This is Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day. Of course, human rights is a fundamental issue for people around the world every single day. It's a privilege to share with you All Things Reform's concerns in this particular day and age.
Democracy is very important in a nation's electoral process. Here, in the United States, the political system is dominated by only two parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. We must open up our democracy to allow more voices for citizen consideration during the primaries and on general election day.
Presently, for example, the presidential race is basically only between our two major political parties. In a couple of the latest several general elections, third party candidacies have influenced voting outcomes: Independent Ross Perot in 1992 and Green Party nominee Ralph Nader in 2000. The two-party-dominated electoral politics rendered these powerful candidacies weak, yet even they influenced the winner-take-all electoral system's results.
Our electoral system must allow more eligible candidacies from outside the Democratic and Republican parties a prominent place during election season. Effective solutions include general election ballot access in the states, Instant Runoff Voting, voluntary public financing of elections and Proportional Representation.
When the voter during election season contemplates the candidates in the various races, they must not be pressured into considering only the two philosophies of the major parties. More choice is good for the democratic process, for the people and for a vibrant republic.
For further information on electoral reform, please visit FairVote, at http://www.fairvote.org/.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Open up our democracy for more voter choices during election day
Thursday, May 08, 2008
New political discussion blog: Understated Priorities
I have begun a political blog called "Understated Priorities"-- it's at www.understatedpriorities.blogspot.com
It is mostly entries from reference books on the topic of politics: quotes, aphorisms, poems and a lot more. I discuss each entry and am open for your comments, too. Current posts included:
Here is your opportunity to reflect on the major thoughts related to government, politics and people. Enjoy!
David Weller
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Monday, March 17, 2008
Follow "local" bloggers up to general election day at Patchwork Nation
The Christian Science Monitor has just unveiled a different kind of "election 2008" web site, called "Patchwork Nation". Instead of the common "red state/ blue state" analysis of the nation's voters, it focuses on 11 different types of communities, based on census data and demographics. You can find out with your zip code where you are and follow local blogs up to general election day this November, 2008; statistics are given on what each community looks like.
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