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1. iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Aug-2018 05:44:06 EDT iona 🐝

   Listening to a thing on the radio about an election in the US where the margin is currently <1,000 votes between a Democrat and some Trump cheerleader GOP man.

   It feels like first-past-the-post democracy is part of what's leading to our divided societies in the West. When the margins are so slim, it becomes pretty much a lottery. People feel disenfranchised and disillusioned with democracy.

   1. iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Aug-2018 05:47:00 EDT iona 🐝

      in reply to

      Either you're the guy who got 50.0001% of the votes and you win and can push forward with your programme, or you're the one with 49.9999% and you have to sit in opposition twiddling your thumbs for another X years.

      I don't know what's to be done about it - when the two alternatives are so diametrically opposed, it leads to anger on the losing side and misplaced triumphalism on the winning side. A shade over 50 percent shouldn't be a mandate.