So many people have fought and even died fighting (in their own country and at the hands of those who are supposed to protect us, and they did so) for the right to vote and we who have made no such sacrifices have benefited from their efforts and yet, so many of us choose again and again, not to vote.
Many people feel (and are) disenfranchised by the process. I say VOTE ANYWAY and become involved by making your concerns and demands for a better process heard.
I can’t imagine that those people who choose not to vote believe that the outcome will be a good one. Or do the bastards think that the rest of us can do it without them? You know, one person = one vote. Knowing that the majority of us are in the same boat and should be able to vote for OUR benefit makes me happy… and then I remember two things that really piss me off. First, that damned carrot that has been dangled in front of us by the ultra wealthy. You know which carrot I’m talking about; the one that suggests that we have the chance to become wealthy, too. Most of us (even secretly) hope for this. Who knows, we could win the lottery! Greed drives us to vote in favor of the wealthy and against the poor (yes, against ourselves), because after all, we don’t want to have it hard once we become wealthy, too. Second, can you say ELECTORAL COLLEGE?
True… we have the right to vote and we vote for the president and vice president we want, but it’s just for show. We don’t choose who our president or vice president will be. Check it out if you don’t believe me: Article II of the Constitution section 1. Also, see the Twelfth Amendment. Lastly, the United States Code, Title 3, Chapter 1.
I think the Electoral College should be disposed of. Do you agree with me, or with the many people who think that we aren’t capable of making important decisions and should leave it to Congress, because after all, it’s just too much work?
How we have gotten this far is certainly not because Congress has looked out for our best interests. If you want something, you have to fight for it. If you don’t want to fight for it, just step back and stay out of it, but never step up with the attitude that voting to give away our rights makes you (in any way) patriotic.
There's an exciting effort to make it happen - the National Popular Vote plan for president... check out www.nationalpopularvote.com
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank both Cynthia and Susan for the information about the National Popular Vote. I read the information and at the risk of sounding lame, I have some questions to which I would appreciate a response.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the National "Popular" Vote bill is intending to make sure that everyone's vote will count in every presidential election, right?
Second, this bill is claiming that it can do so without eliminating the "Electoral" votes, right?
Third, what purpose would there be in continuing to count "Electoral" votes, UNLESS of course, those votes will continue to be given more consideration than any single vote coming from the rest of us?
Lastly, if the "Electoral" votes are still given more consideration, then what will change? That is the situation we currently have; an unfair balance in how the votes are counted. If this bill doesn't ensure "ONE VOTE PER PERSON," then what are we gaining by passing it?
Please, let me know if I've missed something here and what that is. It seems that bills are written to be intentionally lengthy and indirect so that the reader will give up efforts to comprehend them, only to assume the bill's purpose. I don't want to assume. I need clarification because I don't want my vote to do harm.
I appreciate your response and want to thank you ahead of time for your help...
Thank you,
Shannon
The National Popular Vote bill is short (888 words) and easy to read:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/888wordcompact.php
Abolishing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment. The process for amending the U.S. Constitution does not reflect the will of the people. A federal constitutional amendment favored by states containing 97% of the people of the U.S. could be blocked by states containing 3% of the people.
The National Popular Vote bill is an agreement among enacting states to award their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The purpose of the National Popular Vote bill is to eliminate the state-by-state awarding of electoral votes and instead award a majority of the nation's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states (and DC). It is the current state-by-state awarding of electoral votes that permits a second-place candidate to win the White House. It is the current state-by-state system that makes votes unequal in presidential elections. It is the current state-by-state system that makes three-quarters of the states politically irrelevant in presidential elections. Under the state-by-state winner-take-all rule, candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, or pay attention to the concerns of states where they are comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind. Instead, candidates concentrate their attention on a small handful of closely divided battleground states.
Under the National Popular Vote plan, the focus of the campaigns and media in the months prior to the presidential elections will be on polls of the national popular vote, not on state-by-state polls from a handful of closely divided battleground states. There will be no red states and no blue states, only the United States.
Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. Candidates would need to care about voters across the nation, not just undecided voters in a handful of swing states.
The National Popular Vote plan changes the Electoral College from an obstruction of the popular will to a ratifier in that it would always elect the candidate who has won the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.