We can, we just don't because nobody pays attention in school and doesn't understand how the government works and blames everything automatically on the president while they keep voting the same incompetent senators and house representatives back into office year after year and then wonder why nothing changes.
It blows my little Aussie mind that voting isn't compulsorary in America, considering just how public everyone feels they have to make their political stance.
Nobody in polite conversation brings up political parties here.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?Should have paid attention the first time through
The senatorial and house elections are arguably just as important as the presidential elections, if not moreso, but they're the ones everyone ignores because they aren't the presidential elections and that's the important one because that's when we pick the next America Boss right?
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH MAKES LAWS. THE PRESIDENT IS NOT IN THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH. HE WILL NOT MAKE ANY LAWS BECAUSE IT'S NOT HIS JOB. THAT IS HOW IT WORKS.
Wait, you mean you take a whole year just to elect one part of the government?
We do both at once here, and all votes happen across the country on a single day.
Election night.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?It depends. We can have multiple elections on the same day depending on when they line up. House representatives are chosen every 2 years, presidential elections are every four years, and senate elections are every six years. Sometimes the dates coincide, sometimes they don't.
The Supreme Court is appointed directly by the President, though, so nobody votes for that. In effect, the presidential election is partially for someone that you think is going to appoint good Supreme Court judges.
edited 21st Mar '16 6:08:11 PM by WonderSquid
I'm not going to pretend Westminster doesn't have it's issues, but at least it has the pretence of efficiency.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?The American government is a bizarre non-Euclidian labyrinth of arbitrary junk that's extremely difficult to explain to anyone who isn't native with anything other than "ionno, it just is".
That's not even getting into the electoral college and delegates and superdelegates, which even I, with my all-encompassing knowledge of weird political factoids, still don't understand, so don't ask me.
It's so fucking arbitrary, though.
I don't get it. Explain the primary bullshit to me so I can understand it and sound smart in front of my co-workers at a later date.
Also primaries, as are distinct from caucuses, which we also have at the same time as the primaries but only in some states.
And the thing with New Hampshire and Ohio and how they have to be first and also Vermont maybe?
Sometimes I actually forget Vermont exists which is weird.
edited 21st Mar '16 6:13:59 PM by WonderSquid
So, superdelegates basically just say "trust me on this, vote for me and I'll probably do the thing you want, maybe."
And that makes the democracy better?
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?Primaries are basically just state-level get-togethers in which people vote for who they want to be the party's nominee.
You don't necessarily have to be a member of the party in question to vote. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. It's up to the state.
Delegates are assigned to the candidate either proportionally or winner-take-all (it's not all one or the other, but it's usually proportional), who then cast their vote at the party's national convention.
Unlike caucuses, primaries are just filling out a form or punching buttons or whatever. There's no physical room-filling like caucuses have.
Iowa and New Hampshire wrote laws saying they'd be first, so they schedule first.
Superdelegates only vote in the nominating process. Not the general election.
edited 21st Mar '16 6:17:41 PM by ramuf
Your best option is to set Congress on fire and come back to England, begging to be let back in the club where stuff makes sense.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?

because we dumb
edited 21st Mar '16 5:58:51 PM by Lilqueendaisy
LOVE IS STORED IN THE AXOLOTL!