If what remains of American democracy survives the next 3 months or so - not just the election, but the aftermath - boy oh boy, does there need to be a comprehensive school programme in politics, government and civics. The ignorance among some is extraordinary.

1. Unlike the UK, where the legislative (Parliament) exists to check the executive (the government), in the US, the legislative (Congress), the executive (the President and their administration) and the judiciary are EQUAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT.

In theory, this means that no branch should ever become too powerful. The Constitution is deliberately intended to prevent the tyranny of the majority.

It's just that, in the last 20 years, it's failed so badly that the United States is now run by the tyranny of the minority.

2. The reason for that is NOT the Democrats. Good grief. I've seen plenty of people on here blaming the Democrats for Barrett's confirmation and I just... It's scary.

The actual reason is a combination of gerrymandering, dark money and voter suppression.

- Gerrymandering which stitches up extraordinary numbers of seats in the House of Representatives

- A completely unfit for purpose Senate designed for a pre-urbanisation age which gives the same power to Wyoming (population 580,000) as California (population 40 million).

- Gerrymandering which also affects how many electoral college votes each state is given. The population of California is SEVENTY TIMES that of Wyoming... yet California only has 18 times the number of electoral votes.

In other words, the electoral college is wildly skewed too.

- That's also why the Republicans have been trying to (and will likely succeed in) rig(ging) the census - because every 10 years, it determines the number of electoral college votes and House representatives for each state.

3. There have been times in history when the Supreme Court was behind public opinion. But never to the extent which is now inevitable.

A 6-3 conservative majority when a Republican President has won one popular vote since 1988 (!) equals a massive constitutional crisis.

That crisis demands that the balance is redressed. Not by 'packing the Court' - which will alienate many - but by *correcting the Court*.

3 new conservative justices confirmed under a President who was impeached and lost the popular vote MUST be corrected.

You do that by creating two new justices, which results in a 6-5 conservative majority (but with Chief Justice Roberts blocking attempts at complete nonsense).

6-5 is *barely* legitimate: but it corrects the disgraceful treatment of Garland and equalises Gorsuch's impact too.

4. There is a further reason why the US is in this mess. As well as grotesque levels of voter suppression, sanctioned increasingly by the Supreme Court itself, we've also had stupid, lazy Democrat voters.

I know how harsh that sounds. But it's true.

If Democrat voters wanted much more comprehensive healthcare reform than that implemented by Obama, they needed to turn out in 2010. They didn't - so the Tea Party transformed the landscape in an appalling direction.

They didn't in 2014. So Garland's nomination was blocked.

For reasons which frankly escape me, Democrat voters appear much more likely not to understand that real reform cannot be implemented without a Democratic Congress. That makes mid-term elections every bit as important as Presidential ones.

If Joe Biden wins, if the Court doesn't block it/steal the election and if he's sworn in (all big 'ifs'), Democrat voters cannot just go back to sleep and let it all happen again. They have to vote in the same numbers - and more - in 2022. And 2024. And 2026. And so on.

Very many Democrats ended up disillusioned by Obama because "he didn't do enough". Memo to Democrats: he 'didn't do enough' because YOU didn't give him the majority he needed in Congress to do it.

And his mythical 'supermajority' between 2008 and 2010? How long did it last?

5 months. Not 2 years. Not anything close to 2 years. Five lousy months.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/debunking-the-myth-obamas_b_1929869

He used those 5 months to pass the biggest breakthrough on healthcare reform ever seen in the United States.

For which, instead of voting to say "thankyou Mr President - now let's go further", Democrats stayed at home and Republicans swept to victory in 2010. Nice going, everyone.

Just as, when Bill Clinton tried to pass healthcare reform in his first 2 years... he was smashed in '94.

Just as, if we go back even further, when the Democrats stood on a much more traditionally left wing platform in 1980, 1984 and 1988, they were hammered. And hammered again. And hammered again. Reagan's dominance of the electoral college (49 of 50 states!) was extraordinary.

Democracy requires an educated, informed electorate which PAYS ATTENTION. In this era of fake news, that's harder than ever, I know. But if you don't pay attention; if you switch off, this is what results. Just as it continues to do so in the UK.

And for the avoidance of doubt: nobody who votes third party in any swing state under a two-party system is 'informed' in any way. They just help the Republicans instead: to the detriment of the entire planet, given what Trump's done to the Paris Accords.

The Democrats could not stop Barrett's confirmation because THEY DON'T HAVE THE NUMBERS TO DO SO.

The Republicans could stop Garland's nomination because THEY DID HAVE THE NUMBERS TO DO SO.

It's that simple.

Both parties have/had those numbers both because of a hideously corrupted system and because nothing like enough Americans have been paying any attention at all over the last decade.

Hopefully, with their country taken right to the edge of a precipice, that now finally changes.

If they don't, the collapse of their country - the latter-day fall of the Roman Empire, and all empires collapse from within - will be on them.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. And that means demanding and fighting and demanding and fighting until it's achieved.

If elected, a Biden administration must immediately set up a taskforce which will report on Supreme Court reform.

But frankly, America won't get its democracy back until both Houses of Congress and the Presidential election system are brought into line with 2020 - not 1776.

One final point. Because they never had the numbers to stop Barrett's confirmation, the Democrats' strategy over recent weeks has been spot on.

Women's rights are on the ballot. Voting rights are on the ballot. Gay rights are on the ballot. HEALTHCARE IS ON THE BALLOT.

The Republicans have shown their absolute contempt for all of that and more; their contempt for democracy itself.

It's every bit as brazen now as when FIFA gave the World Cup to Qatar: a modern slave state where alcohol and homosexuality are banned.

FIFA believed that nobody could hold them accountable. They were wrong.

The Republicans believe that nobody can hold them accountable either. Prove them wrong, keep proving them wrong, and never ever forget what they have done.

To their people, to their country, to the world.