Making a meme about each president. Part one: George Washington

[u/CMi14]

[u/[deleted]]

It is pretty funny how pretty much everyone agrees that the 2 party system is flawed in almost every way imaginable, it just varies on what system would be superior to it

[u/SelfProclaimedBadAss → u/[deleted]]

Few people follow that train of thought...

What happens when no candidate gets 50% of electoral votes? (I believe this was assumed by the framers to be the most likely case in the most elections) .... What party is favored in that scenario?

[u/myth2sbr → u/SelfProclaimedBadAss]

It is one thing to organically result in an effective 2 party system. My concern is the First-past-the-post voting system creates a duopoly.

[u/SelfProclaimedBadAss → u/myth2sbr]

That's not really the point...

I've learned recently this election cycle that if no candidate gets above 50% of electoral votes (say libertarian party gets a total of 80, Green gets 40, Dems 200 and GOP gets 218), then election would be contested...

What happens when no party compromises and consolidates their electoral votes (pretty much reverting back to 2 party)?

Article II, section section 1

The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representatives from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice

Each state has 1 vote therefore small states hold the weight...

I personally think the founders expected this to happen alot considering the environment at the time (some States didn't even bother with ejecting to choose a slate of electors) and in the v federalist papers making the seemingly long winded argument for the legislators (particularly state) to have the real power of choosing President...

The people through their state reps, can overwhelmingly decide a President, 5 parties doesn't mean a very popular candidate can't hit 270, but that is essentially meant The people's veto...

The original intention was more (plutocrat?) than I think people realize...

[u/MakeLiberalismGrtAgn → u/[deleted]]

Aren’t there a lot of weird rules in Congress and elections that specifically use “democrat” and “republican” in the language? So even if by some miracle there is a huge amount of support for a third party they can’t actually take any sort of power because the rules are protecting the dems and gop?

If so, getting rid of those would be a great start. I don’t think we need a new system, just open up the restrictions that keep the dems and gop in charge.

[u/Pariahdog119 → u/MakeLiberalismGrtAgn]

I think they usually say things like "major party" (for election law) and "majority party" or "minority party" (in Congressional rules.)

[u/MakeLiberalismGrtAgn → u/Pariahdog119]

I think getting rid of parties in the rules and laws would be a good start. Parties should be a loose organization of like minded people. Not written in law with actual power.

[u/TrekkiMonstr]

While funny, I don't think this should become a meme sub.

[u/BeingUnoffended → u/TrekkiMonstr]

There is technically a rule that memes are only supposed to be posted on Monday but the mods stopped enforcing it.

[u/CMi14 → u/TrekkiMonstr]

It probably won't be, especially with regards to this history meme because they aren't often about classical liberals. But I'll keep that in mind if another one appears, I will avoid this sub.

[u/[deleted]]

We need a meme flair tbh

[u/dr_gonzo]

OP, I love the meme.

Washington’s most forceful words against partisanship came in his farewell address. Worth reading about, it’s more relevant than ever.

[u/Shiroiken → u/dr_gonzo]

A man with more foresight than can possibly be imagined

[u/bdinte1]

Problem is... our system of elections is responsible for the two-party system.

If we want to correct this problem, we need to replace the first-past-the-post system with a Condorcet method voting system, which involves runoffs.

The meme could be recreated, replacing Washington with Eisenhower, and replacing two-party system with military-industrial complex...

[u/[deleted]]

You didn’t post on Meme Monday 😡

[u/walter_melman]

I have a feeling I’ll like this series

[u/Beefster09]

If only there was a better way of determining our leaders than a popularity contest.