/democracy
Jul. 2nd, 2012 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyOh, Mexico. I don't see how this could possibly go badly, do you?
What I don't get, despite having spent time in Mexico and studying Latin American history, is how a populace that is overall much more politically astute than ours can basically go back to electing dictators. Even with widespread electoral fraud, it seems bizarre.
What I don't get, despite having spent time in Mexico and studying Latin American history, is how a populace that is overall much more politically astute than ours can basically go back to electing dictators. Even with widespread electoral fraud, it seems bizarre.
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Date: 2012-07-02 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-03 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 07:06 pm (UTC)The total turn-out of eligible voters in 2004 was 60%, lower in most states. A full 1% of that turnout did not vote for president on the ballot. Bush won by between 50.2% and 50.7%.
This means Bush's margin of victory was less than the percentage of voters who skipped the ballot question. Far more voters didn't vote at all than elected the president.
Due to the electoral college system and winner takes all policy in most states, there was an illusion of a major victory, but in reality only 30% or so of the eligible voters (which is less than the total voting age population) picked the guy.
The reasons people don't vote are varied including holding elections on a work day. There was also crap weather in many states, which impacts results to a depressing degree.
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Date: 2012-07-02 04:26 pm (UTC)I have a feeling it's going to get even more depressing.
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Date: 2012-07-02 05:33 pm (UTC)The result being that even in a country where the average beverage company worker or street vendor has a more than passing familiarity with Marxist theory, a crook can get elected without voter fraud on an epic scale.
This is one of (many) problems with the international far left. I have a list, but every time I start to write it down, I get cripplingly depressed.
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Date: 2012-07-02 06:01 pm (UTC)As some of that third enjoyed benefits under the PRI before, a marginal win is depressing but not entirely unexpected. Yet there is hope, as in many of these races, that the margins are so tiny given the triumphalism and massive resources of the victors.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-03 06:27 am (UTC)