American Society: GEOG 2300
The United States is absolutely self-centered, hedonistic, and wasteful of resources. The ecological footprint of the average American is huge. We use so many more resources compared to the rest of the world. We are a country based upon total hypocracy. The founders of our country proclaimed that “all men are created equal,” while at the same time they lived lives of degrading other men to be their own personal slaves. Still, today, hundreds of years later, we continue to fight a battle of segragation and discrimination. Moreso, there are countless American citizens across the country that live with this mindset that “we are the best.” There are people so blinded with nationalistic pride, or other beliefs, that they don’t know what is truly good for their lives. There is an unfortunate aspect of American society that is most Americans do not know how to think for themselves, they don’t know how to make their own decisions. Take the electoral college, for example, we use a voting system where the popular vote doesn’t matter. Over the course of American history we have seen presidential elections where the winner of the election did not with the popular vote.
Looking at my own life, I know that from time to time I don’t respect the resources that I use. I find myself wasting electricity by leaving house lights on, and I know I don’t recycle as much as I should. I don’t pay enough attention to national news and the problems throughout the rest of the world, so in that sense I know I can be somewhat self-centered. However I don’t drive a car, and I use a bike as my main mode of transportation. I feel as an American society we have to be willing to admit that we are not perfect, and we must keep our minds open in order to better ourselves as a society.
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1:32 pm - 6-19-2010
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. Candidates would need to care about voters across the nation, not just undecided voters in a handful of swing states.
The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes–that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The bill uses the power given to each state by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution to change how they award their electoral votes for president.
The bill has been endorsed or voted for by 1,922 state legislators (in 50 states) who have sponsored and/or cast recorded votes in favor of the bill.
In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. Support for a national popular vote is strong in virtually every state, partisan, and demographic group surveyed in recent polls in closely divided battleground states: Colorado– 68%, Iowa –75%, Michigan– 73%, Missouri– 70%, New Hampshire– 69%, Nevada– 72%, New Mexico– 76%, North Carolina– 74%, Ohio– 70%, Pennsylvania — 78%, Virginia — 74%, and Wisconsin — 71%; in smaller states (3 to 5 electoral votes): Alaska — 70%, DC — 76%, Delaware –75%, Maine — 77%, Nebraska — 74%, New Hampshire –69%, Nevada — 72%, New Mexico — 76%, Rhode Island — 74%, and Vermont — 75%; in Southern and border states: Arkansas –80%, Kentucky — 80%, Mississippi –77%, Missouri — 70%, North Carolina — 74%, and Virginia — 74%; and in other states polled: California — 70%, Connecticut — 74% , Massachusetts — 73%, Minnesota — 75%, New York — 79%, Washington — 77%, and West Virginia- 81%.
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 30 state legislative chambers, in 20 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon, and both houses in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington. These five states possess 61 electoral votes — 23% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
6:06 am - 4-1-2012
Everything is very open with a really clear explanation of the issues.
It was really informative. Your website is very helpful.
Thank you for sharing!