RicDean Stancampiano SHU Essay An event that is sweeping the nation is the 2016 United States Presidential Election. The main two candidates Hillary Clinton, Democrat, and Donald Trump, Republican, have been going head to head and clashing at every corner they can. Both candidates have backgrounds that make the citizens skeptical about who to vote for. Millions of people have been affected by these battles including me; even though I am unable to vote, the future of my country for the next four or eight years is at stake. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both putting up a great fight to show that they both deserve the position as the President of the United States, but is it really worth it? Donald Trump, candidate …show more content…
She’s married to former President Bill Clinton. Hillary attended Wellesley College for four years and then attended Yale Law School for an additional four years. Hilary has many political strings in my opinion because her husband was the president, so in my eyes the election could in fact be rigged to an extent, however that is just my speculation. Mrs. Clinton is, as well as Mr. Trump, more than qualified to uphold the position of President of the United States. Hillary, as Trump does, has particular stands on certain topics. Her stand on gun control is that the government should keep guns away from terrorists, domestic abusers, and criminals by including comprehensive background checks on the persons’ buying the weapons along with finding and closing any loopholes that allow the gun to fall into the wrong hands. I agree with Hillary with her stand on gun control, because over the last few years crimes involving guns has been significantly increased due to the simplicity of availability of guns. Mrs. Clinton’s stand on immigration is much like Mr. Trump’s, besides the idea of constructing a wall, her stand is that there should be a more refined path to obtain full citizenship in the United States. As well as ending family detention and closing private immigration detention centers. I agree with Mrs. Clinton on this point because constructing a wall will only make immigrants want to beat the system and maneuverer over the wall, if Hilary could make citizenship more refined and equal, then more immigrants would be forced to do the easy way of actually becoming a United States citizen, instead of having to be an illegal immigrant. Mrs. Clinton’s stand on national security is by maintaining a military that is always update to date with all the new fighting techniques and weaponry that we could always be hands on with new equipment and ready to fight
Today, there is a much greater amount of people and technology in the country than there was in the 1700’s. As America changed and grew throughout the years, the people have adapted to the new demands of life. For example, when the men went off to fight in World War I, it created a need for women to enter the workforce, and women have not left since. The same adaptation is needed in the presidential election because having an electoral college gives too much power to a lesser amount of people, with the increase in technology, we must adapt to new ways of voting, and the House of Representatives should not have the last word on who becomes president.
This past election has raised several questions and issues, one of them being on the effectiveness of the Electoral College. Though Clinton won the popular vote with a margin of 2,868,692 votes, Trump won the presidency because his electoral votes were greater. Many were confused as to how this could happen, but looking at a map of the U.S. county-wise, it is somewhat more believable. Most of Clinton’s votes were concentrated in major cities,unlike Trump’s which were more widespread. This allowed him to cast a wider net to collect more electoral votes. Despite this being the reasoning behind it, many question if this is the right path. In truth, the Electoral college system is very faulty in the sense that it misrepresents a large portion of American Citizens. Therefore, it requires several changes, i.e. converting to a proportional system rather than winner-take-all, to be made so it could better reflect the will of the people, without dismissing the entire establishment as a whole.
Most Americans would be surprised to find out that when they go vote for the President of the United States that they are not voting directly for the President, they are instead voting for the people that in turn vote for President. A recent survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute found that only 65.88% of people knew anything about the way the commander and chief is elected. Even more staggering though is that only 57.31% of elected officials within the United States government knew the way the President is elected (Additional). America elects its President is through a complex process of state electors that vote on behalf of their constituents. This process is called the Electoral College, and it is written directly into the United States Constitution. The Electoral College is a system unique to America, so most reform options won’t be accepted by the American people or won't represent the the opinions of the majority of Americans if this system is changed.
The Fathers had established a solution between the debate of a election of the President by popular vote of citizens and the election of the President by a vote in Congress and; in the Constitution. The Electoral College includes of 538 electors. In order to win you need to have at least 270 votes. The people of each state vote for their candidate, and the electors vote on the candidate and give all the votes to the candidate who won the popular vote. In my opinion the Electoral College process is not an efficient way, and it needs to be revised. Technology has changed and every vote can be counted buy computers, since Founding Fathers tried to make it easier for them to count the votes, since they traveled by horse. Since candidates only focus on winning over states that have the most electors. The Electoral College doesn't go with the will of the people.
As of late the Electoral College has been looked down upon for their decisions in the 2016 election and many have considered doing away with it. If this were to happen, the popular vote would be the direct vote. Nonetheless, by giving the popular vote the most authority, it would be like giving a monkey a loaded gun: they wouldn't know how to use it and it can lead to many more minor problems that can easily be avoided with the help of the Electoral College. Giving the Electoral College too little or too much power would lead to unwanted disagreements. The Electoral College is best the way it is in view of the fact that the winner-takes-all distribution of votes, changes the victors small percentage margin to seem much larger, so it makes the candidate’s win more certain and legit (usnews.com).
As important as the popular vote may seem, it is the Electoral College vote that decides presidential elections. The framers of the Constitution devised the Electoral College system because they did not trust voters who were spread out over 13 states to choose the head of the executive branch. Instead, they gave that responsibility to a group of electors who might better know who was best suited for that job.
Many refer to the United States of America as a democracy: a republic that is of the people, by the people, and for the people; where ideals such as truth, justice, and equality reign. However, if one looks closer with a more cynical lens, they might find that this is nothing more than a half-truth. For America is not truly a democracy, as many say it is, but rather a strange mix of a constitutional republic with a dash of democratic ideals. Nowhere is it more evident that America doesn’t truly rely on democratic ideas than in the system of voting used to elect the “Leader of the Free World”: the Electoral College.
On August 18th, 1920, Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote. After countless protests and speeches over many years by dedicated women suffragists, women finally gained the right to take part in the US government after an absence of nearly 150 years. The fact that women could not vote at the conception of the US government shows that many aspects of it are outdated, one of these being the electoral college. The electoral college is the system of voting used in the US in which each state receives a certain number of electors, based on population, with a total of 538, who ultimately decide which presidential candidate is victorious. Although it may protect the interests of small states, the electoral college has troubling origins, allows for the misrepresentation of voters, and treats voters unequally.
Only 53.6% of eligible voters vote, leaving 46.4% not voting (“Political Participation in the US”). This 46.4% of people do not believe their votes count. They believe that the Electoral College system cancels out their votes and that the government will not listen anyway. People think that nothing will change due to the incumbency rate in Congress. That is where the people do not see what is really happening. Americans do not vote enough, so they cannot possibly make a change in government when they are not exercising one of their most powerful rights. Citizens of other countries yearn for the right to vote and Americans who fought so hard for this right do not even use it. “US voting rates are among the lowest in the developed world” (“Political Participation in the US”). Young people should be concerned with this issue. Because America has a democratic form of government, political participation is necessary, everyone’s vote counts, and corrections in government can only be made by the people first.
Does a United States citizen think that electoral college is democracy's safety net? The people of the U.S. have their own opinions about Electoral College. Some disagree on the topics that Electoral College discusses, and some agree. Most U.S. citizens should support the electoral college because it prevents majority rule, the US needs the electoral college more than ever before, and the intentions of the founding fathers held the abhorrence in the US.
Do you believe the electoral college is the ideal method to vote for the next president of the united states? I do not agree with this method of choosing the president and I think the popular vote should be the method of voting instead. In the Electoral College you vote for someone to vote the president for you which defeats the purpose of voting. Especially since that person legally doesn't have to vote for who you want. Also the electoral college makes voting more complicated which differs from the popular vote method which is easier by just counting votes and the winner would be who has the most votes. My last reason for abolishing the Electoral College and using the popular vote method is it would help other parties instead of just the Republican and Democratic parties. As third party candidates never won due to the electoral college being more helpful to the other parties.The electoral college is a complicated and not fair way of voting for the president. The process defeats the purpose of voting and most of the time helps only two parties which give the other parties a very low chance of winning.
a) The current Our Lady of Victories, Catholic Church of Glenelg was built in place of a previous church in 1869. The present church was opened Sunday 20 November 1927 midday, built years after the settlement of the first Christian priests that arrived in Australia as convicts in 1800. They were encouraged to promote Christianity, encouraged to hold masses.
In recent years, voter fraud has been a controversial topic. Many states have passed or have tried to pass laws that enforce strict Voter ID laws if a person wants to cast a vote in their state. Donald Trump has been someone who has spoken widely on the topic of voter fraud. According to Zeke J. Miller, a writer for Time Magazine, Trump has “repeated his unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud”. I personally do not believe voter fraud is happening this much in our elections and really think some politicians are looking for someone to blame when the outcome is not what they would have liked.
The ethnography I chose to read and write about is “How Musical is Man?” by John Blacking. John Blacking is a famous British anthropologist but he later got trained to be an ethnomusicologist and was a major influential musical figure in history. He often thought that music was “humanly organized sound” and that “no musical style has its own terms but more of the terms of its society and culture. Throughout the book, Blacking made many great points and teaches us in a nonbiased way. In this book, John Blacking discusses the nature of musicality, the role of music in society, learning, and the musical discourse. “How Musical is Man?” is an ethnography on the music of the Venda people of South Africa and how each society views and experiences it.
The last two grids of the graph show hostility or distress regarding the caste identities. The second last grid represents that around 11 percent (frequently and sometimes) students “felt insulted or threatened because of your (their) caste”. This reflects that caste identities of student are prominent on the campus. The last grid of the graph presents the most sensitive aspect of the campus climate. Around 39 (frequently and sometimes) respondents shared that they “had tense, somewhat hostile, uncomfortable interactions”. The number is staggeringly high and it also indicates a greater concern about environment on SPPU campus. On the basis of these numbers, it is evident that caste issues are a significant concern of the campus climate and it can be interpreted that the lower caste students are at the receiving end.