Comments on: Making a Case for Rapid Reform https://commonsenseworld.com/making-a-case-for-rapid-reform/ Thoughts on Politics and Life Tue, 24 Jan 2017 17:22:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.32 By: Ken Grandlund https://commonsenseworld.com/making-a-case-for-rapid-reform/#comment-22 Thu, 13 Jan 2005 23:41:00 +0000 http://annafiltest.wordpress.com/2005/01/13/making-a-case-for-rapid-reform/#comment-22 (response to chris gilliland)

I anticipated that this question would arise and am glad you asked it. The short response is that a fundamental reworking of our voting system is in order to better ensure all votes are at least counted and meaningful. As mentioned, the founders unstated assertion regarding the freedom to be left alone probably guaranteed that only those with the most to gain or lose would actually control the government.

Allowing individual voting really just gives the appearance of democracy in the winner-take-all type of system. Though asserting that the electoral college system offered a more fair way for lesser populated states to be given a voice, in actuality, the electoral college system just provided a way for those in power to keep power by bargaining with each other for the next chance to be top dog.

But on a more local level, individual votes do count. The politics of local governments are supposed to be non-partisan, the elections taking place without the aid of national parties, and the candidate with the most votes taking the seat.

By this method, individuals can let their wishes be known through their support of a candidate with similar viewpoints. Since these local politicians often move up through the ranks into state and national government, it is important to select Common Sense individuals to fill the entry level positions.

Once you’ve removed the politically corrupt from the first level, you can move on to the next. But remember, in our divided political structure, it becomes ever more difficult to find and embrace someone who has the public good at heart AND is willing to stand up for the public good.

Look for some more concrete common sense ideas regarding how to find and elect candidates in an upcoming essay on this site.

Thanks for reading and please come back.

kg

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By: Chris Gilliland https://commonsenseworld.com/making-a-case-for-rapid-reform/#comment-21 Thu, 13 Jan 2005 22:28:00 +0000 http://annafiltest.wordpress.com/2005/01/13/making-a-case-for-rapid-reform/#comment-21 Mr. Grandlund,

It is clear that our so-called Democracy in the United States needs reform. Government positions are being filled by candidates who are voted in often by 51 to 49 percentages, while 40-50% of the voting population goes unaccounted for(they do not vote). Meanwhile, most landslide victories in local elections only turn out that way, because either the candidates run unopposed or against unknown challengers, without proper coverage and exposure. Tell me how Judiciary positions have been filled by votes essentially offered randomly. Does anyone know who these people are? Or even how to find out?

In your essay, you suggest that we can achieve Rapid Reform by “replacing the existing government with one that is more responsive to the people.” How do you propose for this to happen? It is pretty obvious that the founding fathers were not very interested in the voice of the common American by setting up the Electoral College system for the National vote. A system so flawed that it pretty much guarantees our division as a people in this country. Each state’s votes are handed over entirely to the party with the most votes, so if the numbers were as close as they were in Florida in 2000, nearly 50% of those who voted have their votes count for zero, because the all electoral votes go to one party. In addition, the candidates campaigning for our votes only focus on the states where the vote is expected to be tight, such as Ohio this past November. Again, this creates disjointed priorities. For example, a foregone conclusion Blue state such as California will be ignored by both major candidates because the Democrats believe they’ve already won all of the electoral votes in our most populous state, while the Republicans refuse to waste money on a hopeless cause. The net result is that our candidates essentially campaigned in a tenth of our states last year. This sytem is flawed and will never allow our individual votes to really mean very much at all. The frustration that this can cause simply leads to more disenfranchisement and lessens our chances for a truly representative and benign government. Your ideas are very thought-provoking and full of Common Sense, but are they attainable in reality? Or will it take some sort of uprising, conflict or horrendous tragedy to bring about positive change? As a closing reminder, the 9/11 atrocity found the United States with a tactful sense of unity along with more goodwill worldwide than we’ve maybe ever had, and what did we do with that? We now have the Patriot Act (a maasive loss for individual privacy, a war based on false threats (Iraq) and we’ve undone 100 years of world diplomacy. It seems like a hopeless cause.

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