[Paleopsych] The prefection of democracy

[Geraldine Reinhardt]

Lynn,

A revampment of our political process regarding the obsolete Electoral 
College is an issue that I bet many disenfranchised Americans will rally 
around.  Of what benefit does the Electoral College serve?  I think this 
entity is a dinosaur preventing the true dispersal of Democracy in America. 
One person one vote is how I see democracy.

Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Independent Scholar
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~waluk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D." <ljohnson at solution-consulting.com>
To: "The new improved paleopsych list" <paleopsych at paleopsych.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 5:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Paleopsych] The prefection of democracy


> G:
> RE: elec college, a good point. What good is it? The founding fathers 
> distrusted two things:
>    - government (jefferson)
>    - democracy  (hamilton)
> So the checks and balances are designed to prevent government from getting 
> strong and democracy from disenfranchising the minorities. When people 
> throw those aside, tragedy often results.
>
> So the main advantage of the electoral college was to protect small 
> states. Shifts in the reality may have made those moot. But a change 
> requires a constitutional amendment, a nortoriously hard process.
> Lynn
>
> Geraldine Reinhardt wrote:
>
>>
>> Re-electing "everyone" at a date no later than 2006 is a dangerous 
>> proposition especially if our country turns into one huge red zone with 
>> only tiny pockets for blues.
>>
>> I think the reason provisional votes were not counted was because Bush 
>> received the number of Electoral College votes he needed to win.  If 
>> reform is needed, we should begin with a critical review of benefits from 
>> the Electoral College.  From where I stand, I can't see any.
>>
>> Gerry Reinhart-Waller
>> Independent Scholar
>> http://www.home.earthlink.net/~waluk
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Hovland" 
>> <shovland at mindspring.com>
>> To: "'Geraldine Reinhardt'" <waluk at earthlink.net>
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 9:54 AM
>> Subject: RE: [Paleopsych] The prefection of democracy
>>
>>
>>> The justification given for not doing a paper trail now was
>>> that there wasn't time.  As a working computer jock, I
>>> don't buy that.  This problem was spotted many months
>>> before the election.  Practical solutions were demonstrated
>>> and rejected.
>>>
>>> I think everyone who was on the ballot, both Democrat and
>>> Republican, is there by fraud and that they should all be
>>> required to stand again no later than 2006, this time with
>>> hardened voting systems.
>>>
>>> The other part of getting everyone to vote is that every vote must
>>> be counted.  As I recall the election was considered to be
>>> settled even though many provisional votes weren't counted.
>>> The excuse was that those votes probably wouldn't have
>>> changed the outcome.  That might have been true, but it is
>>> also true that for people to believe in the system, no decision
>>> should be finalized until all legitimate votes have been counted
>>> and all possibility of fraud has been ruled out.
>>>
>>> Steve Hovland
>>> www.stevehovland.net
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Geraldine  Reinhardt [SMTP:waluk at earthlink.net]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 8:59 AM
>>> To: Steve Hovland
>>> Cc: paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>>> Subject: Re: [Paleopsych] The prefection of democracy
>>>
>>> I think most Americans, especially those who don't use computers on a 
>>> daily
>>> basis or who don't own one, like the idea of being "up to date".  They 
>>> feel
>>> a sense of pride and accomplishment when they complete their ballot via
>>> machine and smug when they view another voter experiencing some 
>>> difficulty
>>> with the "new" technology.
>>>
>>> A paper trail, similar to a readout tape on an adding machine, sounded 
>>> good
>>> in theory but too costly to implement especially when less than 2% of 
>>> the
>>> voting public actually used a paper ballot .   As I mentioned 
>>> previously, in
>>> my precinct, only 5 people had requested a paper ballot.  This proved to 
>>> be
>>> a bit annoying for me since there were 5 voting machines for the 
>>> majority of
>>> voters, and 1 voting booth for those wishing a paper ballot.  That could
>>> have been one reason why the voting lines were so long.
>>>
>>> It's humorous that you claim the majority in Congress were put there by
>>> voting fraud.  I wonder if they know who they are?
>>>
>>> If the purpose of a democracy is to allow everyone, regardless of race 
>>> and
>>> sex,  the right to vote, then we may have achieved our goal, perfect or 
>>> not.
>>>
>>> Gerry Reinhart-Waller
>>> Independent Scholar
>>> http://www.home.earthlink.net/~waluk
>>
>>
>>
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