Jonathan Wright’s excellent column in the Gazette (Nov. 6) had one sentence that surprised me.
He said he believed our government system is “the best the world has ever known.” If he tried to explain our system to a person from another country, he might have a hard time showing why it is “best” to allow someone to be elected president when he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes like Donald Trump, or even by a lot less than that, like George W. Bush, but still lost.
And he might be slightly embarrassed if he tries to explain the historical reason for the Electoral College. It was a concession to the slave-owning states. He’d also have a hard time demonstrating why it’s “best” that the 58 ½ million people in California and New York have four representatives in the Senate, the most powerful legislative body in the country, while the 1 ½ million people in Wyoming and Montana are represented by the exactly same number of Senators.
He might even run into problems when he tries to justify the lifetime appointment of federal judges by the President, the head of one political party. (The Supreme Court is now essentially the legal arm of the Republican Party.) In some other democracies, the law is truly separate from the legislative and executive branches: Judges go to a school for magistrates and rise through the ranks. He’d also have trouble explaining why it’s “best” that rich corporations can contribute millions of dollars to buy political ads, influence lawmakers and more or less buy an election. Other democracies would consider that pure corruption.
Years ago, I might have accepted the idea that we have the best government system in the world without thinking. I’ll bet most Americans accept it without thinking now. In actual fact, we need deep reforms to make our system truly democratic.
David Ball
Northampton