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Thursday, November 29, 2007
R.I.P Fair Elections
I probably can't get any more cynical about our election process. Before 2000, I believed that my vote counted. At least a little. Up to that point, I thought that the only thing that got in the way of one human/one vote was the electoral college. I am no longer so naive.
This is an important article:
This is an important article:
The Plot to Rig the 2008 US Election
by Johann Hari
from The Independent/UK
excerpts below
to read the complete article, click here
In the long, hot autumn of 2000, the world was shocked by the contempt for democracy shown by the Republican Party. They knew their man had lost the popular vote to Al Gore by half a million votes. They knew the majority of voters in Florida itself had pulled a lever for Gore. But they fought - amid the confetti of hanging chads - to stop the state's votes being counted, and to ensure that the Supreme Court imposed George W Bush.
Today, that contempt for democracy is on display again. In California right now, there is a naked, out-in-the-open ploy to rig the 2008 presidential election - and it may succeed.
...Today, the Republicans are trying to exploit the discontent with the electoral college among Americans in a way that would rig the system in their favour. At the moment, every state apart from Maine and Nebraska hands out its electoral college votes according to a winner-takes-all system. This means that if 51 per cent of people in California vote Democrat, the Democrats get 100 per cent of California's electoral votes; if 51 per cent of people in Texas vote Republican, the Republicans get 100 per cent of Texas' electoral votes.
The Republicans want to change this - but in only one Democrat-leaning state. California has gone Democratic in presidential elections since 1988, and winning the sunny state is essential if the Democrats are going to retake the White House. So the Republicans have now begun a plan to break up California's electoral college votes - and award a huge chunk of them to their side.
...They have launched a campaign called California Counts, and they are trying to secure a state-wide referendum in June to implement their plan. They want California's electoral votes to be divvied up not on a big state-wide basis, but according to the much smaller congressional districts. The practical result? Instead of all the state's 54 electoral college votes going to the Democratic candidate, around 20 would go to the Republicans.
If this was being done in every state, everywhere, it would be an improvement. California's forgotten Republicans would be represented in the electoral college, and so would Texas's forgotten Democrats. But by doing it in California alone, they are simply giving the Republicans a massive electoral gift. Suddenly it would be extremely hard for a Democrat ever to win the White House; they would need a landslide victory everywhere else to counter this vast structural imbalance against them on the West Coast.
I checked out California Counts' website (calcounts.com) where they list the problems with the electoral college in CA:
* In 1988, Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis received 48% of the vote, but received ZERO electoral delegates from California.
* In 2004, Republican nominee George Bush received 44% of the vote, but received ZERO electoral delegates from California.
* It has been over 30 years since presidential candidates have actively sought the votes of Californians. Without this reform initiative, they will take us for granted again in 2008.
Excuse me, but this is the same thing that happens in EVERY state. Why only change California??? (heh heh heh... as if I didn't know...)
Labels: 2008 elections, scam
posted by Carol at 9:57 AM
4 Comments:
I feel the same as you.
2008 will be interesting...
I'm in favor of that system (awarding electoral votes per % of vote), but only if it's done nationwide. As it stands, a person can be elected President (winning 13 biggest E.C. states), while he completely ignores the desires of 37 other states!!
Yeah, the electoral college would be more of a fair system if it would work with % of votes IN ALL STATES. But if it works that way only in CA, it will become less fair, not more.
Then we still have the problem with the machines...
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