[UA] Your country, it scares me.

[Tim Toner]

----- Original Message -----
From: James Palmer <jamespalmer39 at hotmail.com>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 9:34 AM
Subject: [UA] Your country, it scares me.


> The entire Presidential race is hanging on a recount in one state.

Actually, that's not a bug, that's a feature!  Seriously.  The Electoral
College, antiquated as it is, has the uncanny ability to make your vote
worth more than if it were a popularity contest.  This was mathematically
'proved' in an old issue of Discover Magazine (I tried to pull out the url,
but the discover website is pissy.  Search for it under the title, "Math
Against Tyranny").  The important thing is that the target keeps moving.
New York and California are still important to win, but they'd be important
no matter if it were electoral or popular ballot.  In 1960, the last time it
was this close, Illinois (specifically Chicago) made all the difference.
ONE MAN made all the difference.  And that's cool.  Who could have dreamed
that one man, the mayor of a city, could harness that much power?  But it
isn't always Illinois.  Each election, it shifts, and each election, the
candidates have to bust their humps to make sure everyone get represented,
and that no minority, which can form a coalition in a vital state, can be
ignored.  This only underscores it.  Will Florida EVER be this important
again?  Doubtful.  People are going to make damn sure that it's never this
close, for weal or woe, and the battle lines will shift to some ignored
area.

>
> And there is *no* news on any of the main channels at the moment.  Talk
> shows, soap operas, TV judges ... what a beautiful summary of American
> politics.

If you need your fix, that's why we have CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, et. al.
Personally, I find it hysterical that Bush planned for a fete in the capital
of Texas, and when it still failed to materialize, the powers that be
started ordering everyone to pack it up anyway--business as usual.  It's an
ASSET that the system is so dispassionate.  There's no armed
insurrectionists roaming Florida, burning ballot boxes before a recount can
be made (tho there are tales of a ballot box being found in a school the
next day.  DoH!)


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