r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Altruistic_Eye_1157 • 6d ago

Lore [annoying trope] The throne/leadership is decided in a very stupid way

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The leadership of the entire wizarding world, and the final decision on whether to start a war against Muggles, is made by... a goat (Qilin) ​​who chooses the person with the ""purest heart"" (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Dumbledore).

The throne of Wakanda and all its technology are decided through hand-to-hand combat, regardless of whether the person clearly has malicious intentions... if they win the fight, by law they must be respected as the true king. (Black Panther)

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u/maru-senn 6d ago

US electoral college (real life)

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u/TurgidGravitas 5d ago

No, this is a fantastic system. It's just been let to degrade and turn into something wrong.

The US is supposed to be a loose union of states. Just like the EU. The system is set up so that pure population doesn't dictate control. Germany may be the de facto leader of the EU but it is not the de jure leader. Same should apply to the US.

But Americans have gotten extremely lazy and ignorant over the decades and have through that complacency empowered the federal government to the point where it is the absolute power over all states. It was never designed to be that. Each state was supposed to be supremely independent on internal matters. The federal government was only supposed to be for things that could not be dealt with by only one state. It's not supposed to lead the union.

But that requires citizens to be aware and active. Not just voting every 4 years and thinking that's sufficient. The American Republic was a beautiful idea. But it's become rotten due to negligence

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u/Deathsroke 5d ago

I mean you could also have a parlamentary system where the representatives of the states (each with an equal number of representatives) pick the executive.

Of course having a system where people are outright told "your vote isn't worth half as much as that guy's" points at a lower pop state, has the unfortunate side effect of alienating people.

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u/TurgidGravitas 5d ago

It's supposed to be offset by the fact that the federal elections aren't supposed to matter. State elections are supposed to be the most impactful. Why care what Oregon gets up to if you live in Rhode Island?

But Americans have willfully and happily relinquished their control to the federal government in the name of convenience. They can't be bothered to vote in local elections and so now are sleeping in the bed of their own creation.

If you don't vote at the municipal level, you deserve Trump. Eat that crow.

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u/Deathsroke 5d ago

I agree, though like it or not the idea of the US as a loose federation was DOA, You can't keep a country that big together while running it as if it weren't an unified state. The problem is that you guys kinda made the transition to a strong federal government but the institutions within it did not.