Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
RJA #11a: Introduction
Over the past few decades there has been a growing dissatisfaction for how we elect our presidents. The system that was written into our constitution has been challenges repeatedly, but none of the challenges have taken any affect. There are several reasons why citizens have been growing a dislike towards the Electoral College. The Electoral College was set in place by the founders of America because they did want there to be a large majority who controls all political branches, but to give representation to the most people and the states; this electorate system must not be removed from our Constitution.
RJA #11b: Visual Aids
Maps:
Red vs Blue Maps- by county, state, city, district.
States in proportion to their population
States in proportion to their electoral votes.
Chart or diagram:
How the process takes place
how electorates are chosen
RJA #10b: Argument
Argument 1: Creates better representation for all people, not just the majority who would elect the President.
Argument 2: Gives more of a voice to people and groups who would not have any say in a election. It helps the minorities and fights against a tyranny of the majority.
Argument 3: Keeps the elections focused on the states. This is important because it give value to the the average people and the candidates work harder for the state votes.
Opposition:
1. A total vote of all the people would give better representation.
2. The electoral college takes away from the voices of the common people.
3. We should not look at the states but the country as a whole.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources
Book: Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College
Person Evaluated: Tara Ross
Conclusion: Tara Ross is a lawyer and has focused on law, public policy, and constitutional history. She seems to be a public figure of sorts; she often appears as a guest on different talk shows. She also has been published in several law reviews and newspapers, including the National Law Journal, USA Today, the American Enterprise Online, National Review Online, WeeklyStandard.com, FoxNews.com, HumanEvents.com, The Washington Times, and the Texas Review of Law & Politics.
Periodical: Don't Mess with the Electoral College
David Lewis Schaefer
Conclusion: David Schaefer is a political science professor. He has written several books and seems to be a credited writer. He has written a lot for periodicals like the Wall Street Journal.
Website: Save The Electoral College
Paul Greensberg
Conclusion: Greensberg is a long time conservative writer. He has written lots of books and has written for townhall for a long time.
NARA
This is a government site. I think most of what comes here is creditable. There are also links to the electoral college website.
Citizendium
This is a lot like Wikipedia. From what it look like the information here is good but there is a works cited to I can check if everything is reliant or not.
PBS: Pros and Cons of the Electoral College
There are two people involved in this dialogue: George Edwards and Alexander Keyssar.
George Edwards is the author of the book, Why The Electoral College Is Bad For America. He teaches political science at Texas A&M. Alexander Keyssar is a history and social science professor at Harvard.
RJA #8a: Websites
Resource: Sweet Search
Keywords: Electoral College Support
Search Strategies: Boolean
Number of Hits: Does not give a cumulative number
Relevance: 5
Resource: Metacrawler
Keywords: electoral college necessary
Search Strategies: Boolean
Number of Hits: 43
Relevance: 2
Resource: Yahoo Directory
Keywords: U.S. Presidential Elections>Electoral College
Search Strategies: Followed the Directory
Number of Hits: 12
Relevance: 3
Resource: incywincy
Keywords: electoral college support
Search Strategies: boolean
Number of Hits: 10
Relevance: 2
Resource: Soovie
Keywords: Electoral college history support pros and cons debate reform system
Search Strategies: boolean math
Number of Hits: N/A
Relevance: 5
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