those slave owners were psychic.
I've know all these things for fifty years only now is it being talked about. I hope Taylor Swift watches this and takes action publicly.
I would argue some of this. Here is why.
Separation of three branches. Separation of State.
Able to make amendments a couple of different ways.
I think for the time, how conservative it may seem, it was progressive away from the king although it still had feudalism within it.
What took feudalism down was more progressive ideas through democracy. Amendments and rights.. through laws and courts.
Yes, key is getting big money and corporations out of our government!
💙🔷💙🔷💙🔷💙🔷💙🔷
Best video on American civics I’ve seen on the internet. Amazing job 👍🏾
Wow, thanks! Appreciate that. 💪🙏
I wanted to like this video for the topic, but the channel needs to have a better speaker. His voice is both weak and irritating. With the help of a public speaking class, or a speech therapist, he could become better. And! Before anyone attacks me by claiming he has a "gay voice" so his method of speech is "excusable" because "he can't do anything about it"... I happily call "BS" to that because I myself am gay and do NOT speak that way. So! His orientation is not the basis of my complaint. ;)
As Bernie Sanders said, "There should be NO billionaires!" -- To reclaim our democracy, we must tax wealth AT LEAST at 100% over $500,000,000 and income at 99% over $5 million. If that doesn't work, we must give all workers the ownership of the means of production. - Smaller steps until we can accomplish that - Take ALL money out of politics. ---- Trash the Senate and the electoral college. - Until we can make these needed changes we will continue to have outrageous situations like: We know by three main ways that Bernie Sanders and the people were cheated out of the 2016 Democratic Primary, and thus, the presidency.
1 - The WikiLeaks e-mails exposing all the sordid, corrupt collusion between the DNC, the Hillary campaign and the corporate media, to cheat against Sanders.
2 - The firing of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz as a scapegoat for the scandal.
3 - The tell-all book by subsequent DNC Chair Donna Brazile that described the depths of the corruption and the collusion with the corporate media against Sanders. -- He was cheated out of the 2020 Democratic primary in much the same way.
Yes, billionaires are quite overrated.
$5 MILLION?! You think greedy capitalists should be able to soak the public for FIVE MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR?
Anything over $35,000 is absolutely shameful. Marx is rolling around in his grave.
So you voted against H in 2016 then as a protest vote?
@@cyberGEK -- Right, mostly because I live in a 'safe' state that was going to Hillary, no matter what I did. I voted for Jill Stein. If it had been a critical state, I probably would have voted for Clinton because that was Bernie's recommendation. There is no one I trust more.
@@nunyastinkinbusiness - They have no place in a true democracy. Does it sadden you they might have to get by on just being worth $500,000,000?
I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of a document being written in stone and too sacred to ever be questioned. In England, they speak in almost a religious adoration of the Magna Carta ……signed in 1215 and then largely ignored until 1640. It makes some reasonable points but was never about universal suffrage. It was about the aristocracy not accepting interference in what they were doing from the crown. In 1776: the concerns of the American Colonists, who were British subjects, have little relevance to the USA of today but the process required to make even minor amendments to it make it almost impossible to achieve. I like some of the European and Scandinavian democracies where their Constitutions are regularly reviewed and updated. My point is, some traditions and procedures are important, they’re not sacred. Written text and laws are written for the guidance of wise people and the blind obedience of fools.
Excellent job
thank you 🙏 appreciate the watch.
While I agree with some of what you say, you conveniently left out a lot that cuts against your thesis. The ability to amend our Constitution, for instance, that has since enfranchised both women and black people to vote. If the groups that are in the majority would work to understand issues and got out to vote, we wouldn’t be in a place where Trump would have a shred of a chance. It is especially incumbent when the minority is trying to deny your right to vote, that you ensure you exercise it.
There are certainly changes that need to be made, especially in the Supreme Court, the Senate is only half of our legislative branch. You conveniently left out the more democratic House of Representatives. Of course, with the problematic SCOTUS ruling regarding the Voting Rights Act (another product of our democracy that you fail to mention, btw), gerrymandering of districts has been on overdrive mostly in anti-democratic Republican states.
However, the Senate was conceived of as a way to avoid the tyranny of the majority. If you were in a small colony and asked to ratify the Constitution that did not provide for a way for your state’s voice to be heard, why would you ratify it? The biggest problem I see with the Senate is its rules (self imposed), regarding the filibuster, which requires a 60 vote majority to override. Over time, this has led to a lot of progress being stymied. Another is whatever rule that allows one senator to block appointments, as Tommy Tubberville from Alabama being able to hold up any senior military appointments for a long time. In other words, I think our bicameral legislature is necessary, but the rules they chose to govern by are, indeed, anti-democratic.
Good topic. I agree that a large majority of whites (I’m a 63 yo white man, btw) have been trying for years to ensure their continued rule in the face of changing demographics, which has led to the crisis we are currently in. While progress has been slow, and backslides have been many, to fix it requires an educated and engaged electorate. Unfortunately, while those, like me, are educated and see what the stakes are long before they happen (like the importance of which presidential candidate gets to pick Supreme Court justices, many only wake up when we got the Dobbs decision. All I can say (and where I agree with you the most), is that people who care about their freedoms and rights need to wake up, vote, and not go back to sleep! Thanks, and sorry for the rant.
The problem is that each camp, both left and right, are having the same one-sided discussion. These orgies of mutual paranoid accusations of political dominion against our rivals is EXTREMELY dangerous. The sentiment on both sides is "WE need to take control from THEM because THEY are dangerous." I mean this is the kind of stuff that led to WWII, right? This mutual projection of hostility is guaranteed to end badly.
The only reason that both sides, as you claim, are wanting to control the other "bad" side is that Republicans realized the Democrats' calling them out on truth could hurt them, so they glommed onto the same argument against Democrats, just as they had been for the last 7-8 years (preemptively accusing Democrats of doing what they are about to do and vilifying them for their own actions).
Best I can do is try to stay calm - ish. I can see the facts before me, they are trying to take my rights away and have succeeded in part. *They have the upper hand -it is in the system, as this video explains.* They are dangerous. I don't like it.
I don't like "whatabout ism" or "both sides do it" either.
That's a skewed and unfair account of history. Before talking, one needs to give a good look into points A and B, meaning where was America before the Revolutionary War and where did the Founding Fathers aim to take it, which was a better place for all Americans. They were building an actual republic, at a time when such a thing had been the rarest of things in the western world since the Ancient Greeks (who owned slaves too, etc.).
What we have, today, are societies meaning to build and enjoy true democracy someday, versus regimes where power revolves around force.
In the US, today, you have people wanting to grow the Republic into a greater, truer and more effective democracy, vs people who are tearing it down, taking things in the opposite direction. Many of the latter are just being fooled, delusional, while many are real bastards.
Today, more than A or B, you are chosing which direction you want to go. Because it's true, of course, that we aren't yet at B (democracy). We are just on our way to it, hopefully. That's the whole issue: making sure to be on the right track.
Today, to vote for Republicans is to pick the way back, and not to greatness. It is to pick the worst possible route to the worst possible outcome. Republicans are bringing unprecedented misery: intellectual, moral, and material. They've been doing so for several decades. Today's madness we owe them for the most part. To Democrats and the left as well, but less.
Yep. “If I can’t win, the problem must be the system. Never mind that like 75% of the country has no interest in buying what I’m selling.” The only step left for those who are closed to all argument is to take it by force. Be vigilant. Stay safe.
The Mob, the uneducated rabble was the fear. However, the founders also mandated public education as a counter to that fear.
We don’t have a democracy; we have the rough draft of a democracy.
The electoral college is why we don’t have an anything close to a democracy.
@@susanhamilton1205 The senate is even worse.
All true. Madison coined the term "the tyranny of the majority"
Correct. When people overwhelmingly want something, that's tyranny.
America needs a new constitution.
OH SSO YUP!!👏👏👏🔥
What do you know? Ruling classes that make rules to their own advantage? Shocking!
This is precisely what the Electoral College was apparently put in place to persist.
Do you mean "resist?"
This is all so bogus, do me a favor and google "tyranny of the majority". The founding fathers could not have envisioned a multi-ethnic united states to this scale. The only two ethnicities were blacks and whites, and blacks had no representation. They established the electoral college to prevent tyranny of the majority, not to enshrine the power of white people at a time where white people already had uncontested dominance over everyone else. As for the supreme court, their decisions meant to not be politically motivated, but I guess you see everything as politically motivated because thats what you choose to bombard your world with. Just as an example, those same 'corrupt' supreme court judiciaries voted against Alabama gerrymandering in 2023. If the electoral college and supreme court are the only examples youre going to cite in your argument, then I highly encourage you to do more research on the topic.