Unfortunately true. The truth is we have had presidents that won the popular vote but lost the election. Hard to do, but possible, thank you Electoral College...
Seperation of church and state is supposed to keep the government from forcing one religion on the nation. Saying the word "God" in the pledge allegence has nothing to do with that.
Well, the pledge of allegiance was originally created by a Baptist minister to sell flags to school. And "under God" was added during the Red Scare of the 1950's as a way of showing that the US was a pious nations. I'm pretty sure the original intent was for the "God" to be the Christian version, but the meaning has changed somewhat over the years.
God is lasso a broad term or generic word for any deity or being that is beyond and more supernatural than mankind, like Greek gods. Beyond man, yet on a larger scale I think titans were "greater" or more "divine" if I'm not mistaken
Article 4, Section 4 of the American Constitution clearly states: "The United States shall garuntee to every State in this Union a REPUBLICAN form of Government..."
The word "Democracy" is not found at all in either the Declaration of Indepence nor The American Constitution.
Don't forget that Gore wanted the absentee ballots thrown out. The lion's share of absentee ballots aren't just military, but military serving overseas. He wanted thier vote silenced, because he knew their votes weren't for him.
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Also don't forget that Gore initially called Bush to concede victory and congratulate his victory in Florida, but he later retracted that statement when he learned how close it was.
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The entire thing was a perfect shit storm of election fuck ups, starting with the confusing "butterfly ballot." It ultimately forced significant election reform in Florida.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000
Oh it was all sorts of things certainly. I was just pointing out the basic difference being Bush had more electoral college votes but lost the popular vote.
Esweeny, I cringe at most of these comments. The US is a representative republic. In a true democracy every bill would be voted on by every citizen. This is almost inconceivable. In a representative republic we elect reps that are supposed to vote in their districts best interests. The only problem is the lack of accountability that these leaches are subjected to.
Quick question to all the Americans; why don't you guys have a federal body that runs all elections rather than state based elections? Wouldn't that ensure free and fair elections as well as stop gerrymandering? In Australia we have the Australian Electoral Commission, I know you have the Federal Electoral Commission but that it only registers voters.
Our federal government is weak by design. The 50 states are intended to function almost as 50 autonomous nations. Federal government is meant to centralize some services and govern interstate commerce. Most of us do not want an all powerful central ruling body.
I studied the American revolution and the creation of the new society and understand that the states feared tyranny, therefore they formed a system that would keep most things state controlled. But wouldn't it be better to have a independent statutory authority that is government funded but not government controlled? Like in Australia the AEC is completely independent. Ps: sorry for being extremely annoying with my questions, I'm a curious soul.
Lisamarie, our federal government has the opposite of a Midas touch. Anything they become involved in becomes so bogged down in red tape and so over budget that the us taxpayers cannot afford federal involvement. One standardized set of election regulations might not be a bad idea though. I'm curious how a governing body could be federally funded but privately controlled as you suggest.
Sweeny, it is the best way. The Nebraska corn farmers, Florida retires, California entertainment industry, NYC bankers, Pennsylvania factory workers, West Virginia coal miners, Idaho potato farmers etc should not all fall under the same set if rules and guidelines. It would only be a short time before the populated cities control everything the rural communities do. Look at NY state, the NYC fat cats don't give a pinch of coon shit about the dairy farmers in Phelps, NY but they essentially controll them with legislation. This is just one of hundreds of examples across the country. Now if you remove that next level if division here will be nothing to stop large city alliances from deliberately destroying small communities everywhere. There are more reasons why a weak central government is important but uou should do some research on it.
'Pokethebear' thanks so much for your coherent response. Well in Australia we have the AEC, which is funded by the government but nobody who works in the AEC is connected in anyway to government and the money is used independent of government control. It's not actually privately controlled but it's run by civil servants and volunteers (when I turn 18 I can volunteer to count ballots etc). Australia is very interesting because our constitution is actually pretty brief and most of our political system is based on conventions that have grown over time. But it works really effectively and elections are based on the three key principles of democracy; representation, accountability and participation.
Lisa, the Federal Elections Commission's main duty is regulate election finances. For federal elections, there's the Electoral College, which is an extremely sequestered group of appointed federal employees that act as the voice of the electorate. In fact, nobody is allowed to know the names of electors until the current election is over.
There are federal campaign finance laws, but not election laws concerning times, locations, identifications, types of ballots, recount procedures, etc. In NY we fill out paper ballots that get fed into a machine, like a scantron for a multiple choice test.
Well that's exactly my point, you don't have consistent ballot systems. Not to mention the parties in powers are in charge of re distribution which keeps the door open for gerrymandering. I just think it doesn't really make for a democratic process specially in comparison with Australia.
Pokethebear called my state the retirement state... :(
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In all seriousness I like these kinds of conversations, if you guys want to continue it would should make one of those "talk" posts, don't you think?
Sorry, but everybody retiring in NY heads to Florida to save in income and property tax. I can call Arizona a retirement state too if it makes you feel better.
Actually in the pledge of allegiance it states that we are a republic. I remember my 6th grade teacher saying I will prove to you that Usa is not a democracy and then made us say the pledge of allegiance and pointed out the line where it says "I pledge of allegiance to the flag and the Republic which it stands" so that proves we are a republic.
I'm only pointing out that there were never the words "there shall be a separation of church and state" in the constitution, as many people believe. Yes, the establishment clause was intended for the use of separating church and state. That phrase came from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote back in 1802. So no, I was not incorrect in my statement.
It pretty much says from Smitty's link that " we will not follow orders any religions, but we will not abolish them." The people are allowed to have and practice faith, but faith is not allowed to become an influence to the government's decisions.
The United States is a Representative Democracy. It's true it's not stated but it's still a form of democracy. The UK isn't a monarchy either. It's a constitutional Monarchy.
Democracy is simply one of the more important cogs that run the system.
The word "Democracy" is not found at all in either the Declaration of Indepence nor The American Constitution.
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Also don't forget that Gore initially called Bush to concede victory and congratulate his victory in Florida, but he later retracted that statement when he learned how close it was.
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The entire thing was a perfect shit storm of election fuck ups, starting with the confusing "butterfly ballot." It ultimately forced significant election reform in Florida.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000
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In all seriousness I like these kinds of conversations, if you guys want to continue it would should make one of those "talk" posts, don't you think?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Establishment_Clause
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic
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Not to mention that Article IV of the Constitution states that the Constitution "guarantee[s] to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government".
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If you really want to get down to the brass tacks of semantics, the US is a (broken) Oligarchic Republic.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy