[Vision2020] Presidential Elections

[Don Kaag]

Tom:

Here are some of the other thoughts you solicited.

I agree with Doug on choice in U.S. presidential elections.  From my 
perspective, the "choices" offered to me by the two party system in the 
U.S. have been no choice at all.

I am 59 years old, and was born while FDR was still president.  I began 
voting at the age of 21, and I have never missed exercising my 
franchise.  I have never voted FOR anyone for president that I thought 
reflected my view of what America ought to be, and have rather felt 
compelled to vote AGAINST what I saw as the worst of two evils.

John Nance Garner, FDR's second vice-president, once said, "There's not 
a nickel's worth of difference between the Republicans and the 
Democrats", and in many respects he was right.

It has almost come to the point where if a politician indicates 
interest in being president, he should not be allowed to run.  The 
political whoring and compromising to raise the money to run, and to 
obtain his party's nomination, and then to win the election  brings 
someone into the Oval Office that has already given up any pretense of 
doing what is for the short-term or long-term good of the country for 
the more practical goals of paying off his political debts and getting 
reelected to a second term.

Now that Republicans also spend money like drunken sailors, there is 
precious little difference that I can see between them and the party 
that pretends to be concerned about poor people, but whose party 
apparat is full of rich ones that look on the nation's poor as a "safe" 
voting bloc, and an underclass best amused with bread and circuses.  
It's pretty much a wash.  There is something critically wrong with a 
system which fails to attract the best and brightest of us to public 
service---and there are bright, dedicated, hard-headed, qualified, 
citizens out there---and instead presents us with either minor league 
lawyers or the the scions of political dynasties like Al Gore and 
George W. Bush as our choices for the highest office in the land.  Our 
founders fought a revolution to get shet of a hereditary aristocracy, 
and they must be turning over in their graves.

If I didn't have abiding faith in the ordinary, decent, people of this 
country, and if I didn't truly believe in what this country should 
stand for, rather than what it is, I would be in despair.

Regards,

Don Kaag




On Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 10:28 AM, thansen@moscow.com wrote:

> Douglas Wilson stated:
>
> "The last presidential election where Americans had a real choice to 
> go in one
> of two opposite directions occurred a long time before I was born."
>
> Please elaborate.  Every federal presidential election in which I have
> participated since I was of voting age (and that has been several days 
> ago) has
> clearly consisted of at least two choices (and in some cases three or 
> more).
>
> In my opinion for presidential election results to truly reflect the 
> peoples'
> choice is to eliminate the electoral college and base the outcome 
> stricly on
> popular vote.  In the event that a candidate does not attract the 
> majority vote
> (defined as 50% plus one), there should be a runoff between the top two
> candidates.  It is clearly that simple.
>
> Any other thoughts?
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow,
> Idaho
>
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