Finally back.
After suffering through a week that I described to a friend as,”My slow spirally descent into a particularly unpleasant hell,” I finally feel like I have my head above water.
I have a couple of periods free thanks to the 7th grade teachers running a mock election during this block. <here comes the rant>
I am disappointed that many of my thoughtful students are being taught about the election process in such a way as to perpetuate some of the bad (unconstitutional!) practices of our system. If we as a nation are to get out of the lethargic, apathetic funk that we seem to be in regarding our elected officials, then it’s time to examine the process that we have been blindly following for the last two centuries.
First, the problem inherant in our current system is it’s absolute throtle on free debate. The electoral college, along with more recent inventions (such as our current media support of debate structure) completely marginalizes third party platforms and candidates. This has always been something of an issue, (remember American Government classes? There are almost never more than two “viable” political parties present at any given point in history.) but in the last 100 years, the problem has been particularly perfidious. We have been saddled with the Republicans and the Democrats with nothing else that is more than a fringe party with a specific issue since just prior to the Civil War. This might not be a problem for you or me if it weren’t that these parties have ceased to be either well defined or distinct for many of our living memories. For a thoughtful (if not somewhat wrong, IMHO) short analysis of the Electoral College click the link.
The fact of the matter is that the two major parties have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. In addition, they have the power, through MASSIVE war chests gained through contributions of the insanely wealthy, to keep things just the way they want it. And to those of you who think I’m betraying my Libertarian roots, money is not speech. If I want to support a debate on the constitutionality of the Patriot Act, my voice cannot set the agenda the way that the CEO of Haliburton’s can. I don’t have the money. This is not the tyranny of the majority (another problem worth discussing), but the tyranny of the minority. One voice, one vote has become the myth that the two major parties need everyone to keep swallowing.
And, since I’m on a roll. Let me address the inane comments of one Leslie Stahl of CBS views (sorry, NEWS).
“Well, it’s unique, and I don’t know about you, Dan, but it makes me
despair, because it’s up in the air. It’s unsettled. I know we all talked
about this before we started getting returns. What we all prayed for was a
decision that was final, that we could go to the American people and say
this is it. Anything that’s left uncertain like this is sure to create more
turmoil, it’s just not healthy for our system. It’s not a good thing that we
are sitting here telling the American people. We can’t help it, but we want
to see healing, and this is not conducive to that, it doesn’t seem to me.”
JESUS! The arrogance of this woman! The population of the United States is divided in a relatively equal way on the issue of President. This is “not helathy for our system?” By whose definition of helathy? Since when has concensus been helathier than disagreement? Has this woman every read a history book? The Federalist Papers? ANYTHING? Last time I checked, Back in the 70′s and 80′s when the elections in Communist coutries were consistently a “consensus” vote, we as Americans claimed that they were rigged! Let’s scream it from the mountaintops! DEBATE IS GOOD! DISAGREEMENT LEADS TO STRONGER ACTION!
Wow. There are way too many ! in that last paragraph. Oh, well. I’m mad, dammit!
