LONDON 2/2 -16: Democracy is a concept that is literally as ancient as the ancient greeks. First applied to the city state of Athens around 500BC, and later surpressed in many ways during the middle ages, democracy has become an idea of freedom and civlized ways of living. And on that sky of freedom, one star shines the brightest; America. Self proclaimed savior and defender of the world, the USA is percieved in many ways as the epitome of democracy. Everyone knows that the US is a democratic stronghold. Right?

This last night saw the start of the big soap opera that is the US elections. After a year of intense campaigning, the primaries started in Iowa. The state fields such intense sights as the Matchstick Marvel Museum, and Albert the bull, a 45-ton (Thats metric to you America) concrete bull that tells stories. As if I wasnt asking to go to Iowa before, that bull sure sealed the deal for me. Now the next bit sounds like something that sounds like it could come straight from the mouth of that bull. 

The primairies in Iowa are decided on a concept called caucases. For starters this means that the only people allowed to vote, are those officially registered members of a party. The election is then held by hand counting or in smaller groups that collectively decide on wich of the presidential candidates they want to have their vote. Now, let me just reiterate that; The election to choose a candidate for the most powerful country in the world, is decided by handcounting. 

 

"But Linus, that's not too bad? And also it only applies to 10 states!" 

Without even talking about the problems of the firmly rooted two party system( CGP Grey explains it all very well in this video.), lets just quickly dicuss why it is an awful idea. For starters the problem is that by not having a open election were every vote counts equally, this makes it so that ones personal vote lacks power. I could vote for Bernie Sanders in my group of people, but if even a small majority thinks that Hillary should get the vote, all the other votes are virtually useless. This is just further blown up once the actual presidential elections starts, with the troubles that the electoral system bring. What ends up happening is a situation like the 2000 election between Bush and Gore, were Al Gore won the majority of the American votes, but lost due to having less electors. 

 

Ok fair enough, say that we accept this concept and shrug it off like a minor bump in the road of democracy. It's not like it is decided by a coin toss. Right? 
6 coinflips were conducted last night. Hillary Clinton won the primaries in Iowa by 12 votes. If those 6 conflips would have gone the other way, it would have been a complete tie. The coinflips, decided the outcome of the primaries in Iowa. 

 

Democracy comes from the greek words Demos (people) and Kratos (rule). Nowhere in there is any mention of luck based rule. How can the US proclaim supreme knowledge of how states in the middle east should rule their own countries, when they themselves run parts of the democratic system on a model that was developed before the industrial revolution. To have any part of the electoral process being decided by the roll of dice, is nothing more than a gaping hole in the fabrics of the great western star, and shows a great lack of understanding the importance of politics. If a democracy is to be relevant, it needs the people to stay educated and be active in the process. The US system currently does nothing more than advocates ignorance, and a bad voting representation. 

Albert the bull might be telling a lot of stories, but the truth is taken straight out of his ass.