Conversation corner
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Working Classes?
Date2006/10/14 01:18 by: David, usaHello, i just surfed into this site, which looks inteesting. I wonder though why there is so little activity on this board & in the blogs? What is the role of grass-roots organising? Here in the US all is controlled by party/ruling elites, with the working majority reduced to choosing between two parties neither of which serve their interests or work directly with them.
I wonder also if there is any interest in Europe today in the work of Jacques Ellul, specifically THE POLITICAL ILLUSION, in which he makes the case for abandoning traditional party structures. -
Re:Working Classes?
Date2006/10/24 19:08 by: EuroSocialistYes... I sincerely doubt that USA is a trully democratic country. In the USA there is only 2 political parties with no clear ideology, controlled by lobbies and big corporation interests (trought the its donations). In the USA the turnout is below 50% in presidential elections and in the Congress elections, it is below 40%. In the USA is the only country in the world where the loser candidate can be elected to office (G W Bush lost to Al Gore in number of votes but was elected).
So that's why I doubt USA is a trully political democratic country. (and that's not to speak about social, economic and cultural democracy....) -
Re:Working Classes?
Date2006/10/27 00:29 by: MarcelYou two don't seem to understand the USA's political system.
First of all, there are thousands of political parties there, just the fact there are only 2 who are elected on a national level does not mean other parties do not exist. People don't vote for them in large numbers, that's why we hardly know them. But they do exist.
Second of all, the USA is a republic. The real presidential election is done by an electoral college where the winner must command a majority. The electoral college was invented to make sure a president had broad support in the country as a whole rather than in just a few population centres. Now to be president you must win a majority or plurality in enough states to gain a majority in the electoral college. Of course, theoretically someone could win by 1 vote in 49 states and lose by a million in the 50th, and that winner of 49 states would still be president.
In the USA therefore, the national popular vote is not relevant, popular votes matter only on the state level.
