Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Old December 2nd 04, 04:08 PM
bpnjensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

m II wrote in message news:bzdrd.15127$cE3.9140@clgrps12...
-=jd=- wrote:

Ever hear the
phrase "The majority rules"? x


The Electoral College was installed to prevent just that from
happening. In that way, New York can't push North Dakota around.


Actually, there were two primary reasons for the electoral college.
One was similar to your argument, to ensure that populous states could
not automatically dictate to the less populous states what the federal
government would look like in the executive branch. This, back when
individual states were a lot more likely to reflect autonomous
patterns of government. Nowadays, things like slavery, which really
set apart states one from another, are much less common, and
homogeneity means that, except for patterns of industry, most states
are becoming more or less alike (if not there yet).

The other is that, back then, communication between states and the
federal government was slow, and persons from one area might not be
familiar with the candidates from another area. The electoral college
idea was thought to be a way of softening the effects of slow
communications and provinciality (I'm sorry, I am not able to explain
this well without a review in front of me), but in the 21st century,
with mass media controlling everything and information at most
everyone's fingertips (something the founding fathers could not
envision), this has become something of an anachronistic rule as well.

The Bill of Rights and the Constitution were written in such a way as
to protect the minority from the abuse of the majority.


....true, but noting always that the majority still decides the overall
course of action. Ultimately, majority does (in most cases) rule,
with concessions to the minority. Frankly, this is sensible - it
attempts to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number, without
walloping those who may otherwise be on the short end of the stick.

Whether the electoral college is still necessary to ensure this is
debatable.

Like the man said:
Real Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Added to by Edward R. Murrow:
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.


Both rather cynical, but then these are cynical times in which we
live.

Bruce Jensen


mike

Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The "Radio Revolution" and "Talk Radio" Mike Terry Broadcasting 1 January 10th 05 06:15 AM
Radio Ukraine International B04 tentative schedule Mike Terry Shortwave 0 October 11th 04 09:59 PM
R Ukraine Intl A04 Summer Schedule WA4009SWL Shortwave 0 March 17th 04 12:43 AM
Ukraine May Deny Radio Liberty Airtime N8KDV Shortwave 0 February 12th 04 11:42 PM
Radio Ukraine mike Shortwave 14 October 4th 03 06:41 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:48 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2025 RadioBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Radio"

 

Copyright © 2017