It's Broke. Time to fix it. Article #9

It's broke . . .

You may have noticed that last Sunday I didn't post a new blog (blog? blog article? blog post?). Last week was the Republican Convention, and being that I live here in the wonderful city of Cleveland, I did what any sane person would do: I got the heck outta Dodge!

(Now, to be perfectly honest, if I lived in Philadelphia, where the Democrat Convention is to take place, I'd get the heck outta Dodge too!)

Actually, Friday the 15th was the celebration of ten wonderful years of marriage to the most beautiful (and patient, and forgiving, and tolerating . . . ) woman in the world. I took that day off in order to celebrate; along with the following week for a mini-vacation. It just so happens that the convention was taking place the same time we were on vacation.

We went to Maumee Bay State Park and stayed at the lodge. The park is located on the coast of Lake Erie, between Sandusky (think Cedar Point) and Toledo (think Mud Hens and Tony Packo's). Nothing like catching a couple of Mud Hens baseball games!

Me and the most beautiful, patient, forgiving, tolerant (etc.) woman in the world!

Getting back to the topic of this post . . .

Currently we have a two-party system. The Republicans and the Democrats. A.K.A. Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Stupid. The part that pisses me off the most about both of these groups is that deep down they don't give a rat's ass about doing what is best for the country. Oh, they say that they do. But honestly? All either party cares about is doing what is best for their own party. Getting re-elected and staying in power means more to them than what is best for the very taxpayers paying their salaries.

I know I talked about third-party options previously, but no one ever takes groups like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party seriously enough to make a dent in the two-party monopoly. Though that may change. Usually, the Libertarians are dismissed as a bunch of people who only want to legalize drugs. Well, with Colorado and Washington both legalizing the dancing with Mary Jane, and many more states looking at that viable tax revenue option, Libertarians will soon seem like the "normal" of the bunch.

The 12th Amendment gives us the procedure for electing both the President and the Vice President (also known as the Electoral College). In a nutshell: the person with the majority of electoral votes becomes President AND the person with the majority of electoral votes becomes Vice President. Two separate elections. Now, somewhere along the line, our benevolent party leaders decided that it wouldn't be good to have a Democrat President and a Republican Vice President (or vice versa), so they decided to make a change and have the party candidate choose their "running mate".

You may notice that they didn't change the Constitution via Amendment (like when the 18th Amendment - prohibiting the manufacturing or sale of alcohol - was repealed by the 21st Amendment). They simply decided to ignore the Constitution for the betterment of the parties.

So, the system is broken.

My wife had a great idea, and I think it's the perfect solution: Let everyone who wants to run, run. The person with the most votes becomes the President. And the person with the second most votes becomes the Vice President. Parties be damned!

And I agree. Let the games begin!

. . . time to fix it!

©Emittravel 2016

Does the RNC WANT Me to Vote with the DNC?

Dear Republican National Committee (RNC),

I am writing to you as a registered Independent. My political leanings are as follows: I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. This means that I'm okay with most social policies, as long as we are in the black financially and can afford them, and they are consistent with a small, Constitutional government. For most of my voting life, I have voted along with the Republican Party, mainly because they have espoused fiscal responsibility and limited government. But I have to wonder, are you doing everything in your power to get me to vote with the Democrat Party?

First off, the Republican party talks spending cuts and frugality, but its actions are opposite. I was so upset with President George W. "Compassionate Conservative" Bush. Do you know what I heard every time someone said "Compassionate Conservative"? LIBERAL! From what I remember, President Bush never met a spending bill he didn't like. Oh, he threatened to veto each one, but signed each into law. It wasn't until halfway through his second term before he finally did. Often I wanted to mail him a pen, since he never seemed to be able to find his own. Of course, why should I have been upset? After all, you DO know how successful a businessman he was before he became our President, don't you?

And don't get me started with Congress - especially when the Republicans had control!

At least with the Democrats, when they talk spending, they follow through with action. They are reliable if anything.

Secondly, we recently we had the GOP Primary Debate. As I write this, it is August. Why so early, RNC? Was it to give the media more time to skewer the candidates? The Democrats don't plan on theirs until October. Speaking of media, everybody knows that FOX News is in bed with the RNC, much like CNN is in bed with the DNC. Knowing this, why did you have only FOX News moderate? Was it to make sure only softballs would be tossed to the candidates? And were you honestly surprised that there would be a kerfuffle concerning Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly? The reason most people even tuned in was to watch Trump implode. And who placed him front and center anyways? Now you are trying to distance yourselves from him? C'mon! You know what happens if he decides to run as a third-party candidate: the conservative vote is split and you hand the election over to the Democrats.

I shouldn't be too surprised, after all, the RNC gave us John McCain as a candidate - the "conservative" who spends the majority of his time on the other side of the aisle. If you were so set on running a liberal, why didn't you try for Hillary Clinton?

Face it: the RNC never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. And this is one Independent who is seriously considering the opportunity to vote with the DNC.

Sincerely,

18 Electoral Votes in Ohio

© Emittravel 2015