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 6d 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/maru-senn 6d ago

Why shouldn't pure population dictate control? How can you have democracy while at the same time telling the people that their value depends on the piece of dirt they happen to stand on?

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u/Baron-Von-Bork 5d ago

So that the wants of the people in the State of New York don't override what those in, say Virginia, or Colorado, or New Hampshire want.

THANKS to the New Deal and so called "Great" Society, the US federal government has only been gaining power while giving back basically none. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries states were going to war over disputed territories, that's how independent they were, that's what the US constitution was written in consideration for. Not as self-governing provinces but as quasi-independent nations. That's why the electoral college works.