I believe that voting is essential and everyone should take part, however, I think it must be said that the government is taking that away. Today we are separated by the popular vote and the delegate vote. Those in power let us vote to appease us, but the delegates decide the winner. Personaly, I don't remember ever seeing a place on the ballot for the position of delegate, so who chooses who they are? For that matter, how do we hold them accountable when hey vote against the popular vote? I believe the ruling parties stole our ability to choose our leader long ago when they decided the masses didn't know what was good for us. Our voting apparatus is far removed from what Thomas Jefferson fully intended and we find ourselves in peril from the actions of our government. If our leaders posessed the true "American Spirit ", the world would love us as they did long ago and current flourishing dissidence wouldn't have such a powerful foothold throughout the world. ***********************************************************
Originally we were many nations (states) banded together under a loose and weak federal government whose hands were shackled by the constitution. (see the 10th amendment) Part of the intent of the Electoral system was to distribute the election of the president more equally between states rather than give the smaller minority states almost no voice. So sometimes the states with fewer people can turn the presidential election away from the popular vote. Since the beginning there has been a shift from the Rights of the States and the People to that of the Federal government. Under the Constitution, the people are empowered to choose, through direct popular election, the men and women who represent them in their state legislatures and in the United Sates Congress. The states, through the Electoral College, are empowered to choose the president and vice president. Electoral College Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution states, in part: "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress: but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector." This established our Electoral College. Although the Constitution does not require the states to adhere to any specific manner in electing these electors or how they cast their votes, it suggests, by its wording, that prominent individuals from each congressional district, and from the state at large, would be elected or appointed as electors that represent that district. Under this arrangement, a voter would vote for three individuals, one to represent his district and two "at large" representatives to represent his state. These electors, in turn, would then carefully and deliberately select the candidate for president. Under this system each congressional district could, in essence, select a different candidate. The candidate with the most electors nationwide would become the next president. This was the general procedure used until the 1830's, at which time all the states, except for South Carolina, changed to a "general ticket." The "general ticket" system is still in use today. Inherently, it causes corruption by the inequitable transfer of power from congressional districts to the states and large cities at the expense of rural communities. Here is a paper worth reading on the history of the electoral college.
http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf |