Here is the mean part of our voting system, Tom:
The losers end up resenting everyone that didn’t help them get the representative they wanted. And by then they had accepted already that their own choice was a compromise.
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Our system is divide-and-conquer. It means that given the chance the push-down is real, and it is more real at the bottom than at the top. Yes, movie The Platform comes to mind.
It means that about one-third of us voters will not get the ones we wanted — ever, and a good number will give up after a couple of losses. When there is a chance, one can move to a location where people just like us live, and when we vote we can get the one we want.
If we cannot move, then we’re stuck with the situation we find ourselves in and have to make the best of it.
I am adding this visual here to show how many of us gave up voting:
In yellow, nations like us voting in districts, winners-taking-all.
In green, nations with proportional voting (some nations made voting mandatory) and, in blue, nations with a mixed system.
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About a third of us are found in the middle realm, and this is actually where the decision is made who gets the seat. The majority privilege of our system has its crux with the center, the swing voters, the middle class or however we want to call it.
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About a third of us do really well and we place our bets where we like it, for instance with paying for those annoying television commercials. This group does well, no matter who wins. We just like to play along, see what happens and see how we can benefit from the outcomes.
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My concern and my reason for being upset with our system lies not with the middle group or the top group. It lies with people like Mr. MiddleAmerican (I have decided that this individual is male, but I can be mistaken). He made something of his life and has reasons to be proud of himself. But he got there in that process where people step on top of each other just to get ahead. He has been hardened and because he ended up being successful he imagines the system to work.
People like him should have had their fair chance electing their own representatives all their lives. Instead, people like him had to pick between pre-chewed blue and pre-chewed red. Never was there someone who represented him for real; the winners always added water to the wine to the point it became water. He resents the entire lot.
Or: He identifies fully now with the center. Your pick. I am not the first person to state that our political system in particular can brainwash us.
As long as the divided fight the divided, we do not live in the Land of the Free. But brave? Yes, there are plenty of them. I just wish the brave could benefit a bit more from their being brave. Many large voting minorities contain many brave people.
Thank you, Tom, I appreciate your reply — I do. I am not the one that needs rescuing. Our system needs rescuing.
