Even we say the presidential election is democratic in US, 80% of the votes are totally irrelevant becuase their corresponding elector in the electoral college never changed color for the last twenty plus years.
A steadfast resistance to change in State governments may be the result of each States propensity to control their election procedures in a way that favors the party in power. Incumbency has a powerful advantage in elections. Winner take all Electoral College votes in each State would be expected to reflect the politics of the party in power. Democracy is inefficient and can be chaotic. Full democracy may seldom result in an optimum solution to problems of government or society, but it might offer some protection from authoritarian government. Authoritarian government, on the other hand, is more efficient, and at its best, probably better than fully democratic government. But at its worst, it is much worse. It's to avoid this latter unhappy state that many would endure the imperfections in fully democratic government. We may not recognize that our minimally democratic, republican form of federal government has left us susceptible to a fascist takeover of our government. We might have been better off with more democracy. .
My cynical hypothesis is that every politician only cares about one thing and that is remaining in power. Thus, the only difference between a democratic leader and a dictator is the size of his coalition (which is driven by the pro/anti democratic protections built into the governmental structure). In order to ensure their political survival, someone like Kim Jong-un would only need to make happy a few hundred generals, Trump would only really care about several counties in a few swing states, while someone like Sanna Marin (PM of Finland) actually has to build a coalition from multiple parties with a very diverse base of supporters.
Sanna Marin doesn't enjoy total control of the media, education, borders, air space, food rations and many other factors such as but not limited to 'whether one lives'...
You left out the biggest one of all and I'm wondering if we'll be looking back in a month or so saying "how'd we miss that short?" SBUX KFC is Yum China btw. (YUMC) Gotta watch that one too. They're big. Pizza Hut is killing em though. Hmmm. (?) Of course Yum Brands is run by Trumpy's. SBUX is not. Ahhh... I say go w/SBUX as the short. It was up nicely today too. Xi f'n with them will make for a much louder pulpit.
That is NOT true. Here is how the Electoral College system works in the USA. This is the explanation taken from the USA Election information website https://www.usa.gov/election#item-36072 After you cast your ballot for president, your vote goes to a statewide tally. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system. A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors—more than half of all electors—to win the presidential election. In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after you vote. But the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their states. While the Constitution doesn’t require electors to follow their state's popular vote, many states' laws do. Though it's rare, electors have challenged those laws and voted for someone else. But in July 2020 the Supreme Court ruled (PDF, Download Adobe Reader)that those state laws are constitutional. Electors must follow their state's popular vote, if the state has passed such a law. So in fact, the president of the United States IS indeed elected by the people because the electors in the electoral college for each state are required to vote according to how the people voted in that state whether the winner is determined by a "winner take all" approach or a proportionate approach. For the House of Representatives and the judiciary system, it's still better that they are elected vs. in China and in many countries even including Canada, another branch of the government like the Senate and the judges are appointed by the sitting leader of the country. So it's really inappropriate to compare the forming of the US government branches and the election of its leader to the absolute dictatorial nature of how a leader is chosen in countries like China where the people do not have any choice of even which candidate(s) can land on a ballot. Check for how Hong Kong, a region that's supposed to be allowed to follow its own democratic process of leader selection can elect its own leader. No system is perfect and the electoral college is no means free of flaws but it is still a far cry from being undemocratic. If countries like and including China can get something even just remotely resembling the US election process, its people will be lot more happier.
That explains the rapid deterioration of food quality of KFC. It's owned by China which had its own chicken franchise decimated by KFC earlier. Pizza Hut is bankrupt btw.