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[at-l] Case closed
IN MY OPINION THIS IS OFF TOPIC, CAN YOU REALLY CLOSE THIS CASE.
Or open it off list. thanks!
HIKER7s
"Charles Copeland"
<charles@uswnet.com> To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent by: cc:
at-l-admin@mailman.backc Subject: Re: [at-l] Case closed
ountry.net
11/13/02 09:12 AM
Please respond to
"Charles Copeland"
Felix wrote:
"When a man can get fewer votes than his opponent and still be elected
president (electoral college), I choose to not vote."
That tells me you believe our country is a democracy when it isn't. We
have
a "Constitutional Republic" in which we have a Constitution that defines
our
system of government and provides us with protected rights and in which we
elect representatives to "be our voice". Unfortunately, as the
"representatives" get further away (city council, county commission, state
rep, state senate, US house, US Senate, President) they typically represent
*us* less and less and begin to represent their party or their benefactors
more and more. George Washington, in his farewell address, was so worried
about party politics that he stated "The spirit of party serves always to
distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration. It
agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,
kindles
the animosity of one party against another, foments occasional riot and
insurrection.".
As for the mechanism of electing the person the farthest away (President),
it is designed so that the majority *cannot* always rule. Otherwise,
California, Illinois, and the Northeast states (NY,NJ...) would always
elect
the President. With the Electoral College, each state has a chance equal
to
its number of representatives to cast votes for President. Until 1913 when
the 17th Amendment was passed, the Senate was elected by a similar
mechanism. Senators used to be elected by the US House Representatives
from
each state. Only since 1914 have they been popularly elected.
The Founding Fathers were paranoid about "majority rule/minority rights"
and
were determined to protect the ability of a minority of members (of
Congress) to still be effective. The first line of the First Amendment
states "Congress shall pass no law...". No matter what the majority is,
Congress cannot change the Bill of Rights. This was written because people
like Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton did not believe that the common
man
was capable of governing himself. Hamilton once stated in 1787 that "The
people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.".
Ben Franklin was asked outside of Independence Hall in 1787 what kind of
government was being created and he responded "A republic, if you can keep
it".
It is up to us to "keep it". It is up to our vote to "keep it". We've been
able to keep our Republic for over 200 years. We have survived wars both
internal and external. We have survived political and economic turmoil and
upturns and dowturns and challenges of every description. While we may
have
individual differences and political differences, we have survived. We
have
survived for many reasons - one of them is because we have a system that
allows us to differ - yet still be a single nation. We have survived
because people have also taken the time to vote.
Charles
--
Felix J. McGillicuddy
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/
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