[Vision2020] Presidential Elections
Tim Lohrmann
timlohr@yahoo.com
Wed, 16 Jul 2003 21:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
Don,
I agree, the system you mention would be the best
reform.
Otherwise, all a candidate would need to do is
promise to bail California out of its multi-billion
dollar deficit and maybe toss a couple of other juicy
bones their way. He/she would likely get upwards of
65% of the CA vote for that pandering. The rest of the
popular vote needed would be easy just on the basis of
party affiliation or some other issue.
The two states are Maine and which other?
TL
--- Don Kaag <dkaag@turbonet.com> wrote:
> Tom:
>
> Here's another idea vis a vis the "Electrical
> College". It does serve
> a purpose, and that is to involve the several States
> in the
> presidential electoral process and to give states
> with small
> populations, like Idaho, some say in the outcome.
>
> The problem is that 48 of the 50 states are "winner
> take all", i.e., if
> California votes 51% for a candidate, all of the
> state's electoral
> votes go to the winner, effectively disenfranchizing
> 49% of the state's
> electorate. The other two states apportion
> electoral votes (each state
> has the same number of electoral votes as they have
> representation in
> the Congress... two senators and however many
> representatives each...)
> based on the vote in the respective voting
> districts, so it is possible
> to, for example, have Idaho have two electoral votes
> for one candidate
> and two for another, or one and three.
>
> That seems to me to be a laudable change that more
> accurately reflects
> the real popular vote, but still keeps the Electoral
> College in the
> equation, as the Founders intended. Completely
> doing away with the
> College would almost completely marginalize the
> votes in a state our
> size.
>
> Regards,
>
> Don Kaag
>
> On Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 03:14 PM, Bob
> Hoffmann wrote:
>
> > Yo, Don! Mega Dittos!
> >
> > At 01:18 PM 7/16/2003 -0700, you wrote:
> >> 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
> >>>
> >>> ---------------------------------------------
> >>> This message was sent by First Step Internet.
> >>> http://www.fsr.net/
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>
_____________________________________________________
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> Internet,
> >>> serving the communities of the Palouse since
> 1994.
> >>> http://www.fsr.net
> >>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> >>>
>
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> >>
> >>
> >>
>
_____________________________________________________
> >> List services made available by First Step
> Internet, serving the
> >> communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> >> http://www.fsr.net
> >> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> >>
>
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> >
> > Bob Hoffmann
> > 820 S. Logan St.
> > Moscow, ID 83843
> >
> > Tel: 208 883-0642
>
>
>
_____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step
> Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>
> http://www.fsr.net
>
> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
>
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