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"Cumulative Voting" Method Gaining Attention
Local ID10T writes "The AP reports on a system of voting, called 'cumulative voting,' which was just used under court order in Port Chester, NY. Under this system, voters can apportion their votes as they wish — all to one candidate, one to each candidate, or any combination. The system, which has been used in Alabama, Illinois, South Dakota, Texas, and New York, allows a political minority to gain representation if it organizes behind specific candidates. Courts are increasingly mandating cumulative voting when they deem it necessary to provide fair representation." Wikipedia notes that cumulative voting "was used to elect the Illinois House of Representatives from 1870 until its repeal in 1980," without saying why the system was abandoned.
What they really mean by "fair representation" would be more accurately described as "damn voters won't vote for the people we want them to, so we're screwing with the rules."
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
and was hard for voters to understand.
Is there any alternative voting system which isn't "hard for voters to understand"? Of all the weaselly excuses to keep FPTP that is the lamest.
Seriously. If you can't understand this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cumballot.gif
then maybe you shouldn't be voting.
This one has flaws too, but at least it's better than FPTP hopefully.
It's not good enough. We have the technology to run a democracy right now. Anything less is tyranny.
Better take a look at past attempts at democracies, like ancient Greece. Pure democracies fail as soon as people realize they can vote themselves free stuff. That's part of the problem the US is having currently as ~46% (and growing rapidly) of US citizens pay no federal income taxes, so voting for more/larger entitlements doesn't cost them anything.
These expansions in government give more & more power to those in government, thus giving them incentive to keep the feedback loop going until the system crashes.
You want to destroy a country? Make it a democracy. A democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Electoral college wasn't intended for the top-heavy government we have today - it was intended for the pre-Lincoln weak central, strong state governments. And the people weren't SUPPOSED to elect the President or Senators - the people got to elect the House of Representatives - that was for the state governments themselves.
You are rather misrepresenting the liberal position on positive discrimination. The point is not that one group is *inherently* smarter than another; it is that the entrenched disparity due to socio-economic factors is such that simple equality of treatment will not erode the differences between these groups over any meaningful timescale. Personally, I would prefer to see other solutions than simply applying skewed tests, but I do believe it is a problem that ought to be addressed in some way. What has your party done to deal with it?
[FUCK BETA]
I would still like to get rid of the 17th Amendment. Having the state governments representatives in Congress acts as another check against tyranny. One of the big problems states have right now is unfunded mandates coming down from on high. That might be prevented or at least curtailed.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
-- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill
...said the Prime Minister of a constitutional monarchy.
American Third Position
Finally, a real choice!
But they still pay all kinds of other taxes. Looking at federal income taxes is very skewed in favor of those that make a lot of money. Add payroll, sales and property, and the picture is a whole lot different. You end up with people who end up paying more taxes overall than people who pay federal income taxes, but it's all due to capital gains.
Why are liberals so scared of Palin...
You don't have to be liberal to be scared of Palin. I fear Palin because she represents that absolute worst of politicians. She is totally ignorant, yet is so arrogant that she thinks that ignorance makes her more legitimate and "real". She literally thinks that she doesn't have to know anything, because God will give her the answer through prayer.
I freaking HATE Palin. She is the absolute definition of a brainless demagogue.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Scared? Hardly.
Fear and dislike are completely different. And being a "strong willed woman" is not the problem. I've happily been voting for Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer for years now. And it'd be very hard to say that any on them are not strong-willed. In palin's case though. the overt malice, mind-boggling stupidity, and insufferably snotty attitude just lead to a pure and intense visceral emotional dislike of her. And that's *before* considering the damage she would do to the country if she were ever to wind up in a position of significant power.
Imagine all the people...
You think you're being clever, but you're not.
The GP is right. Sarah Palin can hardly open her mouth without being snotty and condescending. And the only way you could not cringe when she spouts off with crap like: "Well, that's kinda like being a community organizer, dontcha know? Except that I had actual responsibilities." and not cringe at how obnoxious she was being is if you're nothing more than a partisan minion who's already made up his mind that all liberals are commie traitors and anyone who opposes them must be good regardless of any other consideration.
Pelosi is an ass and the GP is obviously a San Francisco liberal. But he's right about Palin and Pelosi is a paragon of humility and intelligence in comparison. For better examples than his, consider Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, the (female) republican candidates for governor and senator in California; both of whom I, for one, will be voting for in november. Compare and contrast how they present and comport themselves in public compared to Palin's showboating antics. Compare their considerable accomplishments to Palin's utter lack therof.
Democrats may have the wrong ideas (in my opinion) about how to run the country. But they're not evil and they're not traitors. And they are 100% right about Palin. We do all conservatives a disservice when we rally around dingbats like her, Michael Steele, and "joe the plumber". God... I'm almost glad that Bill Safire isn't around to see what we've become. Hopefully SOMEBODY will come along and rescue us from the idiots and fools running things now.