Andrew Reynolds has studied democracies around the world. He and his colleagues have developed measures of how democratic a society is. By their measures, North Carolina is no longer a democracy. It is an authoritarian regime.
“In 2005, in the midst of a career of traveling around the world to help set up elections in some of the most challenging places on earth – Afghanistan, Burma, Egypt, Lebanon, South Africa, Sudan and Yemen, among others – my Danish colleague, Jorgen Elklit, and I designed the first comprehensive method for evaluating the quality of elections around the world. Our system measured 50 moving parts of an election process and covered everything from the legal framework to the polling day and counting of ballots.
“In 2012 Elklit and I worked with Pippa Norris of Harvard University, who used the system as the cornerstone of the Electoral Integrity Project. Since then the EIP has measured 213 elections in 153 countries and is widely agreed to be the most accurate method for evaluating how free and fair and democratic elections are across time and place.
”When we evolved the project I could never imagine that as we enter 2017, my state, North Carolina, would perform so badly on this, and other, measures that we are no longer considered to be a fully functioning democracy.
“In the just released EIP report, North Carolina’s overall electoral integrity score of 58/100 for the 2016 election places us alongside authoritarian states and pseudo-democracies like Cuba, Indonesia and Sierra Leone. If it were a nation state, North Carolina would rank right in the middle of the global league table – a deeply flawed, partly free democracy that is only slightly ahead of the failed democracies that constitute much of the developing world.
“Indeed, North Carolina does so poorly on the measures of legal framework and voter registration, that on those indicators we rank alongside Iran and Venezuela. When it comes to the integrity of the voting district boundaries no country has ever received as low a score as the 7/100 North Carolina received. North Carolina is not only the worst state in the USA for unfair districting but the worst entity in the world ever analyzed by the Electoral Integrity Project.”
What a disgrace!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The US is no longer a democracy
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I blame it on Lincoln . (LOL)
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You remind me of a line in a John Prine song where he said his grandfather “voted for Eisenhower ’cause Lincoln won the war”
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Granpa Was A Carpenter:
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Duane: when I saw him sing that back in 1980, he had some crops growing on that head. Seems he has gone through a drought up there.
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The statistic that I heard that startled me was that it would take a 58% majority of popular votes in various areas to bring democrats back into power in the house. By contrast, it asserted that 44% of the popular vote would keep Republician seats.
While I cannot attest to the truth of this, it suggests we need to,ask questions about democracy in the era of sophisticated data collection.
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I think that was a 538 analysis
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POSTED ANDREW’S ARTICLE at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/North-Carolina-is-no-longe-in-General_News-Democracy_Democracy_Democracy-Destroyed_Election-180103-733.html#comment684680
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What is democracy/communism in theory and in reality?
If people do not take action to respect and treasure democracy, then democracy only exist in theory.
Today, in China, Russia, their people (Chinese, and Russian) enjoy freedom to do business under table with FEAR. However, in USA, Americans happily and FEARLESSLY do business in both spirit in capitalism and fascism, for instance USA President and his cabinet members in all departments from Education to Environment, including SOME members in both House of Common and Senators.
All educators, who are 60+ years old, and especially are specialized in literature, sociology and history, will acknowledge the “yin-yang” circle of life from savage to enlightenment and today civilized society.
There is always NO EASY WAY OUT because as the old saying, “you want to eat, you must work your way out in the kitchen”. Similarly, democracy will not exist to enjoy freely and easily. Kindness and compassion come from strength, knowledge and experience (or wisdom).
Without strength, knowledge, and wisdom or experience, democracy is only a lip-service.
Leaders and citizens need to acquire a proper education and guidance from being a fetus and throughout childhood and adulthood.(parental and schooling guidance). Back2basic
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MAY, MY DEAR, AS ALWAYS YOU ARE WISE!.
I hope you are well!
You said: “Without strength, knowledge, and wisdom or experience, democracy is only a lip-service.”
I need some very bright people who are so ignorant that they are unaware of the lies. They read the Wall St Journal and believe the garbage being sold by the GOP. I cannot argue with anyone who supports Trump. That kind of ignorance is beyond anything I have ever encountered. I live in NY not Alabama.
I fear for us.
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My reply cannot be posted here. It is so weird!
Happy New year and all the best to you, my dearest spirit sister. Love from May
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On a positive note, they are not locking up or killing people and journalists for disagreeing with the NC state government or the governor. Democratic candidates are not being jailed on Trumped up charges. The NC secret police have not resorted to torture or disappearing political opponents? Or have they?
In the very beginning, only white male landowners could vote. Things have improved considerably since then. The people (males) were allowed to vote for senators beginning in 1913 and women got the vote in 1920. African-Americans were denied the vote for hundreds of years. Of course extra legal dirty tricks are still being played through gerrymandering, redistricting, underfunding polling stations in minority communities and other frauds.
We’re still stuck with the electoral college and the tyranny of the duopoly beholden to the plutocrats.
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Although the article is not very comforting, the comments offered about itare really horrible.
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Diane,
I’m an Associate Prof in Teacher Education and have been reading your work for years. I wanted to tell you that I am running for NC Senate against our Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger. I’d love for you to mention me in one of your blogs.
Jenmangrumfornc.com
Jen Mangrum
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Jen,
Good luck!
Please contact Carol Burris at the Network for Public Education, and we will get the ball rolling!
cburris@networkforpubliceducation.org
Berger needs to be booted out. Get Rev Barber and Public Schools First to Back you.
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I already have connections with Public Schools First. Do you know how to reach Reverend Barber? I know his support would mean so much not to mention his advice, but he’s extremely popular and I’m not sure how to get in touch with him. My email is jenmangrumforncsenate@gmail.com
My campaign manager is reaching out to Carol Burris!
Jen
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Diane, do you live in NC? We just moved to Concord, NC near Charlotte. Are there any like minded folks nearby?
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Mary,
I live in New York.
Reach out to Yevonne Brannon of Public Schools First N.C.
ybrannon@gmail.com
She will connect you to others who are standing up for the restoration of democracy.
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Thanks Diane. Just contacted her.
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The EIP ranked the U.S. too and reported “U.S. Elections rank last among all western democracies” We can thank the Koch brothers and their ALEC machine, the Walton family, the bought and paid for Republican Party, the Trumpists, et al.
“First, if we just compare a range of 28 liberal democracies, the V-Dem figures above confirm the basic argument which EIP has made consistently for many years: US election rank poorly compared with equivalent Western societies.The United States is clearly an exception. Moreover this is NOT about the 2016 election (or Russian hacking or Trump’s victory), as this contest is not included yet included in V-Dem’s data.”
https://www.electoralintegrityproject.com/eip-blogs/2017/1/7/its-even-worse-than-the-news-about-north-carolina-american-elections-rank-last-among-all-western-democracies
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