In France's two-round presidential system, Emmanuel Macron reached the presidency after winning just around 20% of votes in the first round, illustrating how two-round systems can produce leaders with limited initial mandates.
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At 16:00 · chapter starts 8:20
Jon walks through the mechanics of First Past the Post with precision: in a five-candidate race, the candidate with the highest single total wins regardless of how many people voted against them. With 200 votes versus a combined 600 distributed across four rivals, the 200-vote candidate takes the seat. Boris Johnson and Trump are cited as paradigmatic examples — both won decisive governing power with vote shares in the low 40s percent, and in Trump's case, fewer total popular votes than his opponent. The system, Jon argues, doesn't merely create distortion as a side effect — distortion is its defining feature. The hosts contrast this with Malta's STV, positioning FPTP as the benchmark of what Malta deliberately chose not to adopt.
Under First Past the Post, you can win a seat with 200 votes while the opposition splits 600 votes among itself and still loses. Boris Johnson and Trump both won decisive power with vote shares in the low 40s — sometimes lower. That's not a bug; it's the system working as designed.
Under First Past the Post, Boris Johnson and Donald Trump each won power with vote shares in the low 40s or even high 20s percentage range, illustrating how FPTP distorts popular will.
Malta's STV lets voters rank candidates across party lines — vote 1 for a Nationalist, vote 2 for a Labour candidate. In theory this is among the most democratic voting systems in the world. In practice, party loyalty means most voters treat it like a party list, wasting STV's full potential.
France's two-round presidential vote forces a runoff between the top two candidates, giving voters a second chance. But Macron reached the presidency having won just 20% in round one — he represents everyone's second choice, nobody's first. Is that more democratic, or just differently distorted?
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
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