The United States is considered to be a flawed democracy. Twenty-nine other countries in the world are described as more democratic. See worldpopulationreview.com where Norway is ranked number 1.

So what is wrong with the United States? The constitution is a good place to start. The United States constitution, defining the first democracy in the world, was developed by a committee whose problem was to unite 13 independent states. The small states felt they would be overwhelmed by the large states within a combined country, so compromises were made to reassure them.

Today, constitutions around the world last an average of 70 years. Many countries have already replaced their constitutions once or twice. The United States constitution is the world's oldest at over 200 years old. Its flaws, to accommodate the fears of low population states, include the following.

• The Electoral College system distorts the votes for President by giving more weight to voters of low population states. For example, in the 2020 census, there were 68.5 people in California for every one person in Wyoming, yet California had 55 electors to Wyoming's 3, giving California only 18.3 times more Electors, not 68.5. The United States is the only country in the world with an Electoral College system. It should be abolished and the President chosen by direct popular vote.
• Each state is assigned two Senators, instead of a number of Senators based on its population, resulting in the Senate being very unrepresentative of the nation. The Senate's representation of the United States population would greatly improve if the Senate was capped at 100 Senators, with each State granted a minimum of one Senator. The largest States would be assigned a number of Senators based on their percentage of the national population. Fractions of a percent would be mostly rounded down except for the highest fractions. This would allow the small states to have one Senator each and still provide for nearly proportional representation of larger states.
• There is no rule against gerrymandered political districts within states. In some states, minority political parties have drawn political boundaries so extreme that they have permanently captured a majority of its representatives. States should be required to have independent Voting Commissions to draw impartial voting district boundaries.
• The members of the Supreme Court, once approved by the Senate, serve for life. There should be an 18 year term limit for each justice, with a new justice being selected every two years. This would ensure justices are not out of touch with the majority of the United States population. The Senate should be required to vote on each nomination within a fixed time period or the nominee would be automatically confirmed.
• It is impossible to convict an impeached President and thereby remove him from office because two-thirds of the Senate must vote in favor rather than a simple majority.
• There should be a requirement that no person may run for any elected Federal office or be appointed to any Federal office if they will turn 80 years of age before their term expires.
• The constitution is difficult to amend because the amendment process is based on needing three-quarters of the states to ratify an amendment. It should be based on the combined population of the ratifying states exceeding a threshold, such as 67% of the nation's population.
• The two chambers of Congress are allowed to ignore bills passed by the other chamber that are worthy of being discussed by the full chamber and would pass if put to a vote.
• The amendments section of the constitution specifically prevents the number of Senators from being changed from two for each state.
• Article V of the Constitution allows two-thirds of the State legislatures to ask Congress to call a convention to consider amendments to the Constitution. This method has never been done, but there are no rules for such a convention and States with a minority of the population could pass amendments not favored by a majority of voters in the country. Conservative States are close to doing this now, with 28 of 34 States already having requested a convention.