Hector

A.Rob
Levon
Mekeda
Jon
10/17/08
Water Stream

Rebuttal Paper

In the current 12th amendment we have many flaws but some

may say that it is fine as it is. Some would say that state regulated

voting policies should be left as is because this is what the people want

or what the people have let be appointed by the state. This brings up

the question, “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” The answer is that it is

broken, and thus needs to be fixed. Most states swing completely one

way or another depending on the majority vote, if the population votes

60% A and 40% B, most states will make it so that the state electors

will have to vote 100% in favor of A. This in itself is bad because it

does not represent the entire US population as a true democracy

dictates.

Another argument that could be brought up is that the system

would still be preferential to the two large, already established parties.

Third-party candidates are usually complete ruled out of the running

because of this swinging that the states allow. Given this more

democratic approach to voting will give the third-parties a fair and

equal running, currently it is not that way. The Democratic and

Republican parties are the ones that have the actual real chance of

winning an election because of the way our voting system is set up. If

proportional representation is introduced, smaller parties have the

chance of taking districts, and making their mark, which will eventually

get deep rooted enough that a chance for the presidency would be a

real possibility.

Another topic of interest is the one of the reliability of a regular

citizen in voting recklessly. Many believe that the ability to vote should

not be abused and that it should be carefully thought of prior to voting.

Given this idea of some being incapable of a legitimate vote, some

think that the Electoral College, House of Representatives and Senate

should be the ones that get to vote for the next president. This would

cause one to believe that the “elite” should be the ones who hold the

final decision. This contradicts the ideal democracy; it soon becomes a

Constitutional oligarchy. This means that people who continue

advocating the current system are advocating a system that would

take the power out of the American population.

The argument may be presented that we should skip this

amendment and just go straight to popular vote. Taking this action

may be too big of a chance, and too fast for America to be able to

adapt. This amendment will pave the way for more legislation and

more amendments to be created to transfer America completely to the

much fairer system of proportional representation, without

overwhelming the government and population with one giant change.

This appropriates the term democracy to describe our system of

government, and finally, the term would be applied in full sincerity