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Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 18:51:09 -0800
From: Jim Bearden <•••@••.•••>
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To: •••@••.•••
Subject: Re: cj#1153> Why rig an election if the outcome is irrelevant?
"Richard K. Moore" wrote:
...
> Another outcome, quite likely, is the abolition of the
electoral- college system. I'm not sure that would make a
decisive difference in anything, but it is one more step
away from locally-based democracy, and one step closer to
totally centralized advertising campaigns in place of
political campaigns.
Richard--
While I agree with most of what you wrote in this message, I
find it strange that you would believe that abolition of the
electoral college is "likely". The electoral college favors
small states over larger ones (based on the ratio of voters
to electoral votes, for example, a vote in Wyoming is
considered to be 3.5 times as important as my vote, in
California); rural and suburban (read "white") voters over
urban (read "black and brown") ones; and in this election,
it favored the (more corporate-friendly) Republicans, since
Gore got most of the large states, won the popular vote, but
is apparently going to lose the electoral vote. It also
serves to lock out minority parties-- Nader should have
gotten 2 of California's electoral votes, based on the votes
he got here, but he actually got none. It would take a
Constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college,
supported by 2/3 of each house of Congress and 3/4 of the
states-- in other words, a large majority of major-party
politicians, and of smaller states, would have to vote to
give up their own advantages under the present system. I
don't expect this to happen any time soon...
Jim Bearden
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Dear Jim,
Your logic is sound but your assumptions are flawed. You are
assuming, for example, that American politics is party
politics, which was somewhat true a decade or two ago, but
isn't any longer. Both parties serve corporate interests and
the fake competition every four years is simply a circus
designed to create the appearance of a democratic process.
One could easily construct an argument like yours to prove
that NAFTA could never have been passed. NAFTA was bad news
for workers, farmers, and union members, and yet Democrats
were pushing it through. By your kind of argument, they
shouldn't have been. There's no real connecton anymore
between voting records and getting elected, nor any real
competition among parties. Elites pick a candidate from
each party to run against each other, and then they make up
some issue to run on, designed to raise emotions, and not
related to any kind of legitimate political logic.
It is clear that direct election is preferred by corporate
interests, because that reduces elections to a tv campaign
targetted at big-city populations. But that in itself
wouldn't lead me to think something was afoot. The signals
are in the media, whose job it is to prepare us for planned
changes. And the media has been making a big deal about the
electoral college. You can see the results in the next
posting...
rkm
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Delivered-To: moderator for •••@••.•••
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 09:23:27 -0500
From: Nurev Ind Research <•••@••.•••>
Organization: Nurev Independent Research
To: Activist Mailing List <•••@••.•••>,
Conspiracy Theory Research List <•••@••.•••>
CC: "•••@••.•••" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: 61% Want Direct Elections
November 21, 2000
Most Say Fraud Played Election Role
61% Want Direct Elections
Sixty percent of Americans say voter fraud and illegal activities
played a role in Election 2000. A Portrait of America telephone
survey found that just 20% disagree.
While the focus in Florida has been on Democrats’ concerns
about a recount, Republicans are somewhat more likely to
believe that fraud affected the votes in this election. 67% of
Republicans say there was fraud compared to 58% of
Democrats.
Most, 58%, say that when election results are close there
should be an automatic recount, 27% would not like a recount,
4% are not sure.
When it comes to the Electoral College a full 74% of Americans
say they understand how it works but a majority, 61%, would
like to see the President elected by all Americans in a direct,
nation-wide election, only 33% would prefer to have the
Electoral College elect the President, 6% are not sure.
Rasmussen Research conducted this national Portrait of
America telephone survey of 991 adults on November 21,
2000. The margin of sampling error was +/- 3 percentage
points with a 95% level of confidence.
---<snip>---
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Richard K Moore
Wexford, Ireland
Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance
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