With an upcoming test in government class, it's up to Twilight Sparkle to explain the intricacies of the US election system.
"This story is great! Just great! The best thing I've read, and I've read quite a lot."
- Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States
"This story can be described by three letters: G-O-O-D. Good!"
- Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 46th President of the United States
"This story should be required reading for all students in the United Kingdom. It is important for them to understand our partner in the Special Relationship."
- Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
"This proves elections in Russia are better."
- Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation
"The greatest essay on politics in America since the Federalist Papers."
- Dr. Larry Sabato, Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia
Pretty charming.
11775737
I really treaded carefully. I didn't want to start a firestorm between pro-Biden and pro-Trump people on the site.
Dreadnought
This story is approved by The United Allied Territories (UAT) Alliance And By the department of Administration for Seansworld
(Message approved for sending by Sean and The EMTs)
I didnt know that!
11775740
Good idea
Just hope nobody says anything
regulate the chat HEAVILY
Indeed!
...at least that is if you dont do the democracy route in equestria at war
11775764
So does that mean that Nightmare Moon was legally Celestia's equal for the whole period?
11775773
True
11775740
Avoid a shitstorm between brain-dead idiots you mean, since neither of those two are good presidents.
11775898
Whether they are good is something to be determined by the voters. On second thought, as my story illustrates, not really.
I actually learned something by reading this :)
Thank you for this excellent fic good sir/ma'am/person.
A certain group of tea-hating patriots would like to have a word with you. 🇺🇲
11776052
Not to sound unpatriotic, but if you think about it, the Boston Tea Party is perhaps the most celebrated case of vandalism in history. It's almost as bad as the Carrie Underwood song "Before He Cheats".
Dreadnought
11776052
In any case, America's system definitely could use some refining as it's become clear its...good-intentioned, but imperfect. And the imprefections are starting to drag it down.
Oh, I dunno, this "tea-hating patriot" sometimes wonders if Equestria's onto something.
Too real.
In fairness, a lot of all this was driven by compromises made long ago. The Constitutional Convention didn't have a lot of good examples of non-monarchy countries to work from, and the current arrangement they had been living under was even more messed up. Elected primaries are actually fairly recent. The invention of radio, television, and the internet each upended the entire system...
Well, at least they covered all of this in the AP American History and Government classes. Y'know, for us nerds.
And even then... it doesn't quite work out like the box says it should. 
Of course, I remain firmly convinced that the only reason the Equestrian monarchy (Dyarchy? Quadrarchy?) works as well as it does is because the Princesses are essentially immortal demigods... and even then I'd bet on it being a constitutional monarchy.
But enough of that. This was flipping fantastic. I kind of want to cover the judicial branch part of it now...
Hmm... Maybe a sequel is in store?
11776084
I've already promised two other stories to other people, including Admiral Biscuit. But after those are done....
11776084
Then comes the shenanigans that is the Senate and House of Representatives.
As an American, I approve of this story.
11775773
Would explain the stars that aided in her escape.
11775898
Unfortunately, there are no other options
unless Trump is in prison at the time of the electionnope, there's no rule saying that he can't be elected while in prison and then pardon himself. I wish I was kidding.Incidentally, the checks and balances built into the system mean that the bigger idiot would actually do less damage. That was probably what allowed him to get in back in 2016, the idea that they both wanted terrible things but Clinton was good enough at politics to accomplish them and Trump wasn't.
11775898
Neither situation is ideal I admit. While I do think one side is objectively better, I will do my best to keep my bias from showing.
11776233
Actually for your second point, it's technically a good thing you can run for president from prison so you can't just stick your political rivals in jail to ensure you win the election.
There is actually a 1974 memo dealing with the self-pardon scenario because of Richard Nixon. An individual cannot act as a judge in their own case is the long and short of it , so no he cannot pardon himself.
https://www.justice.gov/file/20856/download
Is this just going to be more orange man bad?
I think I understand even less now than before I read this. Which means you did great!
REALLY good work on the dialogue, characterizations and general wrap-up. And, yeah, I can understand why Twilight would find explaining politics to be extremely difficult. But as frustrating as the political system can be, it is still (usually) a lot better than a forceful, violent takeover. Though Equestria only lucked out because the Princesses are benevolent. If they were as nasty as the likes of Hitler, Stalin or what have you (just with A LOT more magical power to make them even more dangerous and much longer life spans), then Sunset would gain more appreciation for the (usually) relatively less violent political system AND for the deal concerning term limits.
But, anyway, Happy Holidays to you and your family and friends.
11779052
Thanks for the feedback. You mentioned a setup for future installments. I intended this as a standalone, but may do something in the future based on how things unfold. I just want to steer middle of the road- don't want to tick off Republicans or Democrats. But given the state of affairs and that people are taking their politics way too seriously, that's hard to do.
I hope that you have a great holiday season as well. The military has me working over the weekend and on Christmas, but at reduced hours which is nice. But it should give me some time to finish writing my entry in the Jinglemas event.
11779253
Fair enough. That was a mistake in my typing anyway. I get too used to posting responses in a certain way and I phrase it wrong. And I completely understand. I actually just meant general wrap-up. I'm man enough to admit when I goofed.
And the story actually WAS quite good.
11779264
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't want it to feel like a civics lecture. I just hope that my Jinglemas story turns out well. It's hard to write under a time limit. But then again, if I didn't have a deadline, I'd probably spend months writing and rewriting.
Dreadnought
Never in my life would I have thought that I would learn so much about our election system on a mlp fanfiction site, of all places. Thank you for this 🫡
11793428
It's sad how
screwycomplicated our election system is. Glad I could help!Dreadnought
I'm not American so I don't get it… Isn't Sunset right?
11869411
Ah, I thought everyone overseas was laughing at our education system. Last time I checked, we were at the bottom of nearly every category for industrialized nations. Having gone through the public education system myself, I can attest that it leaves much to be desired. And it's only gotten worse since Covid.