So everyone’s talking about voting here in the US.

I was even on Sesame Street’s site a couple of days ago, just for fun you know, and there’s this voting PSA on their home page with little kids exclaiming about voting and even explaining what voting is, “a vote is when you have two or more things and you choose one.” the little kid says, but the thing that really gets me is that here in the US there is an “Electoral College System” in place –the Electoral College members votes– Those are the votes that count. So all the citizenry may “vote” but the Electoral College votes (538 of them) are the votes that actually count and choose the office of the president. I wonder if the creators of that PSA explained that to those little kids.

Screen shot from Sesame Street's home page Voting PSA

Many many people argue that this “Electoral College” voting system is out of date, it was created by the founding fathers who thought the citizens were too ignorant to actually vote for the important presidential office so they let the people vote, but then the electoral college reviews that information and then THEY, the Electors vote and choose the president. Those 538 people. And who are they? Read on to find out more about this antiquated system that persists in the face of strong opposition by copious amounts of intelligent citizens.

Here in the US, we talk about our power to vote. But honestly the general feel for the “I vote” discussions I’ve been in is citizens of the US believe they are electing the President & Vice President with their votes ie: in an election by the popular vote. But that is only partially true and less like I’ve just stated above. The Electoral College elects the President to the office. Now if that is news to you it’s pretty darned shocking I know. So let’s talk about what exactly is the Electoral College system which is a type of voting system that is actually used in many countries around the world.

If this is a new subject to you, basically there is the popular vote and the Electoral College looks at those results and totally considers them (as far as I know from what I read about it) and then elects the President/Vice President themselves.

There is a really good article about Electoral College on howstuffworks.com that breaks it down how the Electors are elected, who is eligible. But here’s how it works from archives.gov::

“The process for selecting electors varies throughout the United States. Generally, the political parties nominate electors at their State party conventions or by a vote of the party’s central committee in each State.

Electors are often selected to recognize their service and dedication to their political party. They may be State-elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the Presidential candidate.

Then the voters in each State choose the electors on the day of the general election. The electors’ names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the candidates running for President, depending on the procedure in each State.” —so that’s how “Electors” are elected.

So we elect the electors and they elect the President.

This system appears to be a compromise election system that wouldn’t give all the power to elect the CEO of the country by the Congress or give all the power to the people because that was thought at the time of the framing of US Constitution to be too reckless by some politicians of that time. This system is described in Article II, section 1 of the Constitution.

This cool tetrisesque graphic, that I’m using under The Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license, shows how many votes each state gets.

Gott and Colley's Electoral Cartogram showing the electoral votes apportioned to each state fm. 2010 Census

And..”How is the number of electoral votes for each state determined?

Answer:
The number of electoral votes each state receives is equal to the number of Senators plus the number of House Representatives. The number of senators is fixed at two but the number of Representatives for each state varies with the population of the state but is always at least one. Washington DC gets the same amount of electoral votes as the state with the least (currently 3).

The number of representatives that a state has is determined by the population. After the official census is completed every ten years, Congress adjusts the number of Representatives based on the new population figures. The total number is currently 435, based on state population. A Presidential Candidate needs 270 electoral votes for the win. –http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_is_the_number_of_electoral_votes_for_each_state_determined

So, 538 electors (100 from the number of Senators, 435 from the number of House Representatives, & 3 for D.C.).

So there you have it, the details on the Electoral College voting system currently in place in the US this election year. Many feel this is an antiquated system and advocate for a true popular vote by the people. What do you think?

* And another thing about the voting system that is unclear to me is what I just read on howstuffworks.com is “On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, the electors meet in their respective state capitals to officially cast their votes for president and vice president. These votes are then sealed and sent to the president of the Senate, who on Jan. 6 opens and reads the votes before both houses of Congress. The winner is sworn into office at noon Jan. 20 [source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration].” How do we know in November right after voting day who won the election if the electoral college doesn’t officially vote until the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December? Do they vote twice?

Stuff to ponder.

Personally, I think the citizenry are up for a popular vote, one that actually counts each vote and weighs each persons vote or voice in choosing the Head of State. PEACE.

other source: wikipedia

So, The other day I was out in the front yard here in Detroit, USA and one of the neighbors starts telling me his story.

Seems he was living in this house (that’s next door to mine– see pics), paying rent every month as usual, and then one day he finds out that the man he had been renting from defaulted on the house loan (75Gs or so). So the bank reclaims the house and evicts him.

And then this is what happened to the house. See Pics.

not long for this world

seen better dayz

back 2 nature

So the bank evicted the person who had been paying rent and keeping the house nice.

And what was their brilliant industrious plan for their reclaimed house? Evidently to let the house literally fall apart from total neglect, because that is exactly what happened.

To me, that is one of the most illogical stories I have ever heard. I mean, why are houses built? For people to habitate them right, and somehow in this little drama that the neighbor unfurled to me, the bank execs navigated this situation to an outcome of no one to care for that house anymore so it went back to nature. But why? Why would anyone reclaim a property just to let it be overtaken by the wild bush?

Well– too bad for that once cute little house because a few years of doing nothing for a house in this neighborhood = a wild rose garden in the living room. That house is history.

My neighbor says it makes him sad every time he walks by, and I could hear it in his voice. What kind of economic system is this that produces these sort of scenarios? There is sooooo much I do not for the life of me understand. Like, the fact that there is enough food in the world to feed everyone in the world, if only there was enough money to pay for it. That is absolutely pitiful. And this neighbor’s story too, is very sad indeed.

Another thing that is ridiculous right here in my neighborhood in Detroit is scrapper vultures. There is a park here that has lost three of the 4 swing’s chains, and the chain link fence that used to surround the playground got cut down and thrown in the back of a scrappers truck (in broad daylight) to cash in at the scrapyard. That’s pretty desperate. But we’re really all in all of this together no matter where you live. I just thought the bank seizing my neighbor’s house story really exemplifies the unhealthy nature of a society that revolves around green paper that you trade for goods and services. It’s more important than any other thing and it’s insane really, to live that way and do things that make no sense except to make money, or horde money. Money money money.

Peace.