United States Electoral College Essay Example for Free

United States Electoral College Essay The Electoral College, the mechanism for electing the president and the vice-president of the United States which was first put to use in the 1789 presidential election has already outgrown its purpose and should therefore be abolished (National Archives and Records Administration). Formulated by the country’s founders more than two hundred years ago, the system has undoubtedly grown stale and ineffective and no longer â€Å"conform to our modern interpretation of democracy, which is one person, one vote† (Hough). According to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), although the term could not be found anywhere in the United States Constitution, it is believed to have been actually conceived by the â€Å"founding fathers as a compromise between the election of a president by Congress and election by popular vote. † The term was coined from the words â€Å"elector† and â€Å"college. † The term â€Å"elector† was used to refer to the German princes who were granted the right to take part in the process of electing the German king who later became the emperor of the Roman Empire while â€Å"college† was taken from the Latin word collegium which means â€Å"a body of persons that act as a unit. † Thus the term â€Å"electoral college† means a group of people chosen to elect the President and the Vice President of the United States of America (NARA). A total of 538 electors handpicked by political parties comprise the present Electoral College. Every state has two electors representing their two senators and another elector for each of their congressional representation. This means that a small state with only one congressional representation owing to the smallness of its population is allocated the minimum number of three electors. In 2004, the four states with the highest number of electors were: California (55), Texas (34), New York (31), and Florida (27) while seven small states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming), and the District of Columbia, had only three electors each (NARA). As congressional representation is determined by the census of population which is taken every ten years, a state’s number of electors could therefore be reduced or increased, without prejudicing the total electors of 538 for the entire country. For instance, based on the 1990 census of population, the state of Arizona was allowed 8 electors for the presidential elections of 1992, 1996, and 2000. After it registered a population increase in 2000, its number of congressional representation and therefore, the number of its electors, was raised to 10 for the presidential elections of 2004, 2008, and 2012 (NARA). In 48 states and the District of Columbia, a presidential candidate who gets the majority of votes in one state is awarded all the electoral votes allocated for that state in a â€Å"winner-take-all† manner. In the states of Maine and Nebraska, meanwhile, proportional voting is practiced. Under this voting system, Maine, which has four electoral votes, gives one vote to the winner in each of its two congressional districts and gives the remaining two votes to whoever gets the majority votes in the entire state (NARA). A simple majority or a minimum of 270 electoral votes is needed to win the U. S. presidency. In case of a tie (269-269 result) in the presidential contest, the Congress of the United States decides the issue while the U. S. Senate conducts the runoff election in case of a deadlock in the vice presidential race. In the history of the presidential election in the country, the congressional runoff was only done twice – in 1800 and in 1824. In the vice presidential race, the United States Senate was called on to decide the issue in 1836 (NARA). This is the first undesirable feature of the Electoral College that many American voters find unacceptable. A tie in the presidential election under this system takes the electoral process away from the hands of the American voters and confers the power to elect the president to a highly partisan congress. In such a scenario, the presidential candidate of the party which controls the House of Representatives would win the presidency regardless of the will of the majority of the American voters. A case in point was the 1824 presidential election. When congress decided on the issue after a deadlock was declared, Andrew Jackson lost the presidency to John Quincy Adams despite garnering a decisive 57. 2% of the popular vote (NARA). Point two against the Electoral College is the fact that the president and the vice president of the United States are not actually chosen by the people but through the electoral votes assigned to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It is therefore possible for a candidate to win the votes and gain the trust and confidence of the majority of American voters and still lose the presidency – a systemic defect which is tantamount to a disenfranchisement of American voters. This has already happened four times in the political history of the country. The case of Andrew Jackson in 1824 was already discussed earlier in this paper. Another case occurred in 1876 when Rutherford Hayes (R) won the presidency with a single electoral vote majority (185 against Samuel Tilden’s 184) in spite of the fact that only 48. 5% of those who voted went for him while the majority 51. 5% voted for Tilden. Once again, in 1888, Benjamin Harrison (R) won with 233 electoral votes against Grover Cleveland’s (D) 168. However, 90,596 more American voters had chosen Cleveland over Harrison in that election. The most recent case was the 2000 presidential election. President George W. Bush (R) defeated Albert Gore, Jr. , 271 – 266 electoral votes, despite getting only 50,456,062 popular votes (49. 7%) against Al Gore’s 50,996,582 (50. 3%). The official result of that election, in effect, nullified the votes of 540,520 American voters who gave Gore the advantage in popular votes, thereby expressing their preference for Al Gore to be the president of the country (NARA). The Electoral College does not count the votes cast by American voters equally. For instance, in the 2004 election, Wyoming, one of the small states, was allocated three electoral votes. California, on the other hand, whose population was about fifty times larger than Wyoming, only had 54 electoral votes. A simple computation would show us that although California was 50 times as large as Wyoming, its number of electoral votes was only 18 times larger (54/3 = 18). In other words, a vote cast by a voter from Wyoming was given a higher value than the vote cast by a California voter (Bates). Or, expressed another way, one Wyoming voter is equal to 18 California voters. This is plain inequality! Electoral College discourages some voters from participating in the election, thereby resulting to low voter turnout which reduces the credibility of an election. This is true in the case of states which have already been identified as one-party states. For instance in 2004, since California was already expected to vote for the Democratic candidate, chances were that some voters who planned to vote for the Republican standard bearer could have chosen to stay home instead. Indeed, what’s the point of voting when your state is already in the hands of the other party? It would seem as if the votes have already been counted before they were cast (Bates). On the other hand, defenders of the Electoral College claim that under the popular voting, the small states would simply be overwhelmed by the large states and that presidential candidates would tend to overlook them in favor of large states where more votes could be obtained. The opposite had, in fact, been observed during the campaigning which occurred for the 2004 election. Let us return to the example of California, the largest voting state in the country. Because it was already expected to go for the Democratic Party, George W. Bush ignored it in spite of its size and its 54 electoral votes and concentrated instead in the â€Å"swing state of Pennsylvania† which he visited â€Å"more than forty† times. In fact campaigning for the presidency of the United States had always shown candidates spending more time in swing states than in larger states which had already committed to the other side (Bates). Because of its proven ineptness and widespread unacceptability, the Electoral College has been labelled differently by different people. It was likened to â€Å"the vermiform appendix: a useless organ that can cause trouble on occasion† (Abolish the Electoral College? ). It was described by the American Bar Association as â€Å"archaic and ambiguous† when a survey it conducted in 1987 found that 69% of American lawyers wanted the system abolished. The American public have spoken against the system through polls held in 1967 (58%), 1968 (81%), and then again in1981 when 75% of Americans were found to favor its replacement by a popular voting system (NARA). Regardless of the labels, however, the subjugation of the people’s will and the utter disregard for the value of the votes of Americans has rendered the Electoral College unacceptable to the American public. Their disgust and contempt for the system was already shown by the more than 700 proposals for its abolition or modification. They almost succeeded in the U. S. Senate in 1956 when amendments introduced by Republican Senator Karl Mundt (South Dakota) and Texas Democratic Senator Price Daniel won a senate voting with a 48-37 majority. Only their failure to muster the required three-fourths vote of the senate prevented the measures from pushing through (Duchschere). The American people tried again in 1969. Supported by then President Richard Nixon, an amendment was unanimously approved in the House of Representatives only to be stalled in the Senate for almost one year until supporters lost their interest on the measure and it died a natural death. Republican Senator Eastland and Democratic Senator Thurmond, described as â€Å"notorious segregationists† because they had been observed to have â€Å"voted against every civil-rights and voting-rights measure† in the Senate, were responsible for its death (Electoral Justice). Americans now want their votes to be properly counted and their decisions duly respected. As Professor Keyssar aptly put it, Americans today believe that the Electoral College has ceased to mirror America’s â€Å"sense of social equality† (Hough). Hence, it is now time to say goodbye to the antiquated, obsolete Electoral College. The time has arrived to show the civilized world that in the United States of America, every man, every registered voter, has a right to vote and a right to demand that such vote be counted. Works Cited â€Å"Abolish the Electoral College? † Wilson Quarterly. Winter 2001, Vol 25, Issue 1, p. 97. 13 June 2007. http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=truedb=aphAN=4028232site=ehost-live Bates, Nathaniel. â€Å"What Are the Arguments Made in Favor – And Against – the Electoral College? † 26 October 2004. 15 June 2007. http://hnn. us/articles/8163. html Duchschere, Kevin. â€Å"JFK Led Opposition in 1956 Effort to Reform the Electoral College. † Minneapolis Star Tribune. 26 November 2000. 13 June 2007. http://www. freerepublic. com/forum/a3a20ce2a366a. htm Electoral Justice. â€Å"The Electoral College: An Embarassing Vestige of Slavery and Segregation. † 15 June 2007. http://www. iwantmyvote. com/justice/electoral_college/ Hough, Lory. â€Å"Why Do We Still Have The Electoral College? † News Stories. 13 June 2007. http://www. ksg. harvard. edu/news/news/2004/Keyssar_why-electoral_college_102904. htm National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). â€Å"U. S. Electoral College. † 13 June 2007. http://www. archives. gov/federal-register/electoral-college/index. html

Beowulf: Heroism :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

Beowulf’s author is unknown, as are his motives and inspiration for the creation of the poem. Written some four hundred years before the Norman conquests, it is comprised of three thousand, one hundred and eighty-two lines, dramatically reproducing the timeless struggle between good and evil, along with all the variations that accompany such a story. By far one of the most admirable qualities presented to the reader is the notion of heroism, and the importance of honor. The quality of character was a major element of the heroic man in the world of which the story is set. In relation the personality, James V. McConnell wrote; "Let us define personality as the way in which a person thinks, behaves and adjusts to his or her environment. Such a definition would include the persons traits, values, motives, attitudes, emotional reactions, abilities, self-image and intelligence as well as the persons overt behavior patterns." (McConnell, page 610). He then went on further to say, "A complete theory of personality would not only describe the individual’s present style of adjustment but give some notion of how the person got that way and where he or she was going." Throughout the poem, the author allows the reader to see, in action, the true workings of heroes. Men and women who cast aside their own personal needs and desires for the better of others. During this time society sustained a strong honor code. The actions that an individual amassed over their lifetime was the title by which they were known to the rest of the land, both good and bad. A lot was asked of rulers concerning the protection and expansion of the empire, Kings and Queens were known by their conquests and control of the subjects around them. In the prologue we are introduced to a loved and heroic King by the name of Shild. " How Shild made slaves of soldiers from every land, crowds of captives he’d beaten into terror†¦lived to be rich and much honored. He ruled lands on all sides: wherever the sea would take them his soldiers sailed, returned with tribute and obedience." (Raffel, line 4). This section of the prologue clearly defines the times, in that i t immediately sets up the reader for the level of nobility in the tone of the author, in the expression of dignity that accompanies King Shild’s conquests. His life was associated with greatness and at his death his tribute was great.

Cell phones Essay

Every time a person answers his/hers cell phone, their safety and the safety of others around them are being greatly jeopardized. Cell Phones today pose a major risk to the human body and civilian population. When cell phones heat up they emit radiation that known to increase the chances of someone getting cancer. Besides cancer, other medical complications; such as, arthritis and damaged sleep have increased thought the use of cellular devices. Not only do cell phones cause medical problems, but they also pose a huge security threat with personal information being easily stolen. Overall, the safety of humans is being compromised by the use of the seemingly harmless device, cell phones. Many doctors and scientists are claiming that cell phones are causing medical complications. For instance, the National Cancer Institute states, â€Å"Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a from of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, which can be absorbed by tissues closest to where the phones is held† (â€Å"Cell Phones and Cancer Risk†). What this is basically saying, is that the radiation being put out from the cell phones are damaging vital tissues, which is known to increase the risk of cancer. This links back to the main idea of the overall safety of humans, showing that cell phones do cause a serious risk factor to the human body. Another common concern with cell phones is the theory that texting can cause arthritis; â€Å"Repetitive motion can cause pain and inflammation of the basal joint. It can even lead to thumb arthritis† (Eustice). The article confirms that the constant motion of the thumbs can indeed cause arthritis. The safety of the consumer is being compromised when a popular means of communication; such as texting, can lead to a major medical complication. Recent studies show that headaches are increasing tremendously due to cell phones: â€Å"Radiation from mobile phones damages sleep and cause headaches, according to a study by telephone makers† (carter). In this study, researchers found an increasing amount of headaches were occurring with people who use cell phones regularly; opposed to people who rarely use them or don’t use them at all. An increase in headaches is very dangerous to the safety of the human body and can be a gateway to many other complications down the road. After an extensive amount of research, doctors and scientists have found that cell phones do cause medical issues to the human body. Cell phones security is a fairly new issue brought up by a numerous amount of concerned citizens, with the fear that their safety is being jeopardized. As technology increases, more and more people are resorting to devices, such as cell phones, to get them thought the day: â€Å"The more people rely on cell phones and tablets, the more attractive these devices become as targets to thieves and other nefarious types† (Gahran). With all of these devices being used constantly, crooks can easily retrieve the personal information any personal information any person puts out there through the devices they are using. This has become a huge safety issue due to the fact that private information is being stolen from people who expect their information on their cell phones to be safe and secure. A man was shown an application on his cell phone that could link up to other people’s cell phones: â€Å"’It made all the contacts start jumping over to this phone,’ said Gooden† (Kridler). Gooden explained that the application he was shown let him easily access his wife’s phone contacts. His friend that introduced this application to Gooden then went to explain that hackers usually take the contact information and dial premium-rate numbers. The safety of the people who are in others contact information is being compromised when they have result in paying a fee for â€Å"calling† these premium-rate numbers because of someone else stealing their numbers. Boktah, an expert security hacker, states â€Å"Most people have no idea how vulnerable they are when they use their cellphones† (Murphy). Bokath’s job is to hack into cell phones to find and express all of the flaws in the devices, thus demonstrating how easy it is for a hacker to do the same. With all the scamming going on, consumers need to be aware of what they do on their cell phones to protect themselves, as well as the safety of others. Safety from personal information being stolen by hackers happens to be key concern to numerous amounts of people; this way people will not be liable for paying fees or having their identity stolen. Cell phones safety is a key concern, which the vast majority of users brood over. Cellular devices have been known to cause cancer; as well as, an increasing amount of medical problems. Some of these problems are arthritis and damaged sleep. Medical complications are not the only concern; a breach in security is another top concern for people. In essence, safety is top priority for humans, and cell phones are compromising that safety.

A Madmans Diary - 1217 Words

Introduction A Madman’s Diary is China s first modern short story. The author Lu Xun has been well respected and regarded as one of the most well-known political figures in China (Goldman 446-461). Lu Xun has been praised as the warrior against traditional culture and feudal system. Unique narrative structure A Madman’s Diary is very special in its narrative structure. Its setup is very different from the traditional narration in that it avoids the use of classical Chinese. Furthermore, the I narration is used in the story which makes it very effective to involve the readers in the scenes of the story. Lu Xun did not only open a new chapter in modern Chinese literature but also created a new style of narration. Lu†¦show more content†¦There are several symbolic narrations in the story. The symbolism of the story is allegorical (Hanan 68). In the preface, Lu Xun uses an ironic technique by narrated in classical Chinese in order to show a false and polite world made by cannibalistic feudal society. In the eyes of Lu Xun, the madman is the hero who plays a better role in the society because only the madman knows the truth and can rise in rebellion. The madman who is an innovative and reformed thought representative is a symbol of oppressive man-eati ng nature of the feudal system. Even though he tries his best to rise in rebellion, he fails every time. He is trapped in his own mind and can t help considering that he s in the danger of being eaten. The madman could not understand the conspiracy of eating him, so he was suspicious of everyone. When the madman recovers, he is not the hero anymore; also he joins others to be one of man-eaters. Here, Lu Xun s message is clear: The oppressed masses are eaters or the accomplices (Sun L. 464). Only the madman could find the truth of the eaters. However, other people including both the empowered and the oppressed fail to see the oppressive man-eating nature of the feudal system. In addition, the story implies that the society is ruled by the feudal system, and people of all the classes have to abide by the same feudal rules. Also, the story helps usShow MoreRelatedChinese Family Institution And Traditional Rule Feudal Ethical Are Original Source Of Destroying Chinese Individual Though t932 Words   |  4 Pages The second important characteristic that Lu Xun wants to transfer through â€Å"A Madman’s Diary† is that Chinese family institution and traditional rule feudal ethical are original source of destroying Chinese individual thought. In the eighth diary, it describes a conversation with madman and twenty years’ man, â€Å"I asked him: ‘Is it right to eat human beings?’ He replied: ‘when there is no famine how can one eat human beings?’ I realized once, he was one of them; but still I summoned up courage to repeatRead MoreLu Xun2285 Words   |  10 PagesLu Xun’s short story â€Å"Diary of a Madman† marks the birth of modernism in Chinese literature and is the earliest literature works written in modern vernacular Chinese during the May Fourth period. Modeled after Nikolay Gogol’s story with similar title, the story condemns the old traditional Confucian values that have long persisted in t he Chinese society; portrayed by the madman in the story that sees it as a ‘man-eating’ society. Lu Xun despises the idea of a society who adheres to the traditionRead MoreChina s Nationalism And Isolation From Western Society2751 Words   |  12 Pagesrealism with the â€Å"iron house metaphor in his short stories and in â€Å"A Madman’s Diary†, remain a collective consciousness urging for change. Lu Xun, a revolutionary Chinese author, rebelled by calling on the common people and intellectuals to break out of the stagnant, traditional society they have been living in. By exploring Lu Xun’s use of literary realism in the â€Å"iron house† metaphor and his short story, â€Å"A Madman’s Diary†, his desire for a collective consciousness to make an active change becomesRead MoreA Madman And New Year s Sacrifice1510 Words   |  7 PagesZedong to be ‘commander of China’s cultural revolution’ with reference to Lu Xun’s sophisticated and innovative stories illustrating the social unjust and inequality amongst the Chinese people. Thus, Lu Xun’s literature ranging from his short stories ‘Diary of A Madman’ and ‘New Year’s Sacrifice’ were seen as stepping-stones that empowered confidence amongst the Chinese people to convey their utmost intimate thoughts transforming a restless and backward traditional China into a expanding society that