I’ve always wanted us to be a country where every vote counts. Sadly this is not the system we have. Maybe now, with all these first-time voters involved in our Byzantine electoral process, we can get a little electoral reform going. I sure hope so, since as long as I’ve lived in Utah, my vote has not counted in Presidential Elections. This gives a lot of lazy Democrats a reason to stay home on election day. Their rational is, “My vote doesn’t count. Why bother?”
Now the Clinton campaign is saying that the Mountain-West doesn’t count, the South doesn’t count, small States don’t count, New England doesn’t count, the Canadian border States don’t count, because they are either thought to be Red States or have such small populations as to be meaningless in a General Election. Well, I got news for you Senator Clinton, it pisses me off royally to hear you say that the only time my vote really does count—in a primary—is meaningless. I live in Utah, one of the reddest States in the Nation, and Barack won Utah in the Democratic Primary. Turnout was huge and for the first time in my voting life, I thought Utah just might vote Democratic in the General Election, if Obama gets the nomination. Call me naive, but if young people really do stay engaged, we might have a whole new map to call red or blue.
Texas has been a Red State for a long time. Why is Senator Clinton calling her slim lead in the actual vote tally (but not the delegate count) in the Lone Star State more important than his win in Wyoming? More than likely neither state is going to vote Democratic in the General Election, but with Obama’s bottom-up, grassroots organization, he’s got a hell of a better chance to win both those states than Hillary.
Monday, March 10, 2008
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7 comments:
If every vote counts, then we better count Michigan and Florida!
K
K, Glad to see you back. Yes, we need a vote in Florida and Michigan that has both candidates on the ballot and campaigning. Or else we follow the rules.
And, yes. I'd love a discussion about pornography with you.
So did you get my other note the other day. The long one?
Ok. Porn. You go first!
Love your daily pic changes by the way. I was about to write you and say how I loved your glasses and then it changed and I loved it. Then, it changed again yesterday. Beautiful makeup.
~K
And votes counting is such a poor and meagre form of 'democracy' anyway. As John Locke makes clear, in a true democracy it is not voting but power that counts. Everyone must have equal power in the decision-making process. {See An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government.}
Imagine the power minorities would have if they (and all others) had equal power in the decision-making process. Instead, what we have is some limited power to choose among candidates (all veted by corporate interests) who then are legally and constitutionally free to vote as they choose (without any obligation to listen to or act in accord with the interests of their constituents.
That said, then yes, might we at least have the paltry bit of power to have our (mostly symbolic) votes counted in elections?
LB
LB, nice to hear your voice here. It's about damn time. We need a philosopher to mediate once in awhile. Please come often and stay long.
The electoral college, as I understand it was desiged to protect? "My apologies if I sound nieve." from the stupidity of middle America. Lets face it there are alot of people who vote blindly. Now having said that let me ask you a hypothetical question. If you were in a room with 100 people and the outcome of your vote was life or death. Now lets say oh I dont know, 60 of these people were know nothing hillbillys "and I am one" whos collective vote would mean certain death. Would you want to leave your fate to them???
My apologies again. I failed to recognize the percentage of the votes that would be undecided. And the percentage that wouldnt vote at all. Um lets see what would be your guess on that? Mine would be about 10% does that sound fair to you? So I guess what I am trying to say in my limited intellectual fashion, is that if you really want your vote to count you had better move to a state not quite so RED. Or better yet, start your own " democracy " I hear Idaho is hiring for that position.
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