What Do We Know About Electoral College - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 671 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/05/28 Category Politics Essay Level High school Tags: Electoral College Essay Did you like this example? The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy, tweeted none other than Donald J. Trump on November 6th, 2012. Six years later, this disaster of a system helped him win the presidency. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "What Do We Know About Electoral College?" essay for you Create order The following months saw recounts, protests, and anger, as many Americans, especially Democrats, were upset and incredulous that Trump became president, despite Clinton winning almost three million more votes. This is not the first time a president has lost the popular vote but still won the electoral votes; Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and George W. Bush were all elected under the same circumstances. Nonetheless, this seemingly unprecedented event provoked Hillary Clinton to call for the Electoral College to be eliminated. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were wrong; the Electoral College is an important system to our great republic that should not be abolished in favor of a popular vote system. It is important to understand the constitutional and philosophical basis for the Electoral College in order to realize its true purpose. As shown in the Federalist Papers, the Founding Fathers were afraid of pure democracy, which in past cases, devolved into tyranny of the majority, in which as small as 51% of the population could democratically oppress the minority (Madison 10). The Electoral College, as well as various other aspects of our government, was created to prevent that from happening. A candidate has to represent the interests of many different kinds of people The Electoral College is necessary because of differences in voter turnout state by state due to various factors that make it easier or harder to vote. According to a political science study done by Northern Illinois University, Jacksonville University, and Wuhan University, there is a vast difference in voter turnout due to different voter laws in different states. The study shows Oregon, Colorado, and California as the easiest states to vote, and Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas as the most difficult to vote based on restrictive voter laws. Other factors that could determine voting opportunity include distance to nearest polling place, cost per voter, or weather on election day. A snowfall in Maine would decrease the overall vote for that state compared to Florida. Voters in rural Montana may have to travel hours to the nearest polling station compared to New Yorkers who can walk two blocks to vote. A convicted felon may be eligible to vote in one state but not another. In a popula r vote system, states with factors that make it easier to vote will dominate the popular vote, but states that have factors that decrease voter turnout will suffer. A candidate may win an entire election based on which states are easier to vote in rather than the overall will of the people. The Electoral College deals with this issue by granting electoral votes based on overall state population, not voter turnout. Many opponents of the Electoral College are troubled that an elector can legally change his vote and go against which candidate was most popular in the electorrs state. I completely agree, which is why I am glad that electors are appointed by the party that won the state and almost never go against their pledge to support the candidate of their party. However, one assertion these protesters make that I disagree with is the claim that candidates only have to represent swing states in order to win. This conveniently ignores the fact that the way states vote changes greatly over time. California, which is now a deep blue state, voted Republican for six elections straight until it flipped blue in 1992. Virginia also voted Republican for ten straight elections until it flipped and became a purple state in 2008, and is turning bluer and bluer due to the greater appeal of Democrats than Republicans. A political party cannot just ignore their safe states in favor of swing states, or they wil l lose it sometime in the near future. This is why Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin, a consistently blue state, after neglecting to campaign there in the fall of 2016, and instead visited swing states.

President Richard Nixon The United State - 1720 Words

On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon, addressed the United States of America and its congress, detailing his plans to stem drug abuse in the United State. He declared it â€Å"America’s public enemy number one†, saying that â€Å"In New York City more people between the ages of 15 and 35 years of age die as a result of narcotics than from any other single cause†. Less than a year prior to his speech, congress had passed into legislation a bill that called for a comprehensive reform of the country’s current drug laws. Still, Nixon felt that the nation needed more as the current drug policies were not enough to eliminate drug abuse. He went on to propose many ideas for what he called â€Å"a full-scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in†¦show more content†¦Strict prohibition needs to end, and we need to adopt a more lax policy like decriminalization or legalization. These have been both shown to help in fixing the aforementioned problems that the United States currently faces because of the war on drugs. The war on drugs has cost our government a vast amount of money that could be better spent elsewhere. In fiscal year 2013 alone, the United States government spent $25.6 billion in an effort to prevent drug use and its consequences. This was $415.3 million (1.6%) increase from the previous year. [1] This indicates that our government has no intentions of backing off of their drug stance any time soon. Overall, the national drug control budget costs the government more than the state, commerce, and interior departments combined. In addition, large number of drug-related trials clog our nation’s criminal justice courts, and often times the result of these cases is imprisonment for the accused. Since the start of the war on drugs, the country’s incarcerated population has increased sevenfold, and over one percent of the population now resides in a prison. [3] There are currently more people behind bars for drug charges today than there were people behind bars for any reas on in 1980. [2] Keeping all of these prisoners incarcerated costs

Chaucer on marriage Free Essays

Chaucer looks at male and female perspectives on marriage and shows the entire institution to be a farce, stereotyped by wealthy, flaccid old men and young, beautiful, deceitful wives. January, the old man in the merchant’s tale, says â€Å"wedlock is so easy and so cline† (1264), which is sarcastic as the merchant has already spoken out against marriage, and women in particular. Yet January’s motivations to get married are hardly pure, but more practical and shallow. We will write a custom essay sample on Chaucer on marriage or any similar topic only for you Order Now For â€Å"sixty year a waffles man was heel and followed ay his bodily delete/ on women† (1248-50); after sixty years of fooling around with numerous women, he is ready to have a wife â€Å"on which he mighty engender hymn an heir† (1272). Rather than choosing a wife who is wise and loving and would care for him in his old age and sickness, he makes his decision as if he were choosing livestock, saying â€Å"l wool noon Old ‘. Nary Han†¦ / she shall Nat passe twenty year†¦ /and bet than old beef is the tender feel† (1416-20). What is ironic is that January sees this way of approaching marriage as pure because it was so normal and standard. The purity of marriage would come if it were based on love and mutual respect, but instead for most men it is about having an heir and a beautiful wife. January can’t see that he’s leaving himself vulnerable to a young wife that will be deceitful and seek pleasure from younger more attractive men, instead thinking he can â€Å"a young thing may men gee,/ right as men may warm hex with handed Pyle† (1429-30). In the wife’s tale, she shows that old men cannot actually mold their young wives into good, loving creatures. Although the wife of Bath â€Å"sits [she] twelve year was of age†¦ ‘ housebound at creche door [she has] had five† (4-6), she is no innocent. She manipulates and terrorizes her old husbands with her sexuality to gain money and control, until they are her â€Å"[detours] and†¦ [thralls]† (155). She ends up molding her old husbands to her will. For her a husband is a source of income, and she always sakes sure she has one lined up on the sidelines. She had her fifth husband ready to marry her by the time her â€Å"fourth housebound was on beer† (587), and she â€Å"wept but small’ (592), being already â€Å"purveyed of a make† (591). Even though the fifth husband that she takes is younger than her and she is now in the old man’s position, she is still able to control her young husband to a certain degree, although it is much harder. It seems like an innate ability that women have to control their cabanas because its more than a survival method, but a way to find pleasure despite being in a technically submissive role. But a true marriage shouldn’t be about control. This is what makes marriage such a Joke to Chaucer, and he is very cynical towards it. The tradition and sanctity of marriage means nothing because it is based on a foundation of lying and shallowness. Men and women conform to their stereotypes because of how society has shaped them and made marriage such a necessity. How to cite Chaucer on marriage, Papers

Penguins (3059 words) Essay Example For Students

Penguins (3059 words) Essay PenguinsThe signature Species of the Southern Hemisphere (Antarctica) the mascot if you will is the penguin. There are not one and no fewer than seventeen species of penguins. Penguins are flightless birds in which several factors are contributing to the reduction of the penguin population. These contributing factors are both man-made and naturally occurring. ?The origin of the word ?penguin? has been the subject of debate for a long period of time. Researchers and historians theories range from reference to the amount of fat (penguigo in Spanish and pinguis in Latin) penguins possess to the claim that the word was derived from two Welsh words meaning ?white head.? (Sparks and Soper, 1987) Penguins are comical and funny birds. Blue/black on the upper half of their body and white on the lower half, they look as though they are all dressed up for a formal dinner or show but have no place to go! Penguins are flightless birds, which have adapted to living in the cooler waters of the Southern Hemisphere. They generally live on islands and remote continental regions that are free of land predators. Their inability to fly has been detrimental to their survival on land. Some species of penguins spend as much as 75% of their lives in the ocean, yet they all breed on land or sea ice attached to land. The seventeen species found today are thought to have evolved from flying birds more than forty million years ago. To date, the discovery of all penguin fossil fragments has been limited to the Southern Hemisphere. ?Records show that prehistoric penguins were found within the range of present-day penguins.? (Sparks and Soper, 1987)All penguins have a very similar torpedo-shaped body form, which is conducive for swimming. They have a large head and a short neck with an elongated body. Penguin species vary greatly in size. For example, the Emperor penguin is the largest of the penguin species, standing 3.7 feet and weighing between sixty and ninety pounds. The smallest penguin in the species is the Fairy penguin, standing only sixteen inches and weighs less than 3 pounds. Penguins wings are highly modified to form a stiff paddle-like flipper used for swimming. ?Each flipper is covered with short, scale like feathers. The long wing feathers typical of most birds would be too flexible for swimming through water.? (Sparks and Soper, 1 987) A penguins tail is short and wedged shaped with fourteen to eighteen stiff tail feathers. The legs and webbed feet with visible claws on a penguin are set back on the body so that when on land, the penguin is able to stand. ?Penguins walk with short steps or hops, sometimes using their bills or tails to assist themselves on steep climbs.? (del Hoyo, et al., 1992) When in the ocean swimming, penguins use their feet and short stubby tail as a rudder to guide them through the water. Penguins bones are solid and heavy which help them to remain submerged to reduce the energy that they need for diving. Penguins are able to withstand the extreme cold because of the insulation provided by their feathers. Feathers are highly specialized, broad and closely spaced helping to keep water away from the penguins body. Penguins have more feathers than most birds, having about seventy feathers per square inch on their body. Most penguin species goes through one complete molting cycle per year, which usually happens after breeding season. ?The exception to this is the Galapagos penguin which annually go through 2 molts.? (del Hoyo, et al., 1992) For penguins, molting is a very important process because feathers wear out when penguins come in contact with each other, as well as with the ground and water. The molting period varies between one species to another. Usually the time period is anywhere from thirteen to thirty-four days. Regular preening of the feathers is essential as penguins obtain oil from their tails to coat their feathers for waterproofing. Penguins in warmer temperate zones have a thinner plumage of feathers and fat layer than their counterparts of the polar species. To keep warm in near freezing waters, penguins have a highly developed heat exchanged system of blood vessels in the flippers and legs which helps the heat loss at the core of the body. To avoid heat loss in a penguins body, the penguin has 2 internal temperatures. A penguin has a normal body temperature and a temperature of the environment close to the limbs of the body. Tropical penguins can overheat very easily; so in order for them to lose the body heat, they usually use their flippers to get rid of excess heat. They also have bigger flippers than their polar penguin ancestors. Penguins communicate with each other by different ritual behaviors such as head and flipper waving, calling, bowing, gesturing and preening. Penguins c ommunicate by ?displays? or vocalization and performing physical behavior. ?They use many vocal and visual displays to communicate nesting and territories along with mating information. They also use displays in partner and chick recognition, and defense of intruders.? (Sparks and Soper, 1987) Territorial disputes can lead to aggressive postures such as stares, pointing and even charging each other. Also during courtship and mating, other rituals are included which are called ecstatic displays. In these particular displays, an unattached male penguin will pump his chest several times, stretch his head upwards and move his flippers about away from his body. During this display, the male penguin also emits a loud harsh sound. In doing this, other male penguins in the colony begin to exhibit the same behavior which in turn begins the breeding cycle within the colony. When breeding occurs, one is unable to distinguish male and female penguins because they are not sexually dimorphic. The re is one particular penguin that one can be told apart called the Crested penguin. Other ways of telling which penguin is male or female is that males are usually more robust and have larger bills. Also during mating season, female penguins are identifiable by muddy footprints left behind by males during mating activity. Acid Rain EssayThe dumping of garbage and trash in the ocean affects all kinds of marine life including the penguins. Penguins have been found tangled in debris, which causes death or serious injury. In addition to trash dumping, oil dumping also poses a great threat to the penguin population. When their feathers are tainted with oil, weatherproofing is reduced and their insulation fails. They are then at great risk of hypothermia. In addition, when trying to preen their feathers; they can ingest oil, which poisons them and causes their internal organs to fail. Although oil spill disasters such as the Exxon Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska had a devastating affect on the population, oil also enters into the waters via ship sludge and residue. Facilities are available for ships too properly dispose of their sludge and residue; however, unfortunately these facilities may not be utilized as it may be cost prohibitive and therefore, illegal dumping is then opted. The dumping of oil waste is permitted; however, the rate must be 15 parts of oil to a million parts of water. This formula is not followed as the risk of being caught is so small compared to the cost of the mixing of the formula. Oil also enters into the marine habitat through land run-off. ?The U.S. Academy of Sciences estimated in 1990 that 37% of oil pollution of the worlds marine environment enters the sea from the land. Other sources estimate that 45% comes from shipping (12.5% from tanker accidents); 9% from the atmosphere, 7.7% from natural sources and 1.5% from offshore oil exploration and production.? (Environmental News Network). In conclusion, the responsibility for the future existence of the penguin population lies mainly with the human race. Our ability to cause changes in climate snowballs thus creating changes in global and local patterns of ocean productivity. We have altered, and continue to alter, the natural environment and habitat of these wonderful creatures. Historically, the direct exploitation of penguins by humans created a huge risk to their survival. Currently, as humans create more creative uses for penguins and their skins, we pose a greater risk of impacting their existence. The ability to control and monitor the use of these animals is complex and difficult. The need for protecting marine habitats for all kinds of marine life has become serious. We have the ability to cause the extinction of far too many creatures. As of December 4, 1998, a number of conservation groups gathered and formulated a report on the penguin population. They believe that 9 penguin species should have been endang ered or were close to being endangered, and 2 more species close to being threatened. Previously, only 5 of the total seventeen penguin species were considered threatened. Based on the above-referenced conservation groups statistics, more than 50% of penguin species may be close to endangered. If we do not take an active stand on the protection of these amazing birds, we stand a chance of creating yet another ?dinosaur,? available to our children only through history and science books. Science Essays