Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Election Reform




Regardless of who wins tonight, the fact remains that our Presidential election system needs reform. I have a three-point plan for this.





#1. Eliminate the Electoral College

It's an outdated system dating back to when we had a small number of states which were apprehensive about a federal government. It promotes States over the People. The States, and the People of the States, are represented in the House and Senate. Let the People directly elect the President of the United States.

As the current system stands, some States don't even require their electors in the electoral college to vote according to how the People in the state vote. They are called “Faithless Electors.” And in cases like the 2000 election, the candidate with the most votes doesn't always win.

In fact, some states are looking to make the system more fair as the problems with it are well known.

#2. Campaign Finance Reform

Return the power to the people by only allowing individual people to contribute to candidates. Corporations and unions shouldn't have such influence. Set the contribution limit to not more than $1,000 per candidate per individual. As it stands, a few wealthy individuals have more influence and voice than all the rest of America. We won't limit free speech, but we will limit the corrupting influence of money in the elections.

As far as individuals forming their own PACs or buying airtime or ads on their own (two things I'm against but I'm also against limiting freedom), we will have total transparency. No anonymous attacks and contributions will be allowed. Accusations of foreign money entered our 2010 elections, and as of yet, there is no proof that such a thing didn't happen. We must have accountability and transparency.

#3. Eliminate the Hold of the Two-Party System

Instead of Democratic and Republican Primaries, we will hold one Primary in which every Presidential candidate of every party will participate. The two with the most votes will go on to challenge each other for the votes to become President. If parties want to trim down the candidates they enter into this Battle Royale beforehand, that will be on them.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Which Party is More Racist?: The Facts and Math

U.S. Senator Robert Byrd of
West Virginia, 2005
Some claim Democrats are racist because more of them opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, what this actually shows is that the South is more racist.

When broken down by party and area, 7% of Southern Democrats supported the Civil Rights Act while no Republicans did. In the North, 94% of Democrats supported the Civil Rights Act while 85% of Republicans did.

It's easy to mislead by saying more Democrats voted one way or another because there were more Democrats in office. However at this time in history, a greater percentage of the Republicans in office opposed the Civil Rights Act than did Democrats, showing that the GOP had a greater ratio of the racism. So yes, more Democrats voted against it than did Republicans, but more Democrats also voted for it than did Republicans.

Being able to see this, racists Democrats tended to gravitate to the Republican Party after the vote. While other racist Democrats who remained Democrats realized the error of their ways.

One of the acts greatest foes was Democrat James Strom Thurmond who switched to the Republican Party after 1964.

Robert Byrd, another Civil Rights Act opponent, remained a Democrat; however, he later changed his opinion and regretted his racism.

Byrd renounced racial segregation, regretted filibustering the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and said joining the KKK was "the greatest mistake I ever made."

George Wallace is one of the most well-known supporters of segregation. However, he ran for President in 1968 as the American Independent Party candidate. Richard Nixon was worried he would split the conservative vote rather than the liberal vote.

In 1978, George Wallace became a born-again Christian and apologized for his support of segregationists to black civil rights leaders. He said, "I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over." In his later years, he defended minority voting rights and appointed black officials to state office during his term as governor that began in 1982. Though some doubt the honesty of his change of heart, these are just the facts of what he said and did.

So, the next time a Republican apologist says Dixiecrats didn't switch sides after the Civil Rights Act vote, you can tell them that the ones who remained racists did. Of course, not all politicians did change sides, but several of the most prominent ones, who stayed in office long enough post-1964 to have a change of heart, did.

As you can see, Democrats are the less racist party and following 1964, the racists and non-racists fell into the correct parties. This reinforces the saying, "Not all Republicans are racist, but most racists are Republicans."

The South, unfortunately, remains a haven for racism and is now more strongly Republican.

The Republican Party has ceased to be a party of civil rights. They oppose the freedom to marry for some minorities (gays), and they think women should have to bear the baby of their rapist. Both are in the official Republican Party platform of 2012. They also seem to oppose freedom of religion (unless you're the right kind of Christian). Their Muslim witch-hunting harkens back to the Red Scare of McCarthyism.

The facts and math disprove the right-wing lie as you can see from the totals:

Totals are listed in the “For” - “Against” format:
  • The original House version: 290–130 (69–31%)
  • Cloture in the Senate: 71–29 (71–29%)
  • The Senate version: 73–27 (73–27%)
  • The Senate version, as voted on by the House: 289–126 (70–30%)
By party

The original House version:
  • Democratic Party: 152–96 (61–39%)
  • Republican Party: 138–34 (80–20%)
Cloture in the Senate:
  • Democratic Party: 44–23 (66–34%)
  • Republican Party: 27–6 (82–18%)
The Senate version:
  • Democratic Party: 46–21 (69–31%)
  • Republican Party: 27–6 (82–18%)
The Senate version, voted on by the House:
  • Democratic Party: 153–91 (63–37%)
  • Republican Party: 136–35 (80–20%)
By party and region

Note: "Southern", as used in this section, refers to members of Congress from the eleven states that made up the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. "Northern" refers to members from the other 39 states, regardless of the geographic location of those states.

The original House version:
  • Southern Democrats: 7–87 (7–93%)
  • Southern Republicans: 0–10 (0–100%)
  • Northern Democrats: 145–9 (94–6%)
  • Northern Republicans: 138–24 (85–15%)
The Senate version:
  • Southern Democrats: 1–20 (5–95%)
  • Southern Republicans: 0–1 (0–100%)
  • Northern Democrats: 45–1 (98–2%)
  • Northern Republicans: 27–5 (84–16%)
Propagandist articles such as this fail to mention all the facts:

Sources:
"What About Byrd?". Slate. December 18, 2002. Retrieved September 17, 2007.
"Sen. Robert Byrd Discusses His Past and Present", Inside Politics, CNN, December 20, 1993
"Civil Rights Act of 1964". Finduslaw.com. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
King, Desmond (1995). Separate and Unequal: Black Americans and the US Federal Government. p. 311.
At Wallace Funeral, a Redemptive Tone
Changing minds: George Wallace

Articles about Racism (updated Nov 8th, 2012):

Hate Groups Grow as Racial Tipping Point Changes Demographics
 "According to the SPLC, the number of radical "anti-government" militia groups increased from 150 to 1,274 during the years of the Obama presidency. There have been more homegrown domestic terrorism attacks by right-wing groups than by international terrorists during his presidency as well, Potok noted."
Hate Groups Rise Against Blacks, Obama
"Take Georgia bar owner Patrick Lanzo, a hate-filled resident who claims that he’s not a racist but insists on plastering the N-word on a large roadside sign outside his Georgia Peach Oyster Bar to describe his political views."
Klan Group Heralds Rise of New KKK, Calls for Segregation
"Oh, it's going to happen. And I fear it. ... And it ain't just me. ... If he gets four more years, Barack Obama will ruin this country. And white people will be in concentration camps, and if you don't think that white people [can] be in concentration camps, [you] are sadly mistaken."
Hate and Extremism
"The Southern Poverty Law Center monitors hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposes their activities to law enforcement agencies, the media and the public."

Twitter Racists React to ‘That Nigger’ Getting Reelected
A collection of the most racist tweets upon hearing Obama was re-elected.