Everyone knows that on November 4th of the year 2009, they will be hitting the polls to vote for the next president of the United States. However, very few know that they are indirectly voting. Instead, they are voting for the set of electors, a set of people that pledge to vote for a certain candidate.
If the majority of people in, say, my home state of Kentucky, vote republican (which they undoubtedly will) we will get our republican set of electors. These electors may have pledged to vote a certain way, BUT they do not have to vote that way. In fact, they don't have to vote for a candidate at all. There are electors who have voted for people not even on the ballot.
Obviously, there is something wrong with this process.
There is no law saying that they have to vote a certain way, but there should be. Without this critical component, the process has become disorderly and unfair. The Electoral College could possible be against majority vote, which is the basis of our country. We're voting for people who MIGHT in turn vote the way we think, isn't that just wrong? It's against the common good, and there should definitely be an amendment to the constitution to change our way of voting. This would protect the impact of the popular vote, and definitely make me rest easier knowing that my vote actually counts for something.
The Electoral College- Flawed and Ineffective
By nbdancer2009 - Posted on October 24th, 2008
Tagged: US politics
• Better future
sorry lol
There is an edit tab that you can hit at the the bottom of your blog so you can change it.
Yes, i do agree. The electoral college was set in place to prevent the uneducated or unaware voter from electing the "wrong" candidate.
However, what defines educated. Every U.S. now receives education until 16.
it is outdated.
The vast majority of our population is completely ignorant and half of it is stupid. Watch any "man on the street" interview on any network and you will be appalled by the level of ignorance coming from people who look intelligent and by the number who are just obviously stupid.
The big problem is not education but lack of innate intelligence. Half the population is stupid and no amount of education is going to fix that. The average IQ is 100 and a person with an IQ of 100 is not very smart. They say 110 is about the minimum to do well in college. Because 100 is an average, it means that about half of the population is below 100. These folks may have other qualities but there is no denying that they are stupid. I really don't think we can expect good government when we leave the choosing to the stupid who are easily decieved by lofty but empty words and sweet-sounding outright lies.
We should not only preserve the electoral college but we should return election of Senators to the State Legislatures as the Founders intended rather than the current public popular vote which has gotten us such dismal results. Then maybe we would get some statesmen rather than the current batch of air-headed demagogues whose only talent is talking.
The more we move away from being a Republic towards being a pure Democracy the worse our government gets.
Did you know that every 100 years the world's IQ increases by 1.
But that is not my point.
Politics is taught and has nothing to do with "innate intelligence" Children are required to go to school and are taught the basics of politics and general knowledge.
And these "stupid " people on the street are not really stupid, but do not value politics and do not invest in the time to understand the issues.
Much of the american populace is not interested in politics and contemporary issues because it creates conflict and tension. they are taught at a young age to avoid discussion of controversial topics like politics ,and are encouraged to discuss pity issues such as sports and entertainment instead.
In other countries many people are involved in their politics becuase they hold knowledge of politics as a great value and essential. This does not mean that they are all intelligent.
As bad as our government is, it is BETTER than most others around the world.
It does not matter that in other countries children are taught to be interested in politics and to hold these things as a "great value and essential". If the people are stupid, and that description fits about 50% of the world's population, than there is a high likelihood that even though they are involved and concerned they will end up with bad government. Stupid people are easy to decieve.
For example, people are very involved in politics in Pakistan. They have managed to turn their country into a train wreck.
We need more republicanism (politial philosophy, not the political party) and less pure democracy. The Electoral College may be flawed but it is a world better than putting the idiots in our general population in charge.