Power is a very delicate force and must be distributed properly. Much like wealth, power concentrates to a select few and tends to stay in that select group. The 2000 presidential election is an example of this where George W. Bush was elected president. The film, Fahrenheit 9/11 presents a view where our 43th president, with the help of many powerful political figures, was able to ignore the wishes of many people and remain as president of the United States. America, with all its touting as a democratic state, is an illiberal democracy with all the power consolidated into the few in Washington. The 2000 presidential election was rocked with scandal and lawsuits focusing on Florida and W. Bush. The race was between George W. Bush and Al Gore with the final votes resting in Florida. There were disagreements over who won the vote resulting in many lawsuits in Florida which eventually ended up in the Florida Supreme Court. The final vote was 5-4 in favor of Bush granting him the 43rd presidency. …show more content…
There were many instances of conflict of interest during the campaign such as having his brother as the governor of Florida, having the chairman of his campaign also be the vote count woman in Florida and having family friends in the Florida Supreme Court. His many connections to people of power is clearly evident of an oligarchy like government at play. The film insuates all of these people played a role in turning the election in his favor, even going through illegal means to do so. An example would be his chairman disenfranchising people based on whether they would vote for him or not. Having family friends on the court also made it extremely easily to rigged the decision in Bush’s favor. This all showcases how the power is within the very
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won a seat in the White House. He lost popular votes because he carried electoral votes on his side. Furthermore, the margin between electoral votes was less than one percent, but Harrison still became president despite the 100,000 popular votes difference! Election of 2000 came up with the same scenario. Gore won people’s support but lost electors’; therefore he had to accept G.W.... ...
On November 8, 1988, Republican Presidential candidate Vice President George H. W. Bush was elected as the forty-first President of the United States of America. Bush defeated Democratic challenger Governor Michael Dukakis by a ratio of a bout six-to-five. 49 million people voted for Bush, netting him 426 electoral votes while 42 million voted for Dukakis getting him 112 electoral votes. Strangely, a man not even running for President received an electoral vote; Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic Vice President Nominee) received one electoral vote from the state of West Virginia. Bush's victory was also a victory for the Republican Party, but the Democrats received a similar victory in that they retained control of both the House and the Senate. The presidential election as a whole was a negative race, with an abundance of personal attacks (mainly instigated by Bush). The election of Bush in 1988 confirmed the Republican domination of presidential politics for another four years.
The election took place on Nov 7, 2000. Under our electoral college system each state votes for our new president separately, a winner is then declared in each state and is awarded “electoral votes” that is equal to the states number of representatives in the House and Senate. Gore led Bush 266-246 and 270 votes are required for victory. Florida with 25 electoral votes did not have an official winner because the result was inside of the margin of error for machine counting.
As mentioned before, Trump and Clinton choice two different paths, the establishment vs the outsider. As the polls showed leading up to election day, Clinton was the projected winner, yet Trump still ended up winning (Polls Florida Presidential Race, RealClearPolitics). On the flipside, the Senate race showed Rubio winning, when in fact he did, at a remarkably close percentage that was predicted by most polls. As far as Florida in the Presidential race, Trump’s victory seems to have come down to the amount of time spent in the state as well as the issues he choice to champion, which helped bring out the working class. For Rubio, it was his promise to work with either winner and his perceived dedication to the state, despite the attacks the Democrats sent forth when the Senator missed making votes within the Senate as he pursued his Presidential
George Mason explains that when a man has power, he does not use that power with discernment. Once that power is in his hands, he will only crave for more. The nature of power to man is to utilize that power and gain more and more. Mankind are selfish and will only focus on their interests first and forget about the interests of people. A man will do whatever it takes to gain that power. Power is like an addiction, once you acquire a little bit of it, you will only want more. In summarization, man is currently power-hungry and has been power hungry from the beginning of time and will continue to be power-hungry till the end of ages. For this a government is needed and a constitution that all people will be able to comply with and this is the biggest safeguard. Everyone, regardless of their position will have to follow the constitution. The constitution keeps everything fair and is a good safeguard because with this no one will be oppressed and no one will be able to get too powerful either, so it's balanced and fair to everyone. Today this system is valid, because in the current news you can see that people are still very power-hungry and
Bush was running against the democratic representative of John Kerry. This time around, Bush had won most electoral votes as well as the popular vote.
The Founders built certain protections for individual rights into this country's founding documents. The United States Constitution was one such document. In particular, such protections guard Americans who hold minority viewpoints from those who side with the majority. For example, the First Amendment protects the right of free speech to ensure that people who hold unpopular views have just as much freedom to express those views as do people who tend to agree with the majority. The United States Constitution, therefore, was intended to protect the individual rights of Americans from a tyrannical government and majority. However, today, the Electoral College does not represent the vibrant democracy into which the United States has grown.
The United States is governed by a democracy. According to Dictoinary.com, democracy is “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system” (Dictoinary.com). This means that instead of having a supreme ruler, the citizens of a country have the right to vote for and choose their elected officials who will ultimately make the decisions for them. The benefit of a democracy is that depending on the public’s opinion, they can influence the government to run the way they want. This form of government provided the public with a great amount of freedom, yet is can potentially slow down the efficiency of governmental decisions. In order for a democracy to function well, public opinions must be somewhat similar to avoid gridlock. A democracy is good for public freedom, but must possess certain characteristics to provide effective results.
The Bush V. Gore case was one of the closest elections in presidential candidacy history, as it ultimately decided the 2000 presidential nomination between Texas governor George W. Bush and vice-president Al Gore (time.com) The case was conclusively decided on former Texas Governor, George Walker Bush, in a precise presidential vote, effectively naming Bush the 43rd president of the United States (time.com). The court’s decision was correct with the siding of Bush because the Majority Opinion argued that the Florida’s vote recount was unconstitutional according to the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. For the Dissenting Opinion, the case could be argued that if the ballots were not polluted on Florida’s side of the vote, there would have been a accurate outcome of the votes. The case could be argued that the deadline for the recounts was placed in an unrealistic timeframe to fully complete the manual recounts in the select four Florida counties.
The United States of America is a republic, or representative democracy. Democracy, a word that comes to us from Greek, literally means the people rule (Romance, July 8). This broad definition leaves unanswered a few important details such as who are the people, how shall they rule, and what should they rule on (July 8). Defining the answers to those questions means defining a model for a democratic system. William E. Hudson defines four such models in his book American Democracy in Peril: the Protective, Developmental, Pluralist, and Participatory models of democracy (Hudson, 8-19). Of these models, perhaps Participatory comes closest to an ideal, pure democracy of rule by the people (16-19). In practice, however, establishing a stable ideal democracy is not entirely feasible. In a country the size of the United States, it quickly becomes unwieldy if not impossible to have direct rule by the people. To overcome this, the compromise of the representative system allows the people to choose who will rule on a regular basis. The political culture that defines American politics shows that despite this compromise, America is still very much a democratic society.
show that Bush would have won Florida either way if there was a recount. However later studies also showed that if the undervotes and overvotes were recounted, Gore would have won Florida but his legal team did not take any action. Sadly after 36 days of recount fighting for the Florida recount of votes, “Gore gave the presidency to Bush on December 13, 2000” (CNN Politics). However, Gore had great chances of reclaiming Florida especially if his legal team took action on the -16,000 votes and the fact that there were 360,000 votes that were not even counted but Gore did not want to fight and instead gave the presidency away.
Keeping the three branches and system of checks and balances prevents absolute tyranny from grasping control of our nation. Additionally, allowing for a dictatorship goes against everything America stood for during its creation. As a democracy, the United States needs to grant a voice to the people, because their opinions need considering when the federal government addresses issues. Moreover, balancing power and responsibilities amongst the government system makes it less prone to error and helps prevent dictatorial intentions. However, despite the fact that using only one branch allows for a more efficient system, our U.S. government still divides power as the founding fathers intended, so everyone gains representation and a voice, while
Bush did win the election thanks in part to the timing, the location, and the tall order facing the Democrats in 2000. The Republican Party stole the 2000 Presidential election. The reasons why I make this assertion is, the Presidential election of 2000 was the perfect storm for the Republican Party with the state of Florida as the star. John Bush, a Republican and the brother of George Bush, was the Florida Governor. The Republicans held the majority of the state’s votes at the end of the initial vote count, which meant the burden of proof of foul play was on the Democrats. The voting system in Florida was bad and very much needed to be overhauled. Both the State Courts and the United States Supreme Court found themselves not wanting to overstep their bounds as they flipped-flopped rulings and laws. The ticking clock did not allow for justice. The magnitude of what was at stake did not seem to warrant an impartial solution. Instead political party spats in the courts, in the media and all over the state of Florida ensued. In the end, the United States Supreme Court ruled to end the dilemma, and that ruling gave the Presidency to George W. Bush. All of the political jargon was just a waste of the country’s time, and any real attempt at justice by the Democrats proved to be futile due to the perfect
The American government prides itself on the foundational principle of democracy which allows individual voices to be heard. Afterall, the roots of power in our nation stem from the people. The Constitution was established to ensure the balance of powers among the federal government, state legislature, and the common people. Time, however, has worked against the American people in the battle towards democracy. The idea of a governing body drawing its power directly from its constituents has been undermined by the corrupt nature of modern politics where politicians act out of self-interest. While the Constitution and later amendments had every intention of securing basic liberties, certain limitations later undermined the original intentions of the founding fathers to give power back to the people by placing the larger majority of power in the hands of the state.
In his documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11”, filmmaker Michael Moore demonstrates his recognition to revealing numerous deceptions intended by President George W Bush. Moore presents George W. Bush using the 9/11 terrorist attack for his own personal attainment and advantage. As a result of the 9/11 attack, George W. Bush manipulates this major event for financial gain. Moore quotes President Bush, “There's an old saying in Tennessee. I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says: Fool me once... shame on...shame on you...if fooled, you can't get fooled again.” This insinuates that when tricked once, associated with the 9/11 attack, President Bush professes his assertion to never be deluded again. In President Bush's use of the 9/11 tragedy, he deceives the American people through his gain in rank, and political wealth upon derived foreign oil.