Yeah, “serious” cycling — a sport where a $1k bike barely qualifies as a bike, $5k gets you something rideable, and $10k gets you a pretty decent bike — is so anti-consumer!
(I love cycling, and I’ll defend spending more on my power meter pedels than I would spend on a decent used bike. More bike lanes everywhere please!)
Right. But I think it’s a mischaracterization to represent the EC as a “technicality,” as it’s very central to the way voting in the USA works. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s stupid and should be abolished, but it’s very much ingrained in the voting system.
I think I’d counter your example — keeping the sports theme — by saying it’s like the World Series: it doesn’t matter if there are three absolute blowouts, all the matters is who wins four games. So you could easily win the World Series, but have fewer total runs across seven games (game = EC votes, runs = popular).
(Again, I think the EC should absolutely be abolished.)