The very thing that makes modern cities vibrant and culturally dominant – increasing population density, and the atmosphere and networks that result from it – has left them politically under-represented. Meanwhile, the scattered and thinned-out populations of many struggling rural and small town areas distribute their voters through the British and American electoral systems much more efficiently. — Andy Beckett – The Guardian
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Brexit is simply a result of the popular vote, a referendum without any weird electoral colleges.
To compare that to the freakshow in the US what they call democracy is lunacy. The result for a Brexit happened because more people who were/are in favour of Brexit actually turned up to vote while many Remain supporters couldn't be bothered to vote, especially young people were under represented. But a majority voted to leave the EU, there's no way to spin it any different.
In the US, a majority voted for Hillary. That clearly shows the incompatibility of the claim in the Guardian. It's very simplistic to put Brexit in the same category as Trump's victory but democratically they have nothing in common. Columnists try to make sense of it all while residing in their urban bubbles, but the Brexit referendum is simply supported by a majority of the voters while a majority of American voters voted for Clinton.
It just shows, in case of Brexit at least, that if you care about a subject and they organize a vote on that particular subject, that you should at least have the decency to actually vote.
I think it's very damaging when columnists, journalists and politicians are forcing these populist narratives down people's throats just because they are unhappy with democratic outcomes or election results. What's the point of having democratic referendums or elections if the rules or outcomes are not respected by the losers.
Under represented? Look at a map of Virginia for the last three presidential elections. 90% of the state is red, with blue occurring at population centers. State has gone blue all three times.
Under represented in the Brexit referendum most definitely. And according to the US Elections Project the voter turnout demographics for the age group 18-29 is well below 20%. That's how much young Americans in general apparently care about it all...even if a majority of young voters vote Democratic, there are just too many young non-voters to make an electoral impact...
In the UK I wonder how much of the vote was driven by nationalism, especially among the older 50+ generation who both in the UK and US reliably turn out to vote when allowed to? Make America Great again is about making America more white but for many it is also about insisting on some level of cultural assimilation for new and not so new immigrants.
As for the US system the electoral collage is designed to balance the interest of the rural minority against the urban majority. That is it's primary function. Same function that the Senate serves in congress. The need for this check and balance is up for debate but keep in mind the purpose of the electoral collage system in the US. Without the electoral collage the so called flyover states would probably be ignored and their legitimate political interest as well.
I'm not happy about the coming Trump Presidency but Democrats gave this election away through repeated blunders and foolish actions.
Over and OUT
Peter N
For all the hype about cities, they are surpassingly difficult places for low-income minorities to gain wealth, and not good for civic participation. A lack of connection to place leads to apathy.
But Peter, just looking at how undemocratic the EU operates, we didn't ratify a European constitution, we don't get to choose the EU-president or EU-commission and in countries that held a referendum about that, the results were negative so they scrapped referenda altogether as an option. Only the UK went along with theirs because Cameron thought it was a sure thing, and he was right, a majority of UK citizens is in favour of Remain but they didn't all vote... As for the US, many non-whites voted for Trump as well, it's not just a simple race thing, it's much more about the haves and the have-nots, the have-nots felt left behind and didn't feel that Clinton would represent their best interests but those of her donors, if it would have been Bernie vs Trump it would have been a totally different story of course.
randomized, The failure to vote is what drove the Brexit and that is sad but people who were eligible to vote and did not have no one to blame for the outcome and the consequences but themselves. People self segregate based now on political beliefs and have a hard time even imagining people could even think differently yet alone go out and vote.
With all of the on demand economy delivering everything to your door and the granular level of filtering and sorting in social media, people no longer have to interact with other people who think live and act differently than they do. This isolation will lead to more political strife and division.
Over and OUT
Peter N
"people no longer have to interact with other people who think live and act differently than they do. "
This is a huge problem. One of the reasons the return to the city movement is happening organically. People are lonely and have found the convenience of internet everything actually sucks. Walking to a store, interacting with people, one gets both exercise and a bit of human contact. Not dissing on our splendid virtual reality future, but if we totally tune out the actual world around us, we're in for a shit storm. We need to learn how to build cities for humans again, not driverless cars.
Thayer-D, I agree with what you wrote above, but even in a city people can be alone and isolated, technology and the on demand economy delivering everything to your door is not helping bring folks together. This problem calls for something more than just proximity.
Over and OUT
Peter N
I agree Peter N, but I don't think there's much architects can do besides understand human nature and advocate for what's best for their well-being. If I where king for a day, I'd attempt to quantify the actual costs of our economic model that are destroying the ecology, promoting global warming, and leading to the mass extinction currently underway. Taxing the global production system that relies on moving raw materials and finished goods across the oceans when a local and organic based production would more equitably spread the wealth and lead to more local pride and character. Some way to move beyond the short term quarterly profits towards a long term sustainable model, without the extortionist models of communism or fascism. Not sure how it will come about, but realizing we're in it together is a start.
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