United State Citizens

[Immanuel Kant]

I am curious, do you know what kind of electoral system you have? I know Toma and Wooster know; I am wondering about the people who say they don't vote or watch debates or are active in politics.

I am aware you may not have learned this in high school, when you should have. (AP History or GOV kids can take over explaining if they want)

[Ino's Girl]

I do not e.e I am in Law Studies class, so i'm bound to learn about it sooner or later. My teacher tells me that most Americans don't know much details about political issues.

[Noctis Arashi]

The most I know is that we are essentially a democratic republic in which we vote for representatives, who then vote for us.

And some foggy details I vaguely remember about how we vote for our president, in which are votes are only partially counted or something, or some council of reps vote based on our votes or something or other.

I actually have no clue beyond that. It'd be great to know.

[Immanuel Kant]

Aha you are so super close! I know you can do it, Noctis. Can you explain to the class what winner takes all means?

[Noctis Arashi]

I- I can't. I never actually formally learned this. Not yet at least. I haven't taken Government.

[Ino's Girl]

Isn't that when the party with the most percent wins the whole election? e.e

[Noctis Arashi]

I also seem to remember something about having the most Representatives per state, as well as voters is who wins.

To elaborate on what Hayley said.

[Immanuel Kant]

It's okay. No pressure.

So, you have it right, we do not directly vote for the presedent. The actually voting is held in December. What we are helping to decide in November is what present of the Electoral College votes either way. There is a total of 538 possible votes and all a person needs is 270 of those votes. California contributes 55 because of population. Our vote in November is reflected in what our representatives in congress votes for in December.

That is the best way for me to explain it; I encourage others to contribute and or correct.

[Noctis Arashi]

Ah yes yes. It's coming back to me. I almost broke my laptop when I heard electoral college.

[Hidden Ninja45]

YouTube:

I was in AP Government in high school and i'm taking another Government class currently in college. I don't vote because politics annoys me.

[Bacon]

Originally Posted by Immanuel Kant

I am curious, do you know what kind of electoral system you have? I know Toma and Wooster know; I am wondering about the people who say they don't vote or watch debates or are active in politics.

I am aware you may not have learned this in high school, when you should have. (AP History or GOV kids can take over explaining if they want)

I've got a bare bones understanding American government, which includes our electoral college works.

As for why I don't vote, it's because I don't fulfill my obligation of being an informed citizen. Thus my vote would likely be the product of a random choice, then an informed decision.

[Noctis Arashi]

Everything after IK is invalid. Now everyone can be like, "YEAH, I KNOW HOW IT IS WITH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AND THE WHAT NOT!"

[Immanuel Kant]

Originally Posted by Hidden Ninja45

YouTube:

I was in AP Government in high school and i'm taking another Government class currently in college. I don't vote because politics annoys me.

It's freaking depressing is what it is. But I really rather people be informed and depressed than not.

[Bacon]

[Bacon]

Originally Posted by Immanuel Kant

It's freaking depressing is what it is. But I really rather people be informed and depressed than not.

What exactly is depressing dani? o.o

[Maikeru D. Shinigami]

We use the Electoral College.

Each state has representatives who cast votes for the state. Which representatives vote depend on how many votes each candidate has.

[ILIKEPIE]

4 presidents were elected without winning the popular vote.

[Immanuel Kant]

Originally Posted by Bacon

What exactly is depressing dani? o.o

Mostly how little people know, and how little they care. And knowing there are people who genuinely want to help society yet are type cast as either philosophers or extremists, or activist students that get locked away for expressing their fifth amendment rights.

[Noctis Arashi]

America.

[Bacon]

Originally Posted by Immanuel Kant

Mostly how little people know, and how little they care. And knowing there are people who genuinely want to help society yet are type cast as either philosophers or extremists, or activist students that get locked away for expressing their fifth amendment rights.

I'm not going to lie when I say that I'm part of the problem,but our political system is far too complex for ordinary people to understand. There was a saying my government professor told me, " You need a master's degree to fully understand the issues in the media and in your text".

Our political system and its issues require specialized knowledge to comprehend. Even if ordinary people like myself wanted to get informed, the information is not easy to obtain.

The media which is supposed to be the workhorse of our political system is monetized. Thus almost any cable or news station you'd watch is an array of sensationalized sound bites meant to grab our attention. There's no real substance in most news on the television.

Then you have the internet which is plagued by diversions and advertisements, which tend to side track research. Then you have to sift through the small biased sites, the official large biased sites, and finally when you find a reliable source. There's the need to confirm it's legitimacy of the source.

The irony of all of this is it's a basic principle of a working representative government, to have easy access to information. Yet it's only scratching the surface of which plagues our country's political system.