Political Questions

I usually blog about words, books, and kids, so I hope readers won't mind that this post is off topic.
I've been thinking about politics lately for obvious reasons and have some questions.

Why do political parties exist at all? I don't think the Constitution mentions them, though it has been a few years since I took the Constitution Test in 8th Grade.

Who decided that seats in Congress should be arranged according to the political parties of members? Is that in the Constitution? If not, why not eliminate it?

And, why do the parties get to nominate candidates for the presidency? But, if they didn't do it, who would?

And, what about the Electoral College? Who decides who the members are? And what would happen if those members chose to vote differently than the majority in their states? If they can do that, then they have immense power and the USA isn't actually a democracy. 

If the Electoral College were to be abolished I guess we'd have to wait until every single vote had been counted to know who won elections. This year it would have taken weeks for us to get the results.

And why not count our votes according to the individual citizens instead of involving states at all? That way every person's vote would count the same.

I'd love to hear your answers and comments on these questions. Thanks.

Politics

Here in the USA as the Presidential Election approaches the news is full of politics.

I wish I had a bumper sticker that said "If you don't vote, don't gripe" because lots of people who complain all the time don't bother to vote.

Does voting by ordinary citizens really make a difference? Well, maybe only a very small one, but it's certainly more likely to influence how things are done than not voting.

Unfortunately almost nobody in a high political office is likely to vote for anything that offends the people who finance their campaigns. It would be nice if campaign donations were illegal and the government provided equal amounts for all candidates to notify the public of their qualifications and stands on political issues. But since the people who could make that happen benefit from the way things are now, that probably won't change.

I understand in Canada they have three major political parties instead of two so if there's a split the third party always breaks the tie.  Maybe someday in the US a third party will become equal to the two major ones, but that's not likely to happen in the near future.

Since there's no mention of political parties in the Constitution maybe it should be illegal for Congress to differentiate between them but, again, the people who have the authority to let that happen would be opposed to it so it won't be allowed.

Yes, our system is flawed in many ways, but ordinary citizens do have a voice and can make a difference in the world if we let our opinions be heard, and voting is one way we can do that.

Prejudice

Prejudice means assuming all members of a group are alike. Bigotry is a negative prejudice against a group of human beings.

Back in the 1960s and 70s a lot of people in America worked hard, trying to eliminate bigotry against minority races and, while it wasn't completely eliminated, the amount of bigotry was certainly reduced. Many in our society realized it was also wrong to be prejudiced against others because of their national origin, religion, or sex.

But today it seems leaders in the major American political parties are doing everything they can to create and encourage bigotry against each other. That makes it more and more difficult for our country to be governed fairly and justly.

How can we eliminate that problem?