US Democracy - fundamental assumptions. Fundamentally flawed.

 

Prelude to war

Pure, Simple (or Simplistic) Democracy. Consider that this - DEMOCRACY - is a Sacred Cow. It cannot be questioned. The process cannot be questioned. The System cannot be questioned. Yes, this system threw up a Donald Trump in 2016. But this system also threw him out in 2020. The system WORKS!

Tell yourself that. Convince yourself that this is DEMOCRACY WORKING. This is the age of disinformation. And there is no greater disinformation and deception than to see something, and BELIEVE THE VERY OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU ARE SEEING.

The simple matter is if democracy works as advertised, then ok, maybe people are tired of slick politicians and Washington insiders, and are sold on the idea of an outsider, a maverick, someone who will rock the boat and get the rats off the boat. So 2016 - Trump. Besides Clinton was *bleargh!* Trump won? Understandable really.

Litigating Democracy

In the aftermath of his defeat, Trump is alleging, without any evidence, that Biden has stolen this election from him.

And his lawyers are filing lawsuits in various courts to challenge ballot counting, or to stop the process of ballot counting, or to allege impropriety or illegality.

And his supporters believe him.

The truth is, Trump has lost.

He's just playing a role that 71 million voters (his supporters) require.

If the Democrats are so clever as to win the Presidency fraudulently, why didn't they win the Senate as well? If the Democrats could control the outcome of the election, in what universe would they allow Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham to win and win so comfortably?

If the Democrats had the power to control to election, why did they lose seats in the lower House (House of Representatives)?

Singapore Military Strength

For 2020, Global Firepower ranked Singapore 51st out of 138 countries. 

Fortunately, our neighbours are ranked higher. Indonesia is 16th, Malaysia is 44th. Philipines is 48th.

Even Myanmar is ranked higher at 35th.

Of course, Myanmar and Philippines are not immediate concerns or relevant.

We have no quarrel with them.

Democracy - the worst form of government

 So I believed the polls.

For two reasons. One, I believed the pollsters were embarrassed by their "failure" in 2016, had analysed their errors, and would have adjusted for their mistakes.

So this time around, they should be better right?

Their polling results were worse.

If they were off in 2016, they were off even more in 2020. Pollsters just couldn't explain or account for Trump.

The other reason I believe the polls was because it was the reasonable and rational thing to do. The fact that I was wrong to believe the polls suggests that 

a) it was not reasonable

b) it was not rational

c) it is not reasonable to believe that people will act reasonably

d) it is not rational to expect people to act rationally

e) it is not reasonable to believe people will act rationally

f) it is not rational to expect people to behave (or vote) reasonably.

Or maybe Democracy is playing a different game with different rules.

Democracy sucks (well, US-style democracy)

 In my last post I stated my "wish list":

So here's my wish list.

1) Biden takes Arizona (11), Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Georgia (16), and Texas (38). This will be my Bingo card. I expect I will be disappointed by Texas and Georgia. Maybe even more.

2) Graham loses his Senate seat. Again, with a 77% chance of him winning, this is a wish, more than a hope. I am almost sure to be disappointed.

3) And I would like to see Mitch ditched. But he has a 96% chance of being re-elected. So, doubt it will happen. But it's on my wish list.

As at midnight of the 5 Nov (Thursday morning), Biden has won Arizona. 

Democracy (At least US Democracy) is a spectator sport

I have been too engrossed with the US Presidential Election.

It is a spectator sport. And highly engrossing. Almost as engrossing as a WWE matchup.

I had intended to post some comments after our GE in July. 

The results were very interesting. I read the various commentaries and post-mortems by pro- and anti-PAP pundits. 

And I'm trying to distill my thoughts.

The question everyone is thinking about is... what does the Singapore Voter want.