American elections are stupid. . . Americans are stupid. . .

a reply to: DBCowboy

I have to agree. I fed lot of bull# to my American audience and they ate it.

So that's what Alice was going on about.

a reply to: DBCowboy
Oh wow this is the first thread I have read in a few years that actually answered its own posed question and in the same sentence. But ya, stupid people do stupid things. Why else did you think this whole dog and pony show goes on for? I mean sure its freaking hilarious, but mostly stupid.

Ah, it is the pinnacle of human innovation, thousands of years from the Greeks to well, when Socrates was envisioning the perfect democratic society, it was this, what we have today. The system does work, though its stupid and well just sucks. But hey, it works...Right?

Don't be a grumpkin like ol Georgy there, look on the bright side, we have had hundreds of years of pure hold you sides while rolling on the ground, laugh out loud hilarities, or at least I have, every election. It's a thousand times better then the Saturday night spoof skit they have mimicking it. Why would I want to change any of it, its pure comedic gold. Sure its useless, maybe even detrimental but at least its funny.

In the UK there are pre-defined limits that can be spent by each party for campaigning. These vary depending on the type of election. The spending is monitored by the Electoral commission. This prevents a party having an unfair financial advantage during elections.

Then again we don't vote for individuals, we vote for a party, with the leader of the winning party becoming Prime Minister. Again this cuts the chances of a super rich person 'buying' an election. It's not fool proof, but it helps. This is why we can have working class people running the country. Margaret Thatcher was a butcher's daughter for example, and had to have elocution lessons to develop an accent which was seen as more 'ministerial'.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: DISRAELI

Ugh! Then we would have had the Bush v. Clinton snoozefest. That's like saying no matter who wins, we might as well not bother. Either way, things will get run the same.

Actually Trump - Hillary, although not a snooze fest, certainly suggests neither side really bothered.