A quick glance at the Statcounter keyword analysis tool of people who have landed at this blog via a google search, show an interesting trend.
The top 6 search terms are american elections explained, us elections explained, american election explained, 2008 elections explained, elections explained and us elections 2008 explained.
It seems that internationally, nobody really has a clue how the US election works.
The best way to explain it would be in relation to reality television shows such as X factor, pop idol or Big Brother.
You start with two large groups of wannabes (Democrats & Republicans) and with each state they visit, the public of that state then vote on who they like and those with the most votes go on to next week (or the next state). Those who poll the least get evicted and drop out.
This goes on with the two groups slowly being whittled down with some leaving and the shrinking surviving group continuing until you end up with winner of each group going into a final head to head against each other.
The whole country then votes for which of these two candidates they want to win, with the victor winning a 4 year term as President of the United States rather than a record deal with Simon Cowell.
It really is that simple and is just a longer version of pop idol, or politician idol if you like.
Reuters
USA Today
12 comments:
Reality TV - good call! It's of huge interest here in NZ too - I love following the show!
Makes you laugh that people look to blogs to find out about all these things though.
I'd make the point that the winner of pop idol is unlikely to bring about the end of our world.
Cheers!
I know Ruth, people turning to bloggers to explain current affairs is quite funny in a scary way.
I don't know Daniel, have you heard the Leon Jackson single? If that isn't about to bring about Armageddon, nothing will.
Great analogy! It explains this painful process to a T.
we were talking last night about how the media and so-called pundits ruin the process, such as it is. i hate it. it HAS turned into a pop idol-style affair. too much projecting, predicting, and absolute bullshit. like a goddamn soap opera. just let us vote. the buildup is totally unnecessary.
Annie, why don't you run for office? You make more sense than most of the candidates!
Cheers.
You would have thought that the US Congress website would have a good explanation of the American electoral system, or perhaps the Democrats or the Republicans or leading US News agencies, such as CNN.
Apparently not. If you want to know how the American elections work there's this blogger in the UK who has written a very helpful, if slightly quirky, explanation which tells you everything you need to now.
LucyP, Your contribution to the cause of democracy should win you the Congressional Medal of Honor, or something!
Steve, why do Americans make everything so complicated?
Ahhh, that's a very profound question Daniel. To understand it you need to consider the following:
- why loose weight by eating less when you can have the fat sucked out by expensive and painful machinery?
- why in a country of great natural beauty do people go to small-scale recreations of that beauty, ie Disney World, instead of seeing the real thing, and think it's better than the real thing?
- why turn a word like "leverage", which is a noun, into a verb ("to leverage"), when there is already a perfectly good verb ("to lever"). "To transition something", meaning "to alter something" is another example.
Once you have answered these questions, you will know!
Thanks steve, will i have to do a Tony Blair and accept it quietly?
I used the reality TV analogy because i was listening to the radio discussing the elections and the way they were talking about candidates slowly dropping out with each state just sounded so much like they were discussing Pop Idol or Big Brother and that was how i began explaining it to people who asked.
Steve, will I have to spend forty days and night in the wilderness to find the answers to your questions or are the answers on Faux News, perhaps hidden among the advertisement?
The electoral college, primary delegations, and like things are nice in theory and were more effective at their purpose (in fostering federal republicanism) earlier in the Republic. They could be greatly improved though.
Now they are a horrid combination of direct democracy and republicanism with many of the worst flaws of both.
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