Doing away with the Electoral College 3/5

In an Electoral College, a group of people that become representatives for each state, vote along with all other Americans on Election day. There are 538 representatives in the United States. Those people however, are the one who's votes are counted towards the presidential election. Of those 538 people, 270 people are needed in order for a decision to be made.

Having this system of election has left me somewhat boggled as to why we have adapted it.  In the article, Doing away with the Electoral College, by Alexander Keyssar, He says,

"As a nation, we have come to embrace “one person, one vote” as a fundamental democratic principle, yet the allocation of electoral votes to the states violates that principle. It is hardly an accident that no other country in the world has imitated our Electoral College." 

The United States is an extreamly democratic Country. It is believed that we a group of people create what our present and our future will be through the decisions we make. The type of process we use to vote on such an important role as who will be our president, shows that we are not truly in control and that we are not trusted with that control. In a world where one person is supposed to equal one vote, that type of message would send mixed signals towards the american citizens. Do Americans really have a choice in the decisions in this country? Is that the true reason for the decline in people voting?

Two Faces of Power 2/13

            "The question is, however, how can one be certain in any given situation that the 'unmeasurable elements' are inconsequential, are not of decisive importance? Cast in slightly different terms, can a sound concept of power be predicated on the assumption that power is totally embodied and fully reflected in “concrete decisions” or in activity bearing directly upon their making? We think not. Of course power is exercised when A participates in the making of decisions that affect B. But power is also exercised when A devotes his energies to creating or reinforcing social and political values and institutional practices that limit the scope of the political process to public consideration of only those issues which are comparatively innocuous to A. To the extent that A succeeds in doing this, B is prevented, for all practical purposes, from bringing to the fore any issues that might in their resolution be seriously detrimental to A’s set of preferences?" Peter Bachrach, Morton S. Baratz

Power can be exercised in two ways. The first way is directly made decisions. The second way is through eliminating all other negative options so  another believes, that they are making their own decisions. While the first way of excising powers seems rather simple, the second way leaves many unanswered  questions and curiosity (on my part and the author's) to be answered. Are you really in control of the decisions you make in you own life? Or are you just making the best of the decisions that are options available for you? These question lead to finding out how to place countermeasures encase this may happen. However, can countermeasures be put in place for this type of threat? How can anyone tell the difference between a coincidental situation and deliberation?

The Constitution and the Federalist 2/27

Quote:
The appointment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling with which they overburden the inferior number, is a shilling saved to their own pocket (p. 93). Federalist 10

While I am sure the people of the government have the country in mind when they make decisions about appointing taxes, they also have in mind the personal and political gain that they can achieve depending on the decision that they make. Being apart of this rather important and great system that the US has created seems to me both a great responsibility and a honored opportunity. These select people have the chance to make changes to the world as we know it. Why not start with improving life for themselves and their loved ones? Wanting to better the world for those you care about is not something to think negatively . If people did not want to better the word for their loved ones and themselves, these positions would not exist at all. The line where the influence of their own desires and the good of the country as a whole is made is decided by each member personally, as it should.  The nobility of doing the right thing for the country means making the decisions that are right as well as the ones that are easy.

The government would benefit from those that are impartial. They need people that will make decisions for the benefit of the United States. Is it likely that this will happen? No. Human kind is very much flawed in that aspect. With a position that holds power, there will be the temptation to use it to their for their own gain. Though this view of humanity, is notably "pessimistic" as you mentioned in the lecture, it is also realistic. There are negative aspects, but there will always be whether we acknowledge them or not. I feel that I like this view from Madison because he sees the positives that others acknowledge about the system a uncovers the negatives that others may want to shield, or "sugarcoat" so to speak.

Transnational America 2/20

"No vereberatory effect of the great war has caused American public opinion more solicitude than the failure of the 'melting- pot.' The discovery of diverse nationalistic feelings among our great alien population has come to most people as an intense shock. It has brought out the unpleasant inconsistencies of our traditional beliefs We have had to watch hard- hearted old Brahmins virtuously indignant at the spectacle of the immigrant refusing to be melted, while they jeer at patriots like Mary Antin who write about 'our forefathers.' We have had to listen to publicists who express themselves as stunned by the evidence of vigorous nationalistic and cultural movements in this country among Germans, Scandinavians, Bohemians, and Poles, while in the same breath they insist that the mien shall be forcibly assimilated to that Anglo- Saxon tradition which they unquestioningly label 'American.'" Trans-national America by Randolph S. Bourne


I feel the Americans have more than enough reason to want to diminish the rights of and become biases towards the new comers. The immigrants that have spent little to no time within the United States  but would have the power to make changes the the US as they new it.They, the new Americans, were not like them, the Americans who had been there before. America as they knew it felt like it was in danger. What if they gained control? What if they were able to get laws passed? What if the world as they knew it changed for the worst? I could only imagine how weary they would have been letting their precious country become saturated with new immigrants. Though the imagrants had more than reason to be there and to have all their rights, the current Americans and the new American should have come to some sort of agreement to lesson the tension between them.

The concept of the melting bowl failed because the belief that immigrants who came into this country began to turn into the Anglo Saxon image of an american. They began to imitate what they know as American and disintegrate their culture. All the immigrants' culture did not simply disappear once they stepped within this country. While many immigrants did go through a process of Americanization, it is unique to the individual what this process will mean. While some many have left behind there roots, others whole heartily brought them along with them in various forms. I believe the the word 'kaleidoscope' fits the description of Americans more accurately than the melting pot. Americans are a mix of different nationalities, races, beliefs, pasts, morals and other factors that represent each color of an ever growing kaleidoscope.


I chose to write about this paragraph because I felt I could relate better and imagine my self in both situations. I know how it feels to have something incredibly important in fates hands. I also know how it feels to labeled in to a category that you do not fit with in.