Sunday, April 08, 2007
Election Reform has a hidden agenda
I received a polite comment to a posting from Joseph O who directed me to this site. I will be polite in return by pointing out that I so disagree with their reforms.
Top five reasons:
1. Quit messing with state's rights.
2. Stop trying to make the federal government in charge of everything
3. Third party candidates do not work and they weaken our Republic.
4. The District of Calamity Columbia is the Federal City.
5. We are a Republic, not a Democracy.
Here are ten key points of our National Election Reform Platform.
1. Uniform Ballot Access for federal candidates. Rather than candidates for president having 51 different rules for making the ballot, make the criteria uniform throughout the land.
2. Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions. Force states to untie ballot access to past election results. Without fair ballot access in place, the thresholds to become a recognized third party are too difficult to achieve (by design of the Big Two). Currently only 37 states have at least one recognized third party and that changes based on election results.
3. Universal Voter Registration. Legislation has already been passed that will require government standardized identification cards which should be acceptable to election officials to allow anyone who shows up at the right precinct on Election Day to vote on-the-spot whether registered or not.
4. Extended Election Hours. Either hold elections on weekends or move it to a holiday like Columbus Day in October.
5. Media Access for third party contenders to include broadcast time on public airwaves and inclusion in debates.
6. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allows voters to rank their choices. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote – over 50% - then the lowest number of first place votes is eliminated and the second place votes are counted. This continues until a candidate secures a majority.
7. Secure the Vote - Ensure the security of our voting instruments whether it is via a papertrail or some better method. Six years since the Florida debacle should have provided secure voting machines. Electronic machines subject to manipulation are not the answer.
8. Public Campaign Financing - Instituting a fair and equitable method of public campaign financing reduces taxpayer burden. Here's how: It costs the country more now under the current system that forces candidates to raise exorbitant sums of money from corporate and private donors (read: elitists). The winner is then beholden to the group of financiers that paid for that victory which creates a corrupt system of paybacks (no-bid contracts) and legislation (energy bill subsidizing oil and gas; prescription drug bill favoring pharmaceutical companies) that raids our Treasury at an enormous cost to the taxpayer - the real owners of our country.
9. Direct Election of the President by popular vote. Get rid of the Electoral College.
10. Voting representation in congress for the citizens of the federal District of Columbia (which also gives them an Electoral College vote).
1. Uniform Ballot Access for federal candidates. Rather than candidates for president having 51 different rules for making the ballot, make the criteria uniform throughout the land.
2. Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions. Force states to untie ballot access to past election results. Without fair ballot access in place, the thresholds to become a recognized third party are too difficult to achieve (by design of the Big Two). Currently only 37 states have at least one recognized third party and that changes based on election results.
3. Universal Voter Registration. Legislation has already been passed that will require government standardized identification cards which should be acceptable to election officials to allow anyone who shows up at the right precinct on Election Day to vote on-the-spot whether registered or not.
4. Extended Election Hours. Either hold elections on weekends or move it to a holiday like Columbus Day in October.
5. Media Access for third party contenders to include broadcast time on public airwaves and inclusion in debates.
6. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allows voters to rank their choices. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote – over 50% - then the lowest number of first place votes is eliminated and the second place votes are counted. This continues until a candidate secures a majority.
7. Secure the Vote - Ensure the security of our voting instruments whether it is via a papertrail or some better method. Six years since the Florida debacle should have provided secure voting machines. Electronic machines subject to manipulation are not the answer.
8. Public Campaign Financing - Instituting a fair and equitable method of public campaign financing reduces taxpayer burden. Here's how: It costs the country more now under the current system that forces candidates to raise exorbitant sums of money from corporate and private donors (read: elitists). The winner is then beholden to the group of financiers that paid for that victory which creates a corrupt system of paybacks (no-bid contracts) and legislation (energy bill subsidizing oil and gas; prescription drug bill favoring pharmaceutical companies) that raids our Treasury at an enormous cost to the taxpayer - the real owners of our country.
9. Direct Election of the President by popular vote. Get rid of the Electoral College.
10. Voting representation in congress for the citizens of the federal District of Columbia (which also gives them an Electoral College vote).
Recap:
1. Quit messing with state's rights.
The states are the United States not the federal government.
2. Stop trying to make the federal government in charge of everything
The federal government's rights are limited by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Get over it.
3. Third party candidates do not work and they weaken our Republic.
If you really like coalition governing go where they already have it, like Italy. You can like any of the hundreds of governments they've had since WWII.
4. The District of Columbia is the Federal City.
It is not a state and has Congress as its Representative. If you want more Liberal votes and voters persuade them to work with you. Do not illegally mandate them.
5. We are a Republic, not a Democracy.
No direct election of the President. The Electoral College is a protection of less populated states against larger states, i.e. the rest of the country does not want to be ruled by New York, California and Illinois.
Finally, we need another national holiday like we need root canal by chainsaw.
Millenium's new Art Deco
Expocentre Exhibition Halls and Residential Tower Project, Moscow, Russia
Is this Art Deco? No, but it is art deco in that it is already dated by the time it is constructed and has cartoonish qualities that are more marketing ploy than aesthetic quality.
If that is too much around the barn as an explanation, let me put it another way. This is an immature design that makes an ugly building that gets uglier as it ages, but for its time and place is marketable. Much like Art Deco was.
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