Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Election Day on the DG
Author: Joshua Allen Posted: 11/7/2000; 11:18:53 PM Topic: Election Day on the DG Msg #: 21933 (In response to 21899) Prev/Next: 21932 / 21934 CNN predicting Bush wins.
Voter turnout only up 1% from last year, according to CNN. Too bad. It's interesting to note The New Republic features an article today about on-line voting, as does the microsoft.com homepage. Both articles say basically the same thing -- good potential, but bridging the "digital divide" will be important.
To Boaz, regarding the electoral college debate and the fact that America does not represent a pure democracy: This was a very intense debate at the founding of the country, which is technically a "republic" or a "representative democracy". Certain founding fathers, such as Jefferson, believed in a pure democracy, while others belived in a more representative form, presumably because the "common man" could not be trusted to completely self-govern. Those opposed to Jeffersonian democracy were able to influence the structure of the system largely by arguing that the logistics of a pure democracy in 1776 conditions would be nearly impossible. Today (and especially with on-line voting), many of the structural/logistics arguments go away, but many are still wary of pure democracy. The future of democracy in America ought to be interesting...
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