900; not the 20,000,000 who have voted over the last two months.
1 man, 1 vote? Not so my friends.
As Mr. Orwell once said, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
Friday, February 15, 2008
Equality
900 people will soon decide who will be the Democratic presidential candidate.
900; not the 20,000,000 who have voted over the last two months.
900; not the 20,000,000 who have voted over the last two months.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Huckleberries
Until today, my experience with the word, Huckleberry, was limited to a blue dog that sang Oh My Darling Valentine when I was a child.
Imagine my surprise as I walked through the snow-covered town of McCall, Idaho this morning to find a store selling huckleberry syrup, huckleberry honey and huckleberry-flavored popcorn. Next door a candy store was selling huckleberry ice cream and chocolate-covered huckleberries.
So of course I bought a scoop of ice cream and wow was it good. Imagine the taste of fresh blueberries, but without any sourness. Even though I had never had one before, I immediately associated the huckleberry's aroma with childhood - a soft, warm, fuzzy smell.
When I asked the saleswoman if they were grown wild or farmed, she said a past time in Idaho is to go up into the surrounding mountains and pick huckleberries. When you find a good patch, you keep it a secret as long as possible.
I'm sure glad I found this treat before my vacation was over.
I wonder if they make huckleberry wafffles?
Imagine my surprise as I walked through the snow-covered town of McCall, Idaho this morning to find a store selling huckleberry syrup, huckleberry honey and huckleberry-flavored popcorn. Next door a candy store was selling huckleberry ice cream and chocolate-covered huckleberries.
So of course I bought a scoop of ice cream and wow was it good. Imagine the taste of fresh blueberries, but without any sourness. Even though I had never had one before, I immediately associated the huckleberry's aroma with childhood - a soft, warm, fuzzy smell.
When I asked the saleswoman if they were grown wild or farmed, she said a past time in Idaho is to go up into the surrounding mountains and pick huckleberries. When you find a good patch, you keep it a secret as long as possible.
I'm sure glad I found this treat before my vacation was over.
I wonder if they make huckleberry wafffles?
Monday, February 4, 2008
Real Democracry? Part 2
Ha ha ha, to those of you who asked me if I'd ever taken U.S. History.
(I'm happy to know more than one person is reading my blog.)
However, I must've been sick the day my instructor explained that when Americans vote, they are voting for Presidential Electors who have signed a piece of paper stating that they WILL vote for a certain candidate, BUT that they don't have to.
That's a lot of power in the hands of 538 people.
Let me ask this: Why are Americans voting for President at all? Why aren't the presidential candidates holding meetings with members of the Electoral College, swaying them to their side, rather than spending tens of millions of dollars on national ad campaigns? It appears the only purpose of the popular vote in the presidential elections is to create a facade of legitimacy?
I know, you all are asking, "But John, have you forgotten the elections of 2000?" No, I haven't forgotten that farce. My understanding is that Bush won, based purely on the mathematical consequence of how many delegates are awarded to the president based on which states he won - that's why the popular vote didn't matter. Some states had larger populations, but were given only a limited number of electoral votes. But with my new understanding of the political process, when the Electoral College voted 41 days later, they didn't have to listen to the popular vote of the Floridian election. If the electors had decided to vote for Gore, I'm sure there may have been riots in the street for disregarding the Floridian popular vote, but legally, Americans would have had no recourse to change those electors' votes.
Only Michigan and Minnesota have state laws in place to render invalid the votes of faithless electors (those who don't vote as they agreed to, when they applied to become electors). In 22 other states, there are laws to punish the electors after the fact, but once the votes are cast, they can't be changed. If America keeps the Electoral College as an institution, we should impose a federal law rendering all faithless electors' votes invalid.* It will provide a greater sense of legitimacy.
(*Except in the case of when a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated between the time of the popular vote and the Electoral College vote, which has happened twice.)
(I'm happy to know more than one person is reading my blog.)
However, I must've been sick the day my instructor explained that when Americans vote, they are voting for Presidential Electors who have signed a piece of paper stating that they WILL vote for a certain candidate, BUT that they don't have to.
That's a lot of power in the hands of 538 people.
Let me ask this: Why are Americans voting for President at all? Why aren't the presidential candidates holding meetings with members of the Electoral College, swaying them to their side, rather than spending tens of millions of dollars on national ad campaigns? It appears the only purpose of the popular vote in the presidential elections is to create a facade of legitimacy?
I know, you all are asking, "But John, have you forgotten the elections of 2000?" No, I haven't forgotten that farce. My understanding is that Bush won, based purely on the mathematical consequence of how many delegates are awarded to the president based on which states he won - that's why the popular vote didn't matter. Some states had larger populations, but were given only a limited number of electoral votes. But with my new understanding of the political process, when the Electoral College voted 41 days later, they didn't have to listen to the popular vote of the Floridian election. If the electors had decided to vote for Gore, I'm sure there may have been riots in the street for disregarding the Floridian popular vote, but legally, Americans would have had no recourse to change those electors' votes.
Only Michigan and Minnesota have state laws in place to render invalid the votes of faithless electors (those who don't vote as they agreed to, when they applied to become electors). In 22 other states, there are laws to punish the electors after the fact, but once the votes are cast, they can't be changed. If America keeps the Electoral College as an institution, we should impose a federal law rendering all faithless electors' votes invalid.* It will provide a greater sense of legitimacy.
(*Except in the case of when a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated between the time of the popular vote and the Electoral College vote, which has happened twice.)
Friday, February 1, 2008
Real Democracy? Part 1
Super Tuesday is on its way, so I thought I'd do some research about our democratic process. Did you realize the popular vote for President didn't exist prior to 1824? Also, our vote for the President of the United States is an indirect vote? That means Americans vote for Presidential Electors (ie the Electoral College) whose votes don't always reflect their constituents' preferences.
As stated on Wikipedia, "The constitutional theory is that the Congress is elected by the people, while the President and Vice President are elected by the states."
To say the least, I was very surprised.
As stated on Wikipedia, "The constitutional theory is that the Congress is elected by the people, while the President and Vice President are elected by the states."
To say the least, I was very surprised.
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