Does our Vote Actually Count

I think it is important for everyone to remember that we, the United States of America, operate under a political system known as a Democratic Republic. As a Republic, we do not directly elect our president. The electoral college elects the president. The delegates to the electoral college, for the most part are designated, not elected, by the individual states committees. Here is how the constitution addresses the designation of the delegates: Article 2, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution states:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

They generally follow the vote of the state, but are actually not bound to do so. Another interesting point about the electoral college is that the states for the most part designate a "winner take all" status for the electoral college votes. This means that if the majority of the voters in the state vote for a candidate, all the electoral votes go to that candidate. Maine and Nebraska allocate their electoral votes based on the winners of congressional districts in these states.

So, does our vote count, yes it certainly does because it determines how the electoral college will cast their votes. 

 

Would I like to see a change in the electoral system, ABSOLUTELY. I would like to see it revert to it's original intent -- that like NH, Nebraska and Maine, the electoral votes are cast according to how each individual congressional district votes, but since the states have control over the electoral delegates and how they will vote, returning to original intent is a leap which will probably never happen.

What is happening to this country?:

Many people I speak to get upset that the government doesn't help them get ahead.  They don't want access to opportunity, they seem more to want the government to provide them with security.  The security of subsidized health care, of subsidized income, Subsidized food,subsidized housing and even subsidized water and fuel.  The younger members of our population want subsidized education for life. And they all seem to think it is the responsibility of our government to provide it. They claim this as a right of citizenship. 

I don't understand this logic.  I believe that if you want something, you should work hard to achieve it.  You may not succeed, but you have the right to pursue your dreams and that is ALL the government can and should provide us.  Expecting the government to provide security is a false assumption which will inevitably lead to the destruction of our dearly held freedom.  

If you want total security, the way to do this in America is to go to prison. You will get three squares a day, a bed to sleep on, a shower to wash yourself and health care when needed.

What you won't get is FREEDOM! freedom comes at a cost in both effort and energy.  It seems to me that our government and those who expect cradle to grave security from the government are trying their damnedest to take our freedom from us. We have to rise up and take it back before the country becomes a prison.

Why I support the TEA Party

Recently I was asked why I don’t go all in with support for the Republican Party and their candidates because this is the party which more closely defines my values and that the TEA Party is not helping the cause.  They stated that the “purpose of political parties is to win elections.  Unless a political party can attract voters, it can not win.  In a multi-racial, and often bi-lingual society, winning usually requires some give and take.  Otherwise, it isn't a choice for governing, but for war”.  This assumes I support either of the established parties.  I don't, however, I truly believed that Mitt Romney was the right man for the Presidency at the right time in our history so I supported him and voted for him.  In 2008, I had no interest in seeing either of the established party candidates sitting in the WH so I didn't vote for either, opting instead for Ralph Nader who actually put up a platform I could support.

There does come a time when one has to stand up and be counted for their beliefs.  Standing up for a candidate just because he is the lesser of two evils is the reason why our two party political system is destroying the country, IMO.  The generational trend of having the government offer subsidies to the citizens in the form of entitlement programs and corporate donors in the form of tax benefits and huge government contracts has created a nation of dependency and it occurs through the acts of both established parties.

Ted Cruz stood up for principle.  The ObamaCare program is a travesty and he was right to stand up against it.  Was it the best way to proceed, I believe that it wasn't because it was an attempt to combine the cost of ObamaCare with the overall budget and the looming debt limit.  There were better ways to address the budgetary issues and not give Obama the upper hand, but at the time, Senator Cruz didn't know just how bad the ObamaCare rollout would be, so he was acting in good faith.

So now let’s address the issue of the TEA Party and it's growing pains.  Certainly there are mistakes being made, some of which have been outlined.  Having a group of idealistic citizens go up against the entrenched parties will always be met with resistance and having those citizens be marginalized is par for the course, in the short term. But I do believe that as the old saying goes, all politics is local and I honestly believe the majority of the citizens when it gets down to the local grassroots level, agree with Senator Cruz and the TEA Party platform.  I see it every day in the local coffee shops,in  the beer halls and at the local barber shops.  I see it with the college students I speak with when I return to my college campus for seminars and business support gatherings.  I witness it when I attend small business development conferences and conventions. Certainly there are naysayers, but when specifics are discussed, the majority agree with what the TEA Party represents.

Additionally, there is one more element which comes into play and is a real threat to the established parties.  This new element is the instantaneous communication afforded by access to the internet.  10 years ago, we could not use the FaceBook or the blogosphere to discuss our discontent, we could not Tweet the whereabouts of a TEA Party meeting in our local communities, we could not mount an instant effort to advise our "representatives" of the fact that we do not support a bill  they are willing to vote in favor of and most importantly, we could not immediately let them know that we were watching when they voted for that bill anyway and that as a result, we will be looking for someone else to support.

As we have seen over the past 3 national election cycles, the TEA Party candidates, although working through the Republican Party, are gaining ground and the quality of the candidates seeking office is showing dramatic improvement while the quality of the upcoming Democratic and incumbent Republican candidates remains incredibly self absorbed and dismal.   We as a nation need more of the self reliant American spirit to reach the surface and the TEA Party members bring the true ideals of the American spirit to the office. It may take some more time and it won't happen without additional scars and/or lost elections, but I do believe the TEA Party will become the dominant political party in our nation or the nation as we knew it will not survive.