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Broder on Direct Election

David Broder, the political reporter and columnist for the WaPo, argues today against a proposal for direct election of the president. Here's his column and here's some info about the proposal.

Broder argues that under the current system voters are not deprived of information about the campaigns. But this is a straw man -- the real issue is not whether people will have access to news about the campaigns, but whether they will have a vote that matters -- outside of the shrinking number of battleground states, the vote is foreordained.

Broder:
Past efforts to abolish the electoral college have foundered on the objections of small states, which worry that they would be ignored in the pursuit of giant voting blocs in big population centers. Have their claims no merit?
The reality is that small states now get ignored as much as big states like New York or Texas.

more on Broder....

Broder cites the oft-cited Founding Fathers and their commitment to federalism as reason to keep the Electoral College. But the president is elected to represent everyone, the entire country. The states already have more than sufficient parochial representation in Congress. We need someone is not just thinking about a few battleground states in the next election.

Broder says the two-party system will be hurt. Spare me Broder's oft-repeated argument that this idea (or various campaign finance reforms) will hurt the parties. As far as I can tell after many years in Washington, the parties will survive, for better or worse. And most Americans simply do not care much what haapens to the parties - for good reason, given the current toxic atmosphere in Washington, described by Norman Ornstein as "partisanship bordering on tribalism."

Broder says the proposal needs careful consideration. By who, a bunch of Washington pundits and think thanks? Many states will be considering this idea. While theoretically only 11 states could pull this off, it's far more likely that it would be twice that number -- and even more likely that with the issue being debated in the states, popular support for direct election will push this over the top in all the states.


Tags: Action for Elections, Electoral College, David Broder, Norm Ornstein (all tags)


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Join the Campaign for progressive legislation.

Join the campaign for progressive legislation http://www.boycott-republicans.com

I seek activist volunteers in Speaker Dennis Hastert's district in Illinois to pass this letter around for a project that will force the speaker to enact progressive legislation. I also seek volunteer activists in Tennessee to do this project to force Senator Frist to enact progressive legislation.

If you want to send me email please place the word PRIVATE in the subject or it will not reach me. Thank you.

Send the following letter to Speaker Hastert and Senator Frist.  After you send them email or US mail drop me an email that you sent them email so I can keep track of how many emails and letters they receive, thank you.

Pass this progressive agenda or face a mass boycott of Republican contributors.

I demand that you get the Republican Party to hold a press conference and accede to these demands. Until such a press conference happens and the legislation and/or actions gets passed I will boycott products from Republican contributors Walmart, Wendy's, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, Curves for women health clubs, GE and Exxon/Mobil.

I demand that congress pass legislation ending the war in Iraq and withdraw the troops and arrange with the United Nations to replace US troops with UN troops to defend Iraq until The Iraqi army can defend Iraq.

I demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to end a woman's right to choose abortion or not.

I demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits to a year or more for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work.

I demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector.

I demand that the congress make all of a person's earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar taxable income limit. This will make social security solvent for many years to come.

I demand the congress increase the payroll tax in order to make social security solvent as well.

I demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps, and no penalties for signing up in a succeeding year.

I demand congress repeal the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003.

I demand congress enact single payer universal health insurance for every citizen as minimum coverage.

I demand that congress and the president enact universal vote by mail throughout the 50 states of the United States of America with paper ballots easy to fill out and difficult to change or invalidate by Republican Party officials. This will prevent Republicans from vote suppression by skin color and political party which happened electronically and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

I demand that congress and the president enact that civil servants on every state payroll keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes.

I demand that congress and the president ban the secretary of state in each of the 50 states from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign.

I demand congress enact legislation protecting private pensions from corporations deliberately declaring bankruptcy or ending pensions outright.

I do this in the spirit of peaceful resistance to a congress that refuses to enact this legislation.

-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
                                                                 <end of letter>

Then call your local franchise or store that sells products of companies mentioned for boycott and tell them unless the Republican Party enacts the above demands, you will no longer do business with them, so get the CEO of the parent company to get the GOP to accede to these demands. No company wants thousands of people boycotting them espcially getting thousands of phone calls from citizens demanding a progressive agenda enacted or they lose our business.

Tell others to send this mail and to call these companies local franchises. In the case of General Electric call your local store that sells General Electric products.

by maximus on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 02:01:20 PM EST


drugs not good

I feel pity for those who are addicted to drugs and any other kind of substances legal or not. I have a few friends who went in a clinic to get drug treatment  and the interesting part is that they swore they were not ever going back.

by sabinuta on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 10:29:25 AM EST


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