Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: CHAT: browsers

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Tuesday, February 11, 2003, 12:22
Tristan scripsit:

> If the people vote for it, it'd go out of reach of the majority... > (think America).
If the U.S. President were directly elected by the people, Bush II wouldn't be sitting in the White House today. To become President, one runs in 51 separate contests (one for each state, one for the capital district), each of which is worth a number of points; points are distributed roughly on the basis of population. Whoever gets an absolute majority of the points wins. The points are called "electoral votes" for historical reasons, and indeed electors are chosen and go through the motions of voting, but the effective system is as I have described. Only three times in our history has the elected President also failed to get a plurality of total votes cast. But legally the total votes cast are totally irrelevant: indeed, there are no records of popular votes from 1789 (the adoption of the current Constitution) to 1820. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful. --_The Hobbit_

Reply

Tristan <kesuari@...>