Posted by Joshua on October 08, 2008 at 20:15:54
In Reply to: Re: US electoral system posted by Outsider on October 05, 2008 at 21:22:36:
Being Canadian myself, I don't kmow some stuff as you about the USA's elections' mechanisms.
But living not far up north and as I went in USA quite a few times and even lived there a while somehow a few times, I always followed quite closely what was going on there as even teenager I didn't like JF Kennedy was killed and cried when it happened too.
Since then I learned a lot on that country but not all evidently and 'hidden' mechanisms too as in Canada and elsewhere I know evidently now being older. Nevertheless I won't talk about it now here but just can say that about what you said only up here simply:
In the last elections between Bush and Kerry, we heard on some medias, as on CNN especially, that, as you say, people with the same names of those who, even in any other state, were convicted criminals or something like that and then, having the same names as those, they couldn't vote at all! Weird stuff, isn't it?
It was reported by angry people in Florida too especially then as the vote was so tight there to decide what would be the final results of the whole election. Florida even was the main state left to decide who would win almost.
About to know if these people having similar names as criminal' ones were Democrats or Republicans in Florida or elsewhere, dunno myself.
It would be interesting though quite to study that hum? But quite inpossible.
Another thing that bothers me is the fact that, in many states, the vote is done with electronic machines. And who oversees these machines? Not the Government surprisingly, but these companies are private imagine!
So the owner)s) of these companies could maybe change the votes' counting easily, especially if they have friends in 'high' places they would want to please. Nothing much have been said about these last electronic tools much and in some states they banned these electronical tools as finding them just inadequate and unsure evidently!
In Florida last time, electronic voting machines were used... The night of the election, Kerry was almost declared President, the next day... who became elected?... George W. Bush and all that came with him!...
So you had a new nice couple at the White House too afterwards: G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney, two people I would never buy a used car from. Not because I'm not an USA citizen and find that Americans are bad, but just looking at their faces simply.
In each country, you have nice and weird people evidently. But,if not more than ever, evil actions of some can destroy the good of others sadly. And as in my country, I wonder why we let them do it.
I don't believe in using violence, but shouldn't we react more towards these people who lead us? People seem less and less interested in politics as a whole, so it seems only those people having financial interests there vote, that won't bring us nowhere and even can bring us to fall, no?
Should we let politicians be lobbyed so much by rich companies? within other things? In Canada there's lobbying, but private companies gifts to politicians are now forbidden! Is it like that in other countries? I didn't look into it. It looks politicians and wealthy families in USA have quite close interactions too much to say the least...