h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"If the people are gonna elect turkeys to tell them what to do, then the people are gonna have problems. Tiy can't blame the turkeys. The Constitution never guaranteed smart government; it guaranteed representative government. And it works - That's what we've got."

"The trouble with the dXmn system is that it selects for the skills needed to get elected, and nothing else...which requires only an ability to fool a sufficient number of people for just long enough to get the votes. Unfortunately the personal qualitites necessary for attaining office are practically the opposite of those demanded by the office itself. A test that you can only pass by cheating can't possible select honest people, can it?"

- author James P. Hogan, in the novel "Code of the Life Maker"

Kinda gets right to the heart of how the American electoral process works, doesn't it?

NBY

Well, yes, NBY.

One of the many disturbing things I've read during this election campaign is the idea that a lot of voters have been put off John Kerry because they think he's too intellectual. They want someone simple and dumb.

You see, I'd have thought that intelligence might be a desirable quality in the holder of the most responsible position in the world. Obviously that's because I'm a silly foreign liberal who just doesn't understand.

Doonesbury is running a week of strips with links to 'Honest Voices'.

Here was Mondays link to an article by John Eisenhower (son of DDE) on why he will be voting for Kerry: http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=44657

Sitting here in South Africa I'm close to panicking. I wonder if the American President, or the American People, realise that what they do and decide *seriously* influence the rest of us??

To be fair, we should also all get to vote for the American president!
Shouldn't we?

I also wonder sometimes if there might be a way to increase the collective US level of intelligence as well as their principles and sense of responsibility, and *awareness* of what is *really* happening in their own country and elsewhere?

Only one answer really. All those capitals & capitols. USA has had LBJ & JFK.

Time now to vote for NBY.



zdt*running for VICE president, peut être?*

Unfortunately, I don't think NBY's running. So I'll happily settle for JFK II - John F. Kerry.

Newsflash:

According to the BBC, Kerry is currently leading in four of the contentious states. Verification/Falsification and updates much appreciated!

http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/

It's looking reasonably good. Since that poll in Pennsylvania was taken, the gap's widened to the extent that the Republicans have cancelled their advertising there, effectively throwing in the and conceding the state to Kerry.

It looks like Kerry should be President if he can win either Ohio or Florida. Unfortunately, as you may have read elsewhere, the dubious electoral practices seem to have started all over again in Florida...

Daddy's friends still sit in the Supreme Court and whatsername, who works on his campaign, is STILL in charge of the election in Florida. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't do something weird there due to the storms and iffy electronic voting machines.

There is a vote coming up before the election (if it hasn't already happened) that will make Colorado a split state in the electoral college. Electorates will be split by percentage of the popular vote. There is 'some' talk of doing that in Texas. I'm not completely sure it's a good idea but right now I'd welcome it as my vote seriously doesn't count. The only good thing about being a voter in Texas is that since it is a given that Bush, the younger will win we haven't been subjected to nearly as many ads as voters in other states are.

Yes, and there appear to be fewer polling booths in the black areas of Florida's cities. And such.

10000 lawyers employed by each side, apparently.

for the link.

If nominated, I will not run.

If elected, I will not serve.

Colorado's voters will decide on November 2, 2004, whether the state's 9 electoral votes for this and later presidential elections will remain "winner take all" or will be distributed proportionally to the popular vote.

Conventional wisdom holds that on a "winner take all" system, all nine electoral votes will usually go Republican and that, under a proportional distribution, the Republicans would get 5 to the Democrats 4.

'If elected, I will not serve.'

What if you're appointed by the Supreme Court against the popular will?