So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Harp]

Of course, I thought and still think often about alternative living, but I never find a solution.

I was a surfer bum on Kaneohe Beach, Oahu, chased wahinies and waves, and gave it all up to pursue non-alternative living.

 

[Zombie_61]

What I can't swallow is how we Brits are so in love with having a monarchy. A democratic system like our's and we can't vote for our head of state...

Yeah, well, we in the U.S. can vote, and the results haven't always been stellar.

 

[GHT]

Second question: while head of state - does the Queen or King have any meaningful political / policy power or is it just a mainly figure head role owing to a historical nod?

Technically the Monarch is a figure head, however, the Monarch is ingrained into every aspect of society. Even our national anthem is a sycophantic address to the Monarch. And the battle cry: For King & country.........charge! Has resulted in just 22 countries on the planet that haven't been invaded by the Brits.

 

[MisterCairo]

Politics, no?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Politics, no?

You are correct, no.

 

[Fading Fast]

Yeah, well, we in the U.S. can vote, and the results haven't always been stellar.

Based on the results of the last several US Presidential elections, since they've all seem very close (both in the Electoral College count and the percentage of the population divide), just about 50% of the country felt that way for the prior eight years and now 50% will feel that way again - only it's now a different 50%.

I don't think the above is political (our elections have all been close and the winning side switched this year - those are facts), but if it is, please just delete.

 

[MisterCairo]

You are correct, no.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, well, we in the U.S. can vote, and the results haven't always been stellar.

Well, to split hairs, we don't vote for our head of state either. We vote for those who vote for our head of state. Can't have the rabble making such a vital decision, after all.

 

[2jakes]

^^^
Sad but true!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Well, to split hairs, we don't vote for our head of state either. We vote for those who vote for our head of state. Can't have the rabble making such a vital decision, after all.

Quite right too, the masses would probably vote in an actor or a reality TV personality or worse still, a tweep who thinks showing his ignorance is a quality.
As Putin said, the Americans have no lessons to give to the rest of the world about democracy as 3 times now, the candidate with the least votes has been elected....& he knows the American electoral system inside & out.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Based on the results of the last several US Presidential elections, since they've all seem very close (both in the Electoral College count and the percentage of the population divide), just about 50% of the country felt that way for the prior eight years and now 50% will feel that way again - only it's now a different 50%.

I don't think the above is political (our elections have all been close and the winning side switched this year - those are facts), but if it is, please just delete.

Historically Presidential elections have always been close in the popular vote. Only 13 times (out of our 58 elections) has the winner received more than 60% of the vote, and 19 times the winner has received less than 50%. A big deal is made in the media these days about how our country is "divided", but it's really always been that way.

 

[Fading Fast]

Quite right too, the masses would probably vote in an actor or a reality TV personality or worse still, a tweep who thinks showing his ignorance is a quality.
As Poutin said, the Americans have no lessons to give to the rest of the world about democracy as 3 times now, the candidate with the least votes has been elected....& he knows the American electoral system inside & out.

As someone who did not vote for our president elect, I feel I can say this as a factual statement and not my passion or politics driving it.

Since our politicians structure their campaigns to win the electoral vote, it is not fair after the fact to judge the result by the popular vote as neither candidate tried to maximize that.

For example, I live in one of the high electoral and popular vote total states and there is all but no campaigning here because both the Dems and Reps know the state electoral vote will be won by the Dems. I would image both would campaign aggressively here if our elections were popular votes.

California, which drove Hillary's popular vote win, too, received very, very little attention for the same reason that NY didn't.

Again, not talking my position, but our elections are structured for electoral vote counts. If we don't want that - there is a way to change it, but choosing a different metric after the fact is disingenuous regardless of which side does it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Historically Presidential elections have always been close in the popular vote. Only 13 times (out of our 58 elections) has the winner received more than 60% of the vote, and 19 times the winner has received less than 50%. A big deal is made in the media these days about how our country is "divided", but it's really always been that way.

Basically, we have two brands that compete for market share and both are good enough at what they do to not fall below 40%. As one or the other drifts toward the lower band, they change their platform and / or candidates until they get back to or above 50%.

One of the quick-and-dirty ways to tell if an election in a country is really democratic or is "democratic" as in the old USSR or Cuban model is if the winner gets 90+% of the vote.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Basically, we have two brands that compete for market share and both are good enough at what they do to not fall below 40%. As one or the other drifts toward the lower band, they change their platform and / or candidates until they get back to or above 50%.

One of the quick-and-dirty ways to tell if an election in a country is really democratic or is "democratic" as in the old USSR or Cuban model is if the winner gets 90+% of the vote.

The highest popular vote percentage ever (at least since 1824 when they started recording the popular vote) is just a tad over 60%. That means at our most cohesive, we're a 60/40 split.

 

[Fading Fast]

The highest popular vote percentage ever (at least since 1824 when they started recording the popular vote) is just a tad over 60%. That means at our most cohesive, we're a 60/40 split.

Somebody wasn't doing good brand management in 1824.

 

[ChiTownScion]

What I can't swallow is how we Brits are so in love with having a monarchy. A democratic system like our's and we can't vote for our head of state. But what really sticks in my craw is the fact that the British Monarch owns one sixth of the entire globe's land mass.

I've a friend in Bristol who constantly notes the he's "a citizen, not a subject." I really do not have an issue with a monarch as head of state for the UK, but it is somewhat of interest that the royal family for the last three plus centuries is really about as English as sauerbraten. I had a suggestion as to my choice for the ideal king (a true Briton!), but sadly, the man is no longer alive.

 

[GHT]

Actor Geoffrey Hughes, he was the exact opposite of Onslow, the character from Keeping Up Appearances, as depicted above. He involved himself in his local community, he left us, aged just 68, far too early.

 

[Stearmen]

Quite right too, the masses would probably vote in an actor or a reality TV personality or worse still, a tweep who thinks showing his ignorance is a quality.
As Putin said, the Americans have no lessons to give to the rest of the world about democracy as 3 times now, the candidate with the least votes has been elected....& he knows the American electoral system inside & out.

Actually, five times as of last year!

• In 1824 Andrew Jackson won the popular vote but got less than 50 percent of the electoral votes. John Quincy Adams became the next president when he was picked by the House of Representatives.
• In 1876 Samuel Tilden won the popular vote but lost the election when Rutherford B. Hayes got 185 electoral votes to Tilden’s 184.
• In 1888 Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the election when Benjamin Harrison got 233 electoral votes to Cleveland’s 168.
• In 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election to George Bush. In the most highly contested election in modern history, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount of ballots, giving Bush the state’s 25 electoral votes for a total of 271 to Gore’s 255.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Basically, we have two brands that compete for market share...

That's a very good way of looking at it -- it really is the simply the difference between Coke and Pepsi, Ford and Chevrolet, Camel and Lucky Strike. People will argue far into the night that there's a substantial and meaningful difference between any two such rival brands, but in reality that perception was simply planted in their minds and sustained by the incessant drumming of the Boys. Brand X is the only acceptable option, Brand Y is something for Calvin to pee on. Unless Brand Y is the only acceptable option and Calvin pees on Brand X. Call it "Advertocracy."

 

[HudsonHawk]

That's a very good way of looking at it -- it really is the simply the difference between Coke and Pepsi, Ford and Chevrolet, Camel and Lucky Strike. People will argue far into the night that there's a substantial and meaningful difference between any two such rival brands, but in reality that perception was simply planted in their minds and sustained by the incessant drumming of the Boys. Brand X is the only acceptable option, Brand Y is something for Calvin to pee on. Unless Brand Y is the only acceptable option and Calvin pees on Brand X. Call it "Advertocracy."

Not only that, but peoples' own identities are so wrapped up in brand recognition that they'll pay for the privilege of advertising Brand X or Y by wearing tshirts and putting a "Salt Life" sticker on the back window of the family truckster. Which is why I only drink RC, drive a Dodge, and smoke Viceroys. I'm a maverick.