Did I really elect the President
Now I personally was not very politically minded in the past, but once I started researching things my logical side kept tugging at me saying “this just is not right”. What I am talking about is the election of the President and Vice President and how I feel that my individual vote does not always count.
According to the United States Constitution, a presidential election is to be held once every fourth year and the election process starts long before Election Day. Candidates first begin to raise money and campaign at least one year in advance of the election. In order to officially represent a political party, a candidate must be nominated by that party. The primary nomination process is a contest that officially begins with the first state primaries and caucuses, which usually occur in the month of February of the election year. It is at these local events that voters are given their first chance to participate in electing the nation’s next President. At least that is what you are made to believe. There are many factors that influence who will ultimately become the candidate for a party, such as media reports, public opinion polls, candidate preference surveys, and advertising all of these things help determine the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the candidates in the months leading up to the caucuses and primaries.
The candidates campaign right up until Election Day, when the nation finally votes for its President. Does the nation really have the final vote? In this national presidential election, every citizen of legal age has an opportunity to vote. However, the President is not chosen by direct popular vote. The Constitution requires that a process known as the Electoral College ultimately decides who will win the general election. The Electoral College is a method of indirect election of the President of the United States.
The authors of the Constitution say they put this system in place so that careful and calm deliberation would lead to the selection of the best-qualified candidate. All voters in each state actually cast a vote for a block of electors who are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. And this pledged voting where things can change. These electors assemble, cast their ballots, and officially select the next President of the United States. Legally, the electors may vote for someone other than the candidate for whom they were pledged to vote. This phenomenon is known as the “unfaithful” or “faithless” elector.
Once the votes are cast the candidate who has a majority in a state is awarded ALL of that state’s votes. With 538 Electors, a candidate must receive at least 270 votes to be elected to the office. Should no presidential candidate receive an absolute majority, the House of Representatives determines who the next president will be and similarly the Senate decides who the next Vice President.
Elections have been decided by Congress in the past. The House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson president in the election of 1800 when the Electoral College vote resulted in a tie. When the Electoral College vote was so split that none of the candidates received an absolute majority in the election of 1824 the House elected John Quincy Adams President. Richard Johnson was elected Vice President by the Senate when he failed to receive an absolute majority of electoral votes in the election of 1836.
So after all that process is done with all its indirect election methods, all the possibilities of unfaithful electors, elections at times being decided by Congress and the House and even all the media hype, can you really say that you had the final vote in any election? Could this also explain why our elected officials don’t seem to listen to us? Could it be the party and it’s ideology is more important than the people? I don’t know my fellow readers and friends, tell me what you think.
Still wondering what check washing has to do with politics? Well a fraud is a fraud and both of these cost you lots of money.
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I am a hopeless Romantic and Positive person. I started a company called Website Designing Plus, which helps small businesses build an online presence. I write poetry and study history as it pertains to my genealogy. I am yes-23's website designer and lighter side because I love humor.
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Your complaint is with the Constitution and the republican (small “r”) form of government established by our forefathers.
Kathleen
We live in a constitutional republic with representative government, not a direct democracy. I don’t think that our form of government is at fault, I think instead that we (collectively and over many years) have allowed our representatives in Congress to break their oaths of office without consequence.
We have also, through ignorance of our own Constitution, believed the lie that the oath of office is a solemn oath to defend the security of the United States. This is not true. The oath is to defend the Constitution. This is an important distinction. If defending American security is paramount, then violating the Bill of Rights is acceptable. It would be interesting to see when this false belief about the oath of office became so commonplace that even the President of the United States repeats it.