Government needs an overhaul from the county level up. Most states are divided into redundant taxing entities that were formed with the limitation of a day’s buggy ride in mind. As example, Iowa is divided into 99 counties, each with many paid officials doing exactly the same work as their counterparts a few miles down the road. Consolodation will not be likely to be initiated by politicians who make their living at that level, so it will require a citizen’s movement above the present political structure.

Interjecting national thinking into Presidential elections would be a good start to a process of making government more responsive to the individual, who was viewed as supreme in all other matters considered by the founders. The representitive makeup of the Senate will keep the relevancy of the states intact in national policy. One person, one vote would also eliminate much of the potential fraud now present in the election process and depower local officials where they should have no authority. The result would be a more responsive government with a multi-party system representative of the people.

Is that what you mean by “flexibility”? This a large country and many of the American states are the size of whole nations. They deserve to be autonomous. They deserve to decide things as sovereign entities. This absurd notion that the electoral college somehow divides people is getting tiresome. What the college does is allow states to settle an election internally as one whole state. That is, North Carolinians vote and the votes are tallied, North Carolina reaches a decision…as North Carolina.

If people like you ever succeed in abolishing the electoral college, we will cease to be living a federal republic. Instead, we will have the Californian hegemony. Perhaps that is really what you want….

The UNITED States is a union of states. Those states determine how electors, and representatives are chosen. The Constitution only spells out how the electors are apportioned.

If the United States were a democracy, wouldn’t the only states that mattered in an election be NY and CA? What would happen with Wyoming or even Kansas?

For many years, white man has reigned over large areas where no white man itself fully co-existed with its natural inhabitants. For them to see a (half)black dude take power in the greatest nation on Earth, is a victory no white man can comprehend….weren’t we all equal? Hadn’t we not abolished slavery and stuff like that? I know this is what it’s supposed to be but what is supposed to be isn’t what’s practised, though more widespread than before. When Obama was elected, many parts of the world who suffered under the reign of white man felt justified. Including the ones in the USA. 40 years is not long enough to forget.
Now that there is a black guy in office we’ll see if colour makes any difference. I think not, but from now on we’ll not be judging by colour for our leaders. And that’s in itself a big relieve. Whatever he will be doing, this achievement cannot ever be undone: he not only turned the USA in the biggest festivalsite we have ever seen, for a moment in time the war on terror was won. And I can only hope, you keep this moment in mind, this moment of common goal getting, for it’s all that stands between divide and terror or progression and solution.

73 are elected as constituency MSPs and 56 are elected as additional members, seven from each of eight regional groups of constituencies. This additional member system produces a form of proportional representation for each region.

Once the hype dies down you’ll realise your like Britain was in 1997 with Blair (historic because it was 18 years since last labour government and Blair was youngest ever PM) your stuck with a guy who has no idea how to fulfill his promises, he is just a king of spin and has been given too big a majority to be challenged by the opposition.

It’s times when the majority votes one way, and the electoral college votes another, that I think is the problem. And THIS is the MAIN problem with the electoral college.

We are a nation of united individual states, a union of states. This is the nature of this country, and it is only natural for there to be differences. It is actually rather functional that the votes take place in each state and are counted up for that state individually, first… I don’t think we should switch that to a national-counting system, for fear of losing that sense of individuality of states…(that system may even be easier to manipulate) Even if that doesn’t solve the whole battleground states and split nation problem.