this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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politics

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[–] [email protected] 128 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Short campaigns are what we all fucking need.

[–] ABCDE 34 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's not even short, ours (in the UK) are six weeks, and the switchover happens immediately. You guys spend more time switching over than we do on our elections!

[–] jeffw 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The crazy thing is our primary schedule. Some people literally change their votes based on what happened in previous states’ primaries (think DeSantis supporters this year who realized he wasn’t viable). Then we wait 6 more months and have a general election. Our entire lives are political campaigns

[–] AbidanYre 2 points 1 month ago

And then we wait another three months before we actually put the winner in charge.

[–] Evotech 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I mean, the country is a bit bigger.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Canada can manage it just fine and our candidates stump by moose and canoe.

[–] Evotech 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Canada is barely larger than the UK population wise

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Yep, but America is still using the same election law that expects the delegates to travel on stage coach for a month before they can cast their vote in Washington DC.

[–] ABCDE 4 points 1 month ago

It isn't larger by population.

[–] FuglyDuck 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Canada has what 40 million people?

The us has 340 million.

For comparison, California has 38 million, New York (state) has 19 million (NYC has like 9 mil alone)

[–] ABCDE 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They meant by size (as a joke).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I did - but size is also irrelevant. France does their's in two weeks.

Unfortunately America was the alpha version of Democracy and in retrospect, a lot of the mechanics are pretty dumb and broken.

[–] ABCDE 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Alright? India is bigger...

Spending more time switching over than we do on our whole election cycle is bonkers.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

India is not a good example of a well run country.

The fact is, the US Government is the largest and most complicated organization on the planet. It has the most power of any country and controls the world's single largest economy, upon which most other countries depend (especially the developed ones).

That's why it takes longer. We don't want to fuck it up. The UK has some real cabbage head PMs cycling through, and shot themselves in the foot by leaving the EU. That's not the best way to argue for your method of government.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The UK has some real cabbage head PMs cycling through, and shot themselves in the foot by leaving the EU.

Trump served a four year term as president.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Yes, yes, we should all hope to improve moving forward.

[–] ABCDE 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

India is not a good example of a well run country.

I didn't say it was well run, I said it was bigger (which apparently is the metric, but now it isn't?). Is the US? It can't even give healthcare to its people.

That’s why it takes longer.

I don't think that's why.

That’s not the best way to argue for your method of government.

Method of changing government, not of how it is run. Most countries do not take months to hand over power with lame duck presidents.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The election system was established when the country had a fraction of the current population of the UK.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Jesus fuck, seriously. The length of the American campaign “season” is quite frankly sanity-destroying.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

campaign season hasn't ended since 2008.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 month ago

I think short campaigns could be exactly what the United States needs.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 month ago (1 children)

People already are starting to forget somebody just took a shot at trump. I don't think the 18 month cycle was ever necessary.

[–] thorbot 7 points 1 month ago

Someone shot the orange traitor? Gosh I wonder why?!?!

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I say all candidates get exactly 10 days to make their case to be president with only a $10000 budget and a preselected film crew to do it. We all just sit at home and watch the poorly written reality tv show that it is and cast our votes throughout the campaign Survivor style. Anyone can run, last one standing gets to be president until next season.

[–] krashmo 25 points 1 month ago

While I appreciate the creativity, I think we've had enough reality TV related baggage in the White House already.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I like money too. We should hang out.

[–] WhatIsThePointAnyway 28 points 1 month ago

The reason our elections last so long is because the 24 hour news channels turned them into a horse race to fill 24 hour coverage. 24 hour news has done a huge disservice to this country.

[–] Buffalox 23 points 1 month ago

"Short" being 3 months, when European countries often use just 3 weeks.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is what flabbergast me the most as a Canadian, how long do you need to convince people to vote for one of TWO party?

2 months is enough. Anything longer than this and by the time the election comes it's already irrelevant.

[–] ABCDE 4 points 1 month ago

Or the president stops running (because it's so long) and the VP takes over; someone almost gets assassinated... so much happened, but I have zero idea about what policies were enacted or anything achieved this year by the incumbents.

[–] expatriado 13 points 1 month ago

i love quickies

[–] g0nz0li0 7 points 1 month ago

The conventions and announcements of VP picks are so late in the cycle because that's about the point where the election is close enough that the broad population is likely to pay more attention. I'm not at all worried that there's a mere 100 days for Harris to campaign.