Electoral College Reform
Since the fiasco that was the Presidential Election in the year 2000, many Americans have been calling for a reform of the Electoral College. Most of these people were Gore supporters; disillusioned by the fact that Bush won the office of the President while, in fact, he lost the popular vote. The American people did not elect George W. Bush; the Electoral College did.
Last year’s circumstance was the first of its kind in over a century. There have been many close elections, but none have resulted in the popular candidate losing to his opponent. The Electoral College cast the final vote in that election. The people who went out to the polls in November, many of whom believing that they were indeed voting for president, did not.
The Electoral College was established in a compromise between a direct election system, supported by James Wilson, and a system whereby the President would be chosen by congress, supported by Edgridge Gerry, in Article II, Section I of the United States Constitution (Houser, 2). It is a group of ‘electors’ who are nominated or appointed by each party within each state however they choose, who have pledged their loyalty to one candidate. In fact, it is the electors for whom we vote on Election Day. The Electoral College is comprised of 538 members representing the number of the total number of members of the House of Representatives and Senate and three electors representing the District of Columbia. A presidential candidate must have a majority of electoral votes in order to become president.
In December of a presidential election year, the electors meet in their state capitals to cast their vote for President. In theory, this vote is intended to increase the majority of the already popular candidate. Despite recent events, this is usually the case.
Although, it is remotely possible in a very close election that there will not be one candidate receiving 270 electoral votes, in which case the House of Representatives chooses the President. In this scenario, each state has merely one vote each to decide the presidency out of the top three contenders for the office. The Senate chooses the vice-president out of the top two contenders.
Many people feel that this system is outdated, unfair and/or biased; that it should be replaced with the popular voting system. Unfortunately it is not as simple as...
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...ates would be wary of passing any amendment that would be disadvantageous to their respective states. However, this is a hurdle that we must cross in order to maintain legitimacy in our political system. A platform of “A Vote For Every American” should pass the lips of every elected official until this problem is rectified. Americans must work together to solve this problem, allowing a new and better system to give way for a fair and just system of electing the next United States’ President.
Bibliography
Beck, Paul Allen and Hershey, Marjorie Randon. Party Politics in America. 9th Ed. Longman, New York, NY. 2001.
Kienitz, Paul. Options for Electoral College Reform. http://www.gning.net/electoral.html 11/4/01.
Houser, Brian. The Electoral College: Not a School, a Problem. May 24, 1984.
How The Electoral College Works. Federal Election Commission. www.fec.gpv/pages/ecworks.htm 10/20/01.
Romulo, Beth. Should the Electoral College be Reformed? December 5, 2001.
Sung, Ellen. Time to Reform the Electoral College?. July 27, 2000. http://www.policy.com 11/6/01
Why the Electoral College Should be Abolished. ElectionMethods.org http://www.electionmethods.org 11/6/01
The Electoral College is a system where the President is directly elected. This process has been used in many past elections as well as the current 2016 election. This process also helps narrow down the large numbers that were made by the popular votes, into a smaller number that is easier to work with for electing the President. Some states use a system called “winner-takes-all”, which is another system that is connected with the Electoral College. This allows a candidate with the most electoral votes, to get the rest of the votes that the state provides.
The Electoral College has been the favored method by the United States to elect the president for many years. When the College was first created in 1787 it was seen as an efficient and reliable way to vote the president into office. It has been more than 2 centuries since this method of electing was chosen, and many things have changed in U.S. society. The Electoral College is failing to keep up with these advancements in society and a new method must be chosen soon. Throughout the almost 2 and a half centuries since the beginning of the Electoral College there has been a large change in population.
The Electoral College can be a bit confusing to understand. It was created by the founding fathers and according to the History, Art & Archives, U.S House of Representatives, “…established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the United States.
The Electoral College was created by the framers at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. They believe that it wasn’t a good idea for the people to elect the president directly because they did not trust that voters would have enough information to make a good choice. The Electoral College basically chooses who the next president will be since it takes away our freedom to vote away. The Electoral College should be abolished because it’s undemocratic, the small states are overrepresented, and it hurts third parties.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 gave birth to the Electoral College system. The Electoral College system can be briefly described as a system where voters are able to vote for candidates(electors) on election day. Electors then cast their vote for a candidate in their respective party. Our Founding Fathers described the electoral college system in Article
The Electoral College Should Be Abolished Many years after the United States was founded, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself; they later came to settle on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a system in which the president and vice president are chosen indirectly. In general, the delegates did not believe that a direct popular vote was acceptable, however that it should be decided by the US senators and representatives instead. The way in which it works: a candidate must receive a majority of the electoral votes to be officially declared president. If no candidate obtains a majority, the US Representatives selects the president from the top three contenders; this means each state receives
Originating in 1787, the Electoral College was created as the official body within American politics that elects the president and vice president. The decision of who will win is based off the vote totals in each state, and “the founding fathers established it in the constitution as a compromise between election of the president by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.” (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, “What is the Electoral College?”). During this time, the job of the Electoral College was to make peace between differing states and federal interest groups, provide popular participation in elections, give a vote to less populated states, and keep the president’s powers separate from Congress.
As the United States of America gets older, so does the presidential election voting system. The argument to change this method of voting has been becoming more and more popular as the years go on. It has been said that the Framers of the Constitution came up with this method because of the bad transportation, communication, and they feared the public’s intelligence was not suitable for choosing the President of the United States. Others say that the Framers made this method because they feared that the public did not receive sufficient information about candidates outside of their state to make such a decision based on direct popular vote. My research on this controversial issue of politics will look into the factors into why the Electoral College exists and if it is possibly outdated for today’s society. It will look into the pros and cons of this voting system, and it will explore the alternative methods of voting such as the Direct Popular vote. Many scholarly authors have gathered research to prove that this voting system is outdated and it does not accurately represent the national popular will. Many U.S. citizens value their vote because they only get one to cast towards the candidate of their choice in the presidential election. Based on the Electoral College system their vote may possibly not be represented. Because of today’s society in the U.S. the Electoral College should be abolished because it is not necessary to use a middle-man to choose our president for us. It is a vote by the people, all of us having one voice, one vote.
In the play Antigone, Sophocles writing can be very controversial. He explains different perspectives of justice through the fates of the characters in the play. Creon and Antigone both would claim to have the law and Gods on their sides. They bring acceptable evidence for their reasoning to be true for their thought of the right way to carry out justice. Creon is certain that his ability to be king will justify leaving Polynices unburied. On the other hand Antigone sees justice as the ability to bury her brother. Conflict explodes with their inability to compromise over what is the definition of justice. Justice has a different role to play in any individual’s life because gender differs from man to women and society sometimes looks down upon women. Justice should be served and women should have the same divine rights that men do.
Antigone is determined to bury her brother because of her loyalty to her family and to the gods. She believes that no mortal, such as Creon, has the right to keep her from her own. Even if Antigone must die during the burial, she will not disgrace the laws of the gods. She believes that she has to please the dead much longer than she has to please the living.
Americans do not vote for their presidential or vice-presidential candidate. Instead, they indicate their preference of candidate. Whichever candidate gets a plurality of the vote in a state gets all the Electors for that state. Each state's number of Electors is based on the number of Representatives and Senators it has in Congress. Once a candidate gets a plurality, the Electors vote in the "Electoral College" (a sort of caucus in their state six weeks after the election) for that candidate. So a candidate who gets just one more vote than the other in a given state wins all the votes from that state. Notably, although it is called a College, the Electoral College is a process administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It is not a particular place (NARA 1).
Today, political parties can be seen throughout everyday life, prevalent in various activities such as watching television, or seeing signs beside the road while driving. These everyday occurrences make the knowledge of political parties commonly known, especially as the two opposing political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. Republican and Democrats have existed for numerous years, predominantly due to pure tradition, and the comfort of the ideas each party presents. For years, the existence of two political parties has dominated the elections of the president, and lower offices such as mayor, or the House of Representatives. Fundamentally, this tradition continues from the very emergence of political parties during the election of 1796, principally between Federalist John Adams and Anti-federalist Thomas Jefferson. Prior to this election people unanimously conformed to the ideas of one man, George Washington, and therefore did not require the need for political parties.1 However, following his presidency the public was divided with opposing opinions, each arguing the best methods to regulate the country. Ultimately, the emergence of different opinions regarding the future of the United States involving the economy, foreign relations, ‘the masses,’ and the interpretation of the Constitution, led to the two political parties of the 1790s and the critical election of 1800.
Leonardo began painting the last between 1494 and 1495, however it was not completed until 1498 (Kindersley 58). The last supper is one of the most studied and famous and painting in the world (karystek). The painting represents the scene of The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, as it is told in the Gospel of John, 13:21. Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. (Pomilil 116) .This famous painting also picks out that one of Jesus’s followers was actually a woman (karystek). Many believe that it was the young John without a beard, but in fact it was Mary Magdalene. She was in fact Jesus’s wife that his disciples tried to hide from knowing the truth about her. (Pomilil0 116). Leonardo actually was the leader of a secret group called the Priory of Scion (karystek) According to the Da Vinci Code it was the priory’s mission to keep Mary Magdalene and Jesus’s marriage alive and not to get out in the open
Firstly, I will look at the character of Creon, as his denial of Polyneice’s burial rites is what acts a catalyst for Antigone’s actions. The story begins with a conversation between Antigone and her blood-sister Ismene discussing the tragic deaths of their two brothers. Antigone tells her sister of the two brothers fate, that one’s body is to be respected, while the other is “to have no lament, but to be left buried and unwept” (Sophocles. Antigone.20-30). This initial event is what ignites Antigone’s determined mindset to find her brother and honour him with the proper rites of the dead. However, some scholars argue that Creon is well within his rights as the ruler of Thebes to deny certain persons a proper burial. Kerri Hame and Vincent Rosivach in their analyses on Antigone both argue this idea. Hame (2008, 7-8) notes the legitimacy of Creon’s claim to not have Polyneices buried – if he were not on Theban soil. Rosivach (1983, 193) highlights the refusal to bury traitors and temple robbers, referen...
Employee engagement, a term devised by Gallup research group, is viewed as an important management tool for any company who wants to be an effective and productive organization. Researches have shown that employee can contribute positively to the organization vision and goal when a company engage them effectively. The employee will also feel more passionate about their work and have a sense of belonging.