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With the presidential elections coming up, one should reflect upon the governmental system that we have in place that is allowing this election to take place. And after you have poked it, prodded it, and then put it back down, you realize that it ain't as perfect as you thought. You notice that there are some inherit flaws in democracy and that if they could be solved it would be so much better. One of the first things you notice is that allowing practically anyone to vote is not a good thing. In America you get to vote if you are a citizen and over the age of 18; the exception is if you have been convicted of a felony. But otherwise anyone can vote with no other qualification other than age and being a citizen (which is not difficult on its own to achieve). So you could have the IQ of mayo and still get to vote. And getting to vote is the greatest amount of power that you can have in a democracy. As is said, it is the day when you have the same amount of power as the president. And when people vote in the masses they essentially control the government. They get to dictate what politicians push for. And since the majority is who gets to win votes, the majority control the government. This is not such a good thing. Have you ever heard of the saying "tyranny of the majority"? This is it. What happens is that the majority end up making a poor choice, essentially screwing over the minority that saw how wrong the majority was; and yet the superior minority get trampled upon by the inferior majority. And we all know that people often follow the bandwagon and vote how everyone else votes. So it can be quite easy for the majority to no longer vote based on what is right, but on what everyone else is voting for. This has led to many instances in which people's rights were trampled on when they shouldn't have. For instance, a bill to allow homosexual couples to have more basic rights as couples was knocked down here in California earlier this year. Now there is no moral reason why this bill is bad. If you don't like homosexuals fine, be ignorant. But don't force your ignorance on other people. But the bill didn't pass because the majority didn't want it. Any religion-specific laws and such are also a good example of the tyranny of the majority. There is not a complete separation of church and state. I mean they hold prayer in the House of Representatives! That is not a separation of church and state. But it is allowed because the majority allows it. It is wrong, but the tyranny of the majority seems to moronically disagree. Should have listened to deTocqueville. And what helps allow the tyranny of the majority to occur? Not having basic education requirements for voters. We let anyone over 18 vote (I am not going to bother with dealing with the citizen requirement since that only really requires being born on American soil). How does being 18 qualify you to have the power to vote? Being 18 does not guarantee that you have the mental capacities to fully comprehend what you are voting on. I know this is going to sound horrible, but we allow mentally retarded people to vote. And they can't understand the bills they are voting on; the ramifications upon themselves, the effect upon others, the long term effects. But lets not even worry about people with that low of a mental capacity. How about people who are just plain dumb? They exist and they vote. It could be said that we are dumbing down government by allowing these people to vote. What is more important, allowing anyone over 18 to vote or making sure that good, moral laws are passed? I personally would want the latter. But the founding fathers of America realized all of this. This is why we have the electoral college. When you vote in a presidential election in America you are actually just expressing an opinion. Your vote has no direct say in who becomes the next president. Your vote is there to let the elector for your state know your opinion as to who should become president. Some states do have laws requiring the electoral college for their state vote according to what the general populace want, but not all. All of this was put into place to act as a buffer between the tyranny of the majority and the electing of a president. It was the intention of the founding fathers that this system would allow intelligent people to elect the president and not the general populace. They knew that allowing anyone to have a direct say in who could become president was dangerous. The problem is that the tyranny of the majority has managed to take control. Laws forcing electors to vote according to the general populace shows this. But also the general idea of how it would be wrong for an elector to go against majority of his/her state also demonstrates how the general population is trying to exert its power. The electoral college is meant to be able to vote how ever it chooses. But if they were to do so and in the act contradict what the people wanted then major reprecussions would occur. So the American populous has managed over time to negate the original purpose of the electoral college. Something must change. The current system for elections does not work. Either something like the electoral college must be allowed to perform its purpose or direct elections should be allowed with some restriction placed on who an vote (such as requiring a high school degree). Either way, contemporary political philosophers mostly agree that the current system does not work. |