voting
Postmortems of voting woes, disenfranchisement, and how countries around the world elect government officials.
Plato on How Democracy Degenerates into Tyranny
This is an edited version of an essay I submitted for a mid-term on early western political thought. Libertarians tend to view Plato negatively, viewing his Republic as a blueprint for totalitarianism. Be that as it may, Plato had many interesting insights and this is one of the first perceptive critiques of democracy. He was so opposed to democracy because it was the democratic government of Athens that condemned his mentor Socrates to death for corrupting the youth of Athens. I used Francis Cornford's translation for the most part but occasionally quoted from a translation by George Grube.
By Marco den Ouden4 years ago in The Swamp
Manchin and Sinema just cost Democrats everything
Source: WEMU-FM (Ypsilanti, MI) Just like every other year, 2021 has an election day. Election day means elections, where people vote on candidates from school board directors to mayors - or if you’re in Virginia or New Jersey, governors. You see, the other 48 states elect their governors during the midterm elections, which will take place in 2022. Virginia and New Jersey elect their governors in the years immediately following the presidential election. These elections mean that for Virginians and New Jerseyans, that means gubernatorial ads nonstop wherever you go.
By A. Alexis Kreiser4 years ago in The Swamp
Is Democracy Important?
I have a stray cat friend who recently became a mother of five kittens. I have been feeding her for almost two months and just met her kittens. I am on a fixed income and cat food is not cheap. It all started because I shared my can of tuna fish with her. Now I've adopted one of her kittens, which means I will have pet expenses as a responsible pet caretaker. What does this cat scenario have to do with voting or democracy or government? More than some would think in my opinion.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 years ago in The Swamp
A Lesson from Buffalo Bill, Pawnee Bill and the New York Suffragists
Skirts aswirl, fourteen New York suffragists strode through Madison Square Garden. Among them were prominent society members such as the Misses Portia Willis, Harriet May Mills, Gertrude Lee, and Helen Benson. These were women far more familiar with Victorian silver choices than life in the open air. Entering the mess hall that April evening in 1913, they spied their quarry in the corner and beetled over. The two white-haired men were hunkered down over a meal of roast beef, corned beef and cabbage, lima beans, potatoes, and rice pudding. Maybe a little heavy on the starch, but Colonel Cody and Major Lillie had survived on much worse. And they couldn’t be too picky now either. Edison’s moving picture shows had eaten into the Wild West business. Old pals Cody and Lillie had thrown in together to create the “Buffalo Bill Wild West and Pawnee Bill Far East” Show. By autumn they’d be bankrupt, but for tonight they were still in the game.
By Diane Helentjaris5 years ago in The Swamp
Voters Head To The Polls In UK Local Elections
Voters across the UK have been heading to the polls to elect MP's who will represent their interests in their local area. This comes in as part of the UK local elections which had to be postponed from last year due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
By Ashish Prabhu5 years ago in The Swamp
Counting the votes
The political process in the United Kingdom is steeped in tradition, and no part of it is more traditional than the actual process of counting the votes and declaring the result. During a General Election this will happen across the country on election night, with the media anxious to catch each constituency’s declaration and calculate the “swings” that can be used to predict the overall result.
By John Welford5 years ago in The Swamp
Sanitizing Our Politics: People Over 60 Should Not Vote!
In terms of percentages, senior citizens are more committed to voting than youthful citizens. The main reason for this is because old people feel attached to their neighborhoods and country due to their long (mostly permanent) duration of residence. They are true patriots- we have to give them that! But besides wanting “what is best” for the country and humanity as a whole, most old people are also less educated, mentally unstable, and completely out of touch with the modern and future worlds. Their political views are mostly idiosyncratic and their take on morality is totally offensive to younger, productive generations. We cannot trust people who don’t exactly understand the social context of the modern world to decide “what is best” for us.
By Robert Gitau5 years ago in The Swamp
