...Electoral College Debate Introduction As said by Juan Williams, a journalist for FOX News, “In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush, but still lost the election. The Supreme Court's ruling in Florida gave Bush that pivotal state, and doomed Gore to lose the Electoral College. That odd scenario - where the candidate with the most votes loses - has happened three times in U.S. history.” Although forty-five U.S. presidents have been elected and this scenario has only happened three times, it still leads to scrutiny, questions, and arguments about the effectiveness of the Electoral College. These disputes have gone on for quite a while as to which method of choosing the president is the best option. The electoral...
Words: 1269 - Pages: 6
...Chapter 6 Electoral College Assignment Explain the electoral college and its purpose as presented in the videos posted in the "Lecture and Video" tab. Do you think the electoral college is effective? Why? Yes I do believe the Electoral College is effective. I think the Electoral College is one of the most elegant systems in our republic. The key word here is republic and not democracy. We are not a true democracy in the sense that we are ruled by the will of the majority, but rather we are a constitutional republic that employs democratic methods. We have systems that check and balance power between the 3 branches of government, between states and the federal government and balance between majority rule and the rights of the minority. The people who are against the Electoral College are popularists. Meaning one vote per voter and the majority wins. This I believe ignores the right of the minority. If you want to abolish the Electoral College because it misrepresents votes, than why not abolish 2 senators for each state? Wyoming has as many senators as California has. The Senate has tremendous power in the legislature as the upper house. It can start legislation or it is the final deliberating body before a piece of legislation goes to the president’s desk. But it does not equally represent all the people, it represents the states. Also, even the congress has votes that require more than 50% to pass laws. Why? If a majority agrees, majority should win...
Words: 1590 - Pages: 7
...The Electoral College: How Our System of Elections Needs to be Changed Richard Brookman Metropolitan State University of Denver Author Note This paper was prepared for ENG 1020, Section 031, taught by Professor Clark. Abstract Article two, section one of the Constitution details the creation and operation of the Electoral College. Each representative of each state, both senators and representatives, cast a vote for the President based on the wants of their constituents. This is the basis for the Electoral College; however our forefathers had little insight into the problems that can arise from crafting a quick solution to the problem of electing the commander-in-chief. Over the past 200 years, many changes have been made to the Electoral College when a problem has risen to give us the Electoral College of today. The people of the United States have seen what the Electoral College has become and want the election process to change into a popular vote system. The popular vote system isn’t the answer. Only a combination of the two systems will help to give fair representation to all of the states, while keeping the essence of majority rule that the people desire. This system includes a single vote for districts that are won by popular vote, getting rid of the human form of electors, and using today’s technology to make it easier to maneuver through the complexities of the voting process. The Electoral College: How Our System of Elections Needs...
Words: 4853 - Pages: 20
...over the other two. The three branches that are based on the principle of separated institutions sharing power are the legislative, executive and judicial. Each branch has powers that it can use to check and balance the operations and power of the other two branches (Kelly, 2013, para. 1). What makes this system effective is that each branch must be willing to compromise to ensure the American people needs are put first and the safety and security of the nation is constantly being enforced. For instance in an attempt to limit the power that each branch could have over the other two, Congress which is divided into two houses provides a check on each other. The President can reject legislation, but he can be overruled by a two-thirds popular vote in both houses. The judiciary can lay out laws considered undemocratic (Powell, 1996). Therefore it becomes crucial that all parties involved learn to work together and put their difference aside...
Words: 2052 - Pages: 9
...ELECTIONS, ELECTORAL REFORMS AND POST- ELECTION VIOLENCE: PROBLEMS AND WAY FORWARD BY IRABOR PETER ODION DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, IGUEBEN, EDO STATE 07037830536. p24real2000@yahoo.com ABSTRACT In the contemporary world of today, elections have become the most accepted means of changing the government. Although history has shown that it is usually difficult to hold elections that are free and fair. But the importance of a good electoral act cannot be underestimated especially in a developing country like Nigeria where elections were reported to be marred by irregularities by foreign and local observers. It is on this basis that this paper critically observed, even with the electoral reforms carried out, the reasons why there were violence after the 2011 general election and recommended that adopting the basic part of the reforms, devolvement of power at the centre are other plausible way forward to true and sustainable democratic system in Nigeria. INTRODUCTION The electoral system of any given country plays a fundamental role in sustaining and moulding the political behaviour of its citizens (Okolo,2000). The way and manner election is conducted in a country goes a long way to determine the level of poltical culture, political participation and good governance in...
Words: 5044 - Pages: 21
...trace with the antiquity of voting. Voting for in determinations supports in providing underpinning on why society do not participate in voting. Analyses provide tangible influences with why societies do not vote with illustration clusters support. Discovery of behaviors will show the unabridged development with the existing system supports with the American community. The 2008 elections enquiry provides awareness with the diverse motives from highest to lowest. Giving some understanding on the origin of the unruly and outcome resolutions to battle these problems. Examination can transform that are currently in domicile and assuring voting contributions on the ability to speak on the issues and distresses. Observing at other countries for potential solutions to the problem can be one riposte for the United States voting delinquent. Using tads and shards can support with altering he existing classification that does not work. Without transformation, the voting contribution will endure to diminish. The history behind the voting in America helps wonder why this pass civil liberty has fallen to many Americans waist side in today’s world. As America was still an assortment of British colonies, voting was extremely restricted. the only properly owning white men were able to vote which left out women, poor white men, slaves and free black, native Americans and in some cities, Jews and even Catholics. It stewed depressed to white protestant men choosing supplementary wealthy white protestant...
Words: 5750 - Pages: 23
...The government's political and economic policies contributed to the rise of conservatism. Most notable of the federal reforms were initiated by liberal Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson and his Great Society schemes. His "War on Poverty" speech, delivered on March 16, 1964, called for a war on poverty to give people a second chance by spending millions on education, job training, housing, and healthcare. Johnson's intention was in some ways a conservative one. He wanted to give people a hand-up, not a hand-out and make them dependent on the money earned from taxing the more fortunate (Document A). Reflecting the liberal mood of the 1960s, voters flocked to the polls to vote for Johnson because in part by their faith in Great Society programs. Johnson received 61.1% of the popular vote and 90.3% of the electoral college vote and captured all but six southern states, traditionally Democratic "solid south", who were alienated by Johnson's advocasy for civil rights (Document B). The...
Words: 1212 - Pages: 5
...Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States, and he served two terms from 1829-1837. While serving as president Jackson was able to thoroughly assert his will on the nation while consistently retaining an overwhelming popular stature amongst the citizens of the U.S. Jackson’s presidency has been widely debated and analyzed in terms of its effectiveness compared to other U.S. presidents. Proponents of Jackson’s presidency point to Jackson’s ability to focus legislation that directly supported the “common man” as a representation of Jackson’s efficiency. Opponents of Jackson’s presidency look to the times that followed Jackson as disastrous and set up by an irresponsible and inefficient eight years in office. Andrew Jackson...
Words: 1178 - Pages: 5
...The College of Computer Studies of the Panpacific University North Philippines is conducting elections for the Computer Wizard Society (CWS) officers every year. Paper-based voting system is currently used in electing officers for the CWS elections, which is laborious, time consuming and is unsecured in terms of the accuracy of the election results. The effectiveness of e-voting system compared to the manual voting before, the CWS advisers will encode the names of the candidates with a circle before it, which will be shaded by the voters in a piece of small paper. These papers will be the voting paraphernalia that will be distributed in each classroom of the CCS students by the CCS faculty members. After the election, all the distributed paper ballots will be collected by the CCS faculty members and they will tally the number of votes gained by the candidates through manual counting and after that, the results will be given to the CWS Adviser who will then announce the newly elected officers. In order to resolve these situations, the technology of electronic voting (e-voting) comes into existence. By using information technology, e-voting system can cast and count votes with higher convenience and efficiency, even make the electoral procedures simple and reduce the mistake rate of ballot examination. The studies show that there are lots of advantages through the use of e-voting system. Some of its advantages are; it is faster and convenient to use, e-voting has higher security...
Words: 899 - Pages: 4
...and left her very poor, and James decided to stay with her until he was 16 and tried to leave on a ship in Cleveland, but was turned away and decided to work on a canal boat. After working for a few weeks, Garfield became ill and went back to his mother. While at her home, Eliza convinced Garfield to not return to the canal boat and instead go to school. Garfield attended Geauga Seminary from 1848 to 1850. During his time at the academy, he became interested in language and elocution because he liked how a speaker had power over an audience. In 1851 he began attending Hiram College, known as Western Reserve Eclectic Institute at the time, and met his future wife, Lucretia Rudolph, there while teaching her Greek. In 1854, Garfield enrolled at Williams College because he needed more knowledge and graduated in 1856. At the start of the Civil War, Garfield joined the Union Army, and proved his effectiveness as a leader while serving as a lieutenant and took part in the Battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga(James Garfield - Twentieth President of the United States). While serving, friends of Garfield tried to convince him to run for a position in the House of Representatives. He accepted but left the campaign to managers and in 1862, while still in the army, he was elected to the House of Representatives but was not interested in leaving the army until Abraham Lincoln convinced him otherwise. In Congress, Garfield became frustrated with President Lincoln over his lack of reparations...
Words: 1581 - Pages: 7
...ITALY COUNTRY BRIEFING updated at May 2009 Forecast May 26th 2009 From the Economist Intelligence Unit Source: Country Forecast | | | | Outlook for 2009-10 • Italy's right-of-centre coalition government, led by Silvio Berlusconi, faces a major challenge to limit the impact of the global crisis on Italy's rapidly deteriorating economy and keep its fragile public finances under control. • Government cohesion will be hindered by divisions in the ruling coalition, but the Economist Intelligence Unit expects it to remain in office. Mr Berlusconi has a comfortable parliamentary majority and the centre-left is in disarray. • GDP contracted by 1% in 2008. Our baseline forecast is that it will contract by a further 4.6% in 2009 and by 0.6% in 2010. • The fiscal deficit is forecast to rise from 2.7% of GDP in 2008 to 5-5.5% of GDP in 2009-10. The public debt/GDP ratio is expected to be about 120% by the end of 2010, up from 105.8% in 2008. • Much larger deficits cannot be ruled out as our forecast assumes that the minister of the economy, Giulio Tremonti, will resist pressure for tax cuts to boost the economy and interest rates do not rise sharply. • Inflation (EU harmonised measure) will average 0.6% in 2009 and 0.9% in 2010, well down on 3.5% in 2008, reflecting weak demand and lower commodity prices. Monthly review •...
Words: 4193 - Pages: 17
...Democracy & Constitutionalism in South Asia: The Bangladesh Experience Gowher Rizvi Ash Institute for Democratic Governance & Innovation Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Today democracy is a universal aspiration. Even the military dictatorships and authoritarian communist regimes seek to cloak themselves with democratic trappings and pretensions. To judge by the list of countries those that have held some sort of ‘popular elections’ to validate their regimes, there are very few governments around the world that would not be termed democratic. Under the rules of electoral head counting it would perhaps be impossible not to accord democratic status even to states like Iraq or Pakistan or North Korea. The leaders in all of these countries and numerous others have sought to legitimize their rule through varying degrees of popular ‘mandates’ and ‘endorsements’. Yet very few of these countries would actually be considered democratic if they were subjected to the more rigorous tests of constitutionalism. Popular elections and renewal of popular mandates are essential, but not sufficient, conditions for democracy. At best, a free and fair popular election is one step in the process of a constitutional democratic government. Constitutionalism, like democracy, is a dynamic and complex concept that is constantly evolving. Although there have been changes in emphases and its nuances, the core of constitutionalism has remained constant over time: constitutionalism is about...
Words: 14729 - Pages: 59
...DECENTRALIZATION, GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC SERVICES THE IMPACT OF INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Omar Azfar, Satu Kähkönen, Anthony Lanyi, Patrick Meagher, and Diana Rutherford IRIS Center, University of Maryland, College Park September 1999 Table of Contents 1 2 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................1 IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZATION ON PUBLIC SERVICES: THEORY AND EVIDENCE ............................................................................................2 2.1 Theory.............................................................................................................................................. 2 2.1.a Allocative Efficiency............................................................................................................... 2 2.1.b Accountability ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.c Cost Recovery ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Evidence........................................................................................................................................... 3 3 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PERFORMANCE OF DECENTRALIZED SERVICE PROVISION...................................................................................5 3.1 The Political Framework..........
Words: 15520 - Pages: 63
...IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 1, Ver. X (Feb. 2014), PP 01-08 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org Home Video Films and Grassroots’ Relevance in Nigerian Political Process 1 1,2 Alawode, Sunday Olayinka (Ph.D), 2Sunday, Uduakobong AdebolaAdegunwaSchool of Communication, Lagos State University, 21 Olufemi Street, Off Nathan St, Surulere - Lagos Abstract: The Nigerian home video films have been used to address a myriad of existing and emergent problems because of its distinctiveness and popularity;as a popular art in Nigeria, this study was undertaken to investigate the consideration of the grassroots in the Nigerian political process from the eye of the home videos. The theoretical framework employed was agenda setting with content analysis as the method of research. The results reveal that the grassroots are not given credence as a key factor in the films except as means to justify the ends of the political class and players in the political process. The roles of the grassroots in the political arena are mostly depicted significantly as thugs, assassins, villains, prostitutes and others who are involved in different kinds of undesirable practices and vicious acts. Such portrayals could be contributory to politics often being described as ‘a dirty game’ with the grassroots increasingly having apathy to political processes and creating the divide of ‘them’ and ‘us’; where ‘them’is the political class and ‘us’...
Words: 6680 - Pages: 27
...Republic of the Philippines HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Quezon City SIXTEENTH CONGRESS Second Regular Session HOUSE BILL NO. 4994 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE BASIC LAW FOR THE BANGSAMORO AND ABOLISHING THE AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO, REPEALING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9054, ENTITLED “AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN AND EXPAND THE ORGANIC ACT FOR THE AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO,” AND REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6734, ENTITLED “AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ORGANIC ACT FOR THE AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO,” AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled: PREAMBLE We, the Bangsamoro people and other inhabitants of the Bangsamoro, imploring the aid of the Almighty, aspiring to establish an enduring peace on the basis of justice in our communities and a justly balanced society, and asserting our right to conserve and develop our patrimony; In consonance with the Constitution and the universally accepted principles of human rights, liberty, justice, democracy, and the norms and standards of international law, reflective of our system of life prescribed by our faith, and in harmony with our customary laws, cultures and traditions; Affirming the distinct historical identity and birthright of the Bangsamoro people to their ancestral homeland and their right to self-determination – beginning with the struggle for freedom of their forefathers in generations past and extending to the present – to chart...
Words: 26005 - Pages: 105
