Democracy

One of the issues we should deal with at some point is whether as a nation we believe in democracy.

That may seem odd since we always say we do but our actions put the lie to that statement.

Many of us only believe in democracy of people like us, not those who disagree with us.

This went back to our constitution when we created a system that equates the States in some cases more than it equates people.

Our founding fathers had as many flaws as any other group of politicians and while they did create a document that has for the most part withstood the test of time we still have two undemocratic millstones in it.

The Senate and the Electoral College are not democratic institutions.

Generally the best definition of democracy is that each person gets an equal vote.

Situations where someone can lose the popular vote but win an election fly in the face of that.

Similarly, while Senators today are elected democratically in each state, the number of people each one represents varies greatly.

Senators from states with large populations each represent millions of people while senators from smaller states don't.

They get equal votes on issues though so voters are not equally represented.

Its unlikely either of these institutions are going to change soon but we should remember they aren't democratic and to the extent they sometimes seem to be, it just coincidence.