Chapter 1: Elections

I'm going to be honest on here and tell you that I've never really understood how elections worked. All I knew was that you go somewhere, fill out your ballot, turn it in, and go home. I never really understood what the Electoral College was or what it did or how it even mattered in today's elections. After reading this chapter though, I know now that I was seriously mistaken.

There are three key points in this chapter that I thought deserved a thorough talking about since so many of us don't really know that much about the elections that run our country. The first is Gerrymandering which is "the practice of drawing congressional districts to influence the outcome of elections based on demographic information. Used by both parties, it can render some voters' interests almost irrelevant and tends to help incumbents." I already knew a little bit about Gerrymandering. I knew that it was the reasoning behind why so many of our congressional voting districts are, for lack of a better word, wonky shaped. Some look like snakes, others look like an ink-blot. In the end it all comes down to someone at the state level decided that they wanted the incumbents of certain areas to be reelected so they drew the lines in such a way that would benefit that particular politician. I've never really understood why we still let the state governments draw the lines. Why not let a computer algorithm take all the information of population and any other necessary information and draw the districts. That would seem to be a much fairer way of dividing up the districts.

And why is this outrageous behavior not being covered by any of the news stations? Is it because they don't know it's happening or do they not care? Or maybe it's because both parties use this technique to help themselves? Why do we let these people cut us up into sections that help them? Why hasn't anyone really stood up and said 'No, this is unacceptable. Every voters vote must be counted or there is not point to the election. The point of the vote is so that every person's voice and opinion is heard.' And yet in this country where our greatest freedom is the ability to speak our minds, we are muted in the most important forum of all. We allow ourselves to be muted at election time. And the people muting us are the very same people we all complain about everyday.

The next time I have to opportunity to ask a political candidate a question, it's going to be this: What are you going to do about Gerrymandering? Will you allow the districts to be drawn in an unbiased way or will you continue the muting of your constituents' voice.

I think I'll stop there for now. Look for my next post from Chapter 1 that will deal with the Electoral College and Presidential Elections. Please feel free to leave any and all comments you wish. I want to open up a dialogue where we can all share our thoughts and maybe we can come together and fix all the issues that we see wrong with this country and create a better place that we can be proud to live in.

What You Should Know About Politics...But Don't

I realized a few weeks ago that when it came to politics and everything about how the politics in this country works, I really didn't know that much. So, I did what any person with a library card does. I found a book that looked like it could answer my questions.

That book is titled What You Should Know About Politics...But Don't by Jessamyn Conrad. From the outside it boasts that it is a "nonpartisan guide to the issues" and from the preface, introduction, and first chapter I believe her. So I had a thought while reading, why not go through the book and each day share what I learned with everyone and give my views on the topic of that particular part. I figured that I would write a post for each chapter since I read about a chapter a day.

Maybe, just maybe, we'll all come out of this with a better understanding of the real issues and maybe we'll learn where we really stand so that we can all choose the people that will meet our wants and needs.

So, if you'd like to follow along, I encourage you to go to your local library or book store and pick up a copy and read this book and if you want share what you learn when you read each chapter. Please, make comments and even tell me you disagree because the greatest thing about this country is that we can all have our own opinion and express it and have a dialogue where we truly discuss and learn. Because living is really all about learning and expressing and making a mark in some form or fashion. And for me, right now, my mark will be made expressing myself the only way I know how. That is through ranting and raving about how the talking bobbleheads of the world drive me crazy.

Enjoy and I look forward from hearing your thoughts and opinions. Please don't be shy. Speak up. Be heard. It's your right to be heard and to be acknowledged because every person matters.

Keith Olbermann - 8 years in 8 minutes

I'm restarting this blog because I hit a block and realized that I need a place to rant. So this will be my new political ranting locale.

So to introduce this new start, I present this clip from Countdown with Keith Olbermann: 8 Years in 8 Minutes.

My only reply to the video is this:

Yeah and Obama was suppose to fix all this in the first year of his presidency.

So enjoy and let me know what you think.