The Flawed Electoral College Voting Process
When Americans vote their choice for President, one would assume that these votes would be tabulated and the majority vote would win. But this is not the case at all. The Presidency is ultimately decided by the Electoral College, what William McClenaghan calls “one of the least understood parts of the American political process”(340). McClenaghan also defines the Electoral College as “the body that makes the formal selection of the nation’s President, from what the Framers intended into a `rubber stamp’ for the popular vote in presidential elections”(67). The original Electoral College did not succeed for very long, however; it only worked for as long as George Washington was President (328). In the election of 1796 a Federalist and a Democratic-Republican were paired as President and Vice-President. This happened because these two men received more electoral votes than their expected running mates. This is where the trouble started, but it has not nearly ended. There have been some cases where the popular vote of America was contradicted by the electoral vote winner. Every person in America is equal and should have the same authority in their voting. The Electoral College should be abolished not only due to its obvious flaws, but because all Americans should have the equal right to vote. No one governmental entity should have the right to decide the American people’s choice.
One serious flaw in the Electoral College system is that the popular vote winner does not always win Presidency. This is a result of two factors. “In each State the winning candidate customarily receives all that State’s electoral votes”(343). For example, in 1992 Bill Clinton received barely 50% to win New ...
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...rly History of the Electoral College, 1). This method cannot be the best if it has flaws. A group of selected people is expected to accurately represent and entire nation’s vote; that is an impossible task. It is obvious that the Electoral College has flaws, but it should be abolished moreover because it takes away American’s right to vote.
Works Cited
McClenaghan, William A. Macgruder’s American Government. Prentice Hall: Needham,
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Pierce, Neil R. and Lawrence D. Longly. The Electoral College Primer 2000. Yale
University Press: New Haven, CT, 1996.
The Electoral College: Critics Claim Democracy Tarnished, Issues and Controversies on
File. http://www.2facts.com/icof/search/i050290.asp
The Electoral College: Early History of the Electoral College, Issues and Controversies
on File. http://www.2facts.com/icof/search/i050290.asp
...le and defeating the Iroquois once and for all. Since Champlain was able to quickly develop a French-Indian alliance, founding the settlement of Quebec was easy and effective towards the beginning of New France’s future.
An analysis of the US and Canada’s systems reveals advantages and drawbacks within each structure. While it is apparent that both countries could benefit from the adoption of portions of the others system, Canada’s healthcare system offers several benefits over the US system.
Since Electoral system can change outcome of the election, it often misrepresent the will of citizens. In electoral system, candidate with most popular votes in states wins electoral votes regardless of difference in popular votes. That means, people living in urban areas support one candidate, they could easily mislead the result of popular votes. Smaller area with more population often drag result on one side than larger part with less population. Either it is a presidential election of 1888 or 2000 election, candidates with higher electoral votes happen to win against people’s popular votes. Candidate of election of 1888, Benjamin Harrison won seat in white house even if he lost popular votes because he carried electoral votes on his side. Furthermore, margin between electoral votes was less than one percent, but still Harrison became president despite of 100,000 popular votes difference! Election of 2000 came up with same scenario. Gore won people’s support but lost electors’; therefore he had to accept G.W.Bush as President. After all this, what we can believe is indeed, the Electoral College is such an unreliable representative of the...
Segal, Charles Paul. "Sophocles' Praise of Man and the Conflicts of the Antigone." In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
The United States of America is often touted as the guiding beacon of democracy for the entirety of the modern world. In spite of this tremendous responsibility the political system of the United States retains some aspects which upon examination appear to be significantly undemocratic. Perhaps the most perplexing and oft misunderstood of these establishments is the process of electing the president and the institution known as the Electoral College. The puzzle of the Electoral College presents the American people with a unique conundrum as the mark of any true democracy is the citizens’ ability to elect their own ruling officials. Unfortunately, the Electoral College system dilutes this essential capacity by introducing an election by
Chiasson, Pere A and Nicolas Landry. “History of Acadia.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion. 2012. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/history-of-acadia (accessed Feb. 18, 2012).
LaPierre, T. A. (2012). Comparing the Canadian and US Systems of Health Care in an Era of Health Care Reform. Journal of Health Care Finance, 38(4), 1-18.
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In the awe-inspiring play of Antigone, Sophocles introduces two remarkable characters, Antigone and Creon. A conflict between these two obstinate characters leads to fatal consequences for themselves and their kindred. The firm stances of Creon and Antigone stem from two great imperatives: his loyalty to the state and her dedication to her family, her religion but most of all her conscience. The identity of the tragic hero of this play is still heavily debated. This tragedy could have been prevented if it had not been for Creon's pitiful mistakes.
Birthright citizenship is the law that anybody born on American soil is automatically a natural-born citizen with rights and privileges regardless of the citizenship status of the parents. To some this is an issue known as immigrants making “anchor babies.” An anchor baby is an offspring of an illegal immigrant, who under legal interpretation becomes a United States citizen. Some republican politicians aim to change the 14th Amendment that grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” The interpretation of this amendment has caused many controversies but overall, birthright citizenship should remain
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Santirocco, Matthew S. "Justice in Sophocles' Antigone." Philosophy and Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. N.p.: Johns Hopkins UP, 1980. 180-98. Print.
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