Twin Cities' National and Global Image

[Tom H.]

A very sobering way to look at the US government is this: only one-half of one branch of government is truly a democratic institution.

The Supreme Court is clearly not democratic in any way - appointed for life by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The President is elected by an electoral college, which often aligns with the popular vote but frequently does not.
The Senate is consitutionally gerrymandered, as stated above.

Which leaves the House of Representatives as the only truly democratic institution in our system of government. One half of one-third.

[BikesOnFilm]

As much as I loathe when people say "We're a republic, not a democracy" to complain about the structure of our government, the truth is we did set it up in a way that minimized the potential for direct democracy.

And while we had success in the 19th and 20th centuries making reforms that moved us closer (the direct election of senators, universal suffrage, voting age set to 18, etc.), the election of a patently unqualified President who shows no deference to established norms is illustrating the issues with the rest of the system that always existed but functioned fine as long as the honor system held.

Hopefully the backlash to this leads to long overdue reforms to start moving some of those institutions closer to how they should look under a democracy.

[amiller92]

As much as I loathe when people say "We're a republic, not a democracy" to complain about the structure of our government, the truth is we did set it up in a way that minimized the potential for direct democracy.

People on the right say that in defense of our antidemocratic institutions (e.g., Senate, electoral college) or obstacles to voting/system disenfranchisement of certain groups.

As you say, it should be a distinction without a difference.

[Tom H.]

Pure democracy is difficult to implement in a nation as large as ours, but deviations from democratic values should have the burden of justification on them. Why does it make sense for Wyoming's 700k residents to have as much representation in the Senate as California's 40m residents? Can it be justified without making reference to discussions between 18th century statesmen who didn't even know whether California and Wyoming existed? (Probably preaching to the choir here, I know.)

[mattaudio]

Makes sense once we think of the federal government as a constituency of the states just as much as it is a constituency of citizens. Maybe the problem is that we've let the federal government become far too powerful, and this problem can be solved by returning power and moving function to the state level.

[amiller92]

Aside from civil rights, the federal government isn't really all that powerful vis a vis day to day happenings on the ground. It is hard to see a better history that left the Black population of the south behind.

[DanPatchToget]

For those of you who have traveled to different countries, how do you answer when someone asks where you're from? My response is sometimes Minnesota, United States, but I've tried to go more with Minneapolis, United States since I think there's a slightly better chance people have heard of Minneapolis, although even then I think it's been about a 50/50 chance they know of Minneapolis.

The much more difficult question to answer from foreigners is what is there to do in Minneapolis. First thing that comes to my mind when I get that question is Mall of America, since I think that's the main draw of foreign travel to here (I could be wrong on that though). Besides that, all there really is to mention is we have a bunch of parks and lakes, and I'll admit to them that we're not the most exciting place to visit. I'm definitely not the greatest at promoting Minneapolis to foreigners, but I guess I'm just being honest. To me Minneapolis is a place for foreigners to visit if they somehow get bored of the giant U.S. cities, they want to visit somewhere off the beaten path, or they want to see the Mall of America.

[Wezle]

I usually say that I'm "from Minnesota in the United States". Might follow up with Minneapolis. Don't want to come off as the American who assumes foreigners know every state without including the name of the country. We've definitely had some high profile incidents in the last decade, but even then who knows what percolates through the news on another continent.

If I were from California, Texas, or New York? Then it'd probably be different.

[BBMplsMN]

I usually say I’m from Minneapolis. If I get a blank stare, I say it’s near Chicago.

[Didier]

I’ve said this before, but downtown Minneapolis is surprisingly lacking in tourist attractions. We have some nice restaurants and the riverfront, but there’s only one museum in the downtown core (Mill City). Limited shopping. Trip Advisor’s top 10 downtown attractions include city hall, the Foshay Tower and the Chain of Lakes, which aren’t downtown. So unless you’re going to a sporting event or theater show, what do you do?

If you were to bring a family to one of our downtowns for the weekend, St. Paul has more options.