At 12:20 PM -0400 11/11/2000, John D. Giorgis wrote:
>Chad wrote:
>>The constitution states that everyone has the right to vote.
>>Frankly I would be pretty mad if my ballot was invalidated from
>> something that was not my fault.
>
>Not your fault?
>
>Sorry, Chad, but everything that went on in Florida is exactly the voter's
>fault.
Come on John. The machines they use are old, the ballot was messy, people
were apparently not allowed to fix their mistakes . . . no "everything" is.
Obviously there was a problem with the system too.
I have a serious problem with what you say here, though:
>Come on now, do we really want people who couldn't
>follow an arrow to a dot deciding the President of the United States?
I thought that in your country, it was one vote per person of voting age.
Isn't it? If you want a simple ballot, there's an easy way to design one:
Bush -> []
__________
Gore -> []
__________
etc.
That'd be a ballot for which NO possibility for contestation would be
possible. Why not do that instead of saying "well, the system has warts."
Make a consistent nationwide ballot-template to prevent such problems from
recurring.
Now, John, are you telling me that minor complexities in the ballots, such
as might confuse a small percentage of the population deemed "too dumb to
be allowed a hand in selecting the President", were purposefully introduced
by both parties? Nah, that's too conspiratorial, right?
But I will point out one thing to you: anyone can look at another group
(usually one defined in the observer's own mind) and decide that those
people are unfit to decide something like who should run the country. For
example, I could say that anyone who partakes of the opium of the people
(religion) is not fit to vote, for all their superstition and gullibility.
Dumb or not, those people were entitled to their voice. That has nothing to
do with what I think of the whole so-called "democratic system", but by the
assumptions and ideals of that system, well, yes, we do want those people
picking the President. In theory you actually want *everyone* willing to
participate to be able to take part in that process; one might think that
they can evaluate what they think is best for them, even if they are dumber
than schoolchildren.
Of course, that's assuming, as you do, that it's stupidity that caused
those double punches. Wow, I'd be nervous to declare in one fell swoop that
such a massive number of people is too dumb to be fit to vote.
Gord (who is trying to stay out of this discussion anyway)
