-
Quick Tour
Connect. Share. Learn.Welcome to ActiveRain, the #1 social community for real estate professionals.- Explore the world's largest storehouse of real estate knowledge
- Access free training on ActiveRain University
- Share the experience of life in the real estate industry
- Grow your business through real estate blogging
- Blogs
-
Resources
Product Reviews Curious as to what others in your profession think about a certain product or tool? AR's community takes the time to leave honest and transparent reviews of their experiences so you can be a bit wiser about your purchase.
- Broken down by categories and subcategories for easy finds
- Get an unfiltered look at what real users are saying
- Leave a review yourself for others to benefit from
- Add new products as you use them and gain points for doing so
|
Today is November 4, 2008 and it is Election Day here in the United States of America. As many have said, it is historical for many reasons, no matter who is the President elect by tomorrow.
;)
;)
;)
Find RI real estate agents and Warwick real estate on ActiveRain.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
© 2013 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
14 Comments on United States of America, Election Day November 4, 2008
Karen,
Great post! Freedoms carry with them a responsibility...freedom does not mean license...the very first amendment has become so abused as to be almost unrecognizable...particularly with the media and their obligation to present the truth in an unbiased format!!! WOW!!!
In sports, when a team loses its way very badly, they regroup and go back to the basics...We can learn a lesson from sports!!!
Thanks, Fran
Karen, I'm on board. As I had commented on Fran's blog once before, we're going to have to get back to the ideas and ideals of the founding fathers at some point and hopefully soon. Some of our country is just downright nutty.
Fran, I think thats a great analogy! We all need to go back to basics and hopefully this election will help.
Charlie, I believe that most people think that we "are" still living under the ideas and ideals of the founding fathers. I believe that more people need to be educated as to the State of the Union., and then of course...some of our country "is" downright nutty:)
I voted today. we didn't have long lines at all but we couldn't find parking. All the parking was taken by watch dog groups and sign holders.
Karen, great post reminding us of our Constitutional Rights. Everyone needs to read them and think about what they mean and ask themselves if we're still living by those rights. I, too, would like to see the Electoral Vote done away with.
PS - enjoyed talking with you this evening.
Karen: When I went to vote, there was hardly a line as well - but heard on the radio that in downtown Detroit, there were people waiting three+ hours. I feel that we have gotten away from what the founding fathers intended when they created the constitution. I watched the speeches last night and it was amazing to see so many people emotionally touched by the need for change and excited about the possibility of it.
Karen: What expresses our freedom more than the right to vote! I voted early and I always get tears in my eyes everytime I vote. It's an awesome privilege. Also, love your background picture - beautiful scenery.
Monika, Judi, Cathy and Donna, thankyou!
Actually, the Electoral College is a brilliant system created by the Founding Fathers to ensure that the will of the big cities/states don't overrun the will of the rural areas/states, a problem that they had even then with Philadelphia and Boston being pitted against rural ares.
They understood that all people should have a vote but that problems would certainly occur if the big cities regularly won the elections. The Electoral College puts big and small on a more even keel. All you have to do to verify that is go look at the votes of the big cities in every state, red or blue, to see that they almost always vote blue (excepting Utah) and that the rural areas almost always vote red. The 80/20 rule probably is very true here. It held true in this election and every election back to 1976 that I have studied. The key seems to be winning those suburbs, the gray area between city blue and rural red, or at least winning over some red people in blue areas and blue people in rea areas.
The Founding Fathers understood that the nation was bound to grow, and as it grew, rural areas would become more scarce and subject to the whim of the big cities and states. The Electoral College prevents that.
It's a beautiful system.
Russel, thank you for the explanation of the Electoral College and why it was originally created. It does make more sense to me now. It's been awhile since I've taken Civics -- thanks for the refresher.
I'm kinda late to this Nov 4 post. I did vote and earned the right to complain. Ha, ha.
I think Russel explained the Electoral College very well. Thanks for the post.
Not sure about the rural vs urban area comment regarding the Electoral College... since the way it works would not actually protect the rural folks, since they number less than the urban folks, and we have majority rule... States control how the Electors are worked in each State... it is not a Federally regulated entity, other than that is assumed to exist in the Constitution, where "Electors" are mentioned, but never a thing called the Electoral College.
I believe it was all more about States electing the President (and at the time, the Senate) than about this issue... this as per the Federalist Papers of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, written in their efforts to "sell" the Constitution to the peoples of various States... the Term Electoral College did not come into use until well after the Constitution was ratified.
Back then, the Founders also were concerned that many people would not know the candidate, since even with just 13 colonies (States) it would take months to travel them, and even then, most people would not have seen the candidates debate... they calculated that this would be offset by the States electing electors, who could then vote in a more informed manner... the Founders wanted an educated population to elect the Executive, and so made a compromise on how that would be done: namely, elect "Electors" to learn what they can, and vote on our behalf (that is, on behalf of the States)
This may no longer be needed today, where people have access to mass media... but the issue of States electing the President still persists... is the President a representative of a a Union Of States, or of the People? The Founders, I fear, might argue differently than we would today, us having a much more direct experience of the Federal Government (note the word Federal, meaning Union Of States) and as we have already given up the States' right to elect Senators many years ago.
That said, I agree that we have lost many rights over recent administration, and have seen a rampant growth of executive power at the expense of the legislature and of the judiciary... this must stop, and our liberties and rights must be restored. The government must again focus on the protection of the less powerful citizenry rather than on the expansion of the aleady powerful at their expense...
I've lived outside of the country in places where the government can cite a current crisis and say, in effect, due to the tense times we live in, we're going to deny a few of these rights. It's my hope that we don't go so far in this great nation to over-reach and find any of these rights to be beyond our need to save them.
Chuck: Our country did the same thing after 911 with teh patriot act... reduced our rights...
and of course, the right to bear arms is not quite what most people think it is... the true text of that amendment should be read...