boston progress radio

Starting February 20, Boston Progress Radio is participating in the first Youth Media Blog-a-thon hosted by WireTap and Youth Outlook. Young bloggers from around the nation will come together to discuss the hot topic of the day: Election 2008.

To catch the other entries on BPRLive that are a part of the Blog-a-thon, go here.

Over at The Cheddar Box, there’s a recent entry about some concrete and completely do-able steps that our federal government could take to actually get more people involved in the election process. They are listed here:

• Allow for same day voter registration.
• Abolish all of the restrictions against ex-prisoners having the right to vote.
• Make voting mandatory.

Yeah, you could make a case for that all of these ideas - if implemented - would go a long way in helping increase voter turnout and get a more representative sample of the country’s population. I’m definitely behind the first two; less enthusiastic about the third (check out the Oh Dang! take here), but it’s all academic because of course, none of these will ever actually happen, because increasing voter turnout is exactly the opposite of what people in power want.

Who tends to vote? Middle-class and wealthy white folks. So it’s no wonder that the people in power tend to be the same. President Bush is supposedly a “regular guy,” but, uhh, do regular guys have a father who once served as President, Vice President, and head of the CIA? A grandfather who was a U.S. Senator? Attend one of the top private high schools in the country, go to Yale and then Harvard Business School?

The mainstream media boiled down the 2000 presidential race to a choice between “Boring” and “Stupid” - and the people chose Boring, and the Supreme Court gave us Stupid. The 2004 election was presented to us as a choice between “Out of Touch” and “Tough Guy” - and the people chose…well, who knows who the people chose. The point is we ended up with the same guy as before, whether by honest vote or by trickery, we don’t know for sure…

Anyway, this leads me to present my one idea that would also increase voter participation, but has no chance in hell of happening: Do away with the Electoral College.

How could a majority of Asians, Blacks, Latinos, women, LGBTQ folks, and young people all not vote for Bush in 2000 or 2004, yet dude is still our president? How could it be that the only group that was more likely to support Bush than oppose him was straight Christian white men, and he still “won?” Twice?

It’s because the Electoral College dilutes our votes in national elections. Without the EC, people who ran for president would have to have the positions that appealed to the widest group of people, not to the combination of states that added up to the right number of electoral votes to win. And then idiots like this would have less of an affect on the outcome.

This is not just a statement about Bush, but actually all elected officials. They cater to those who will get them into office. That means likely voters. That traditionally has meant certain segments of the population get completely ignored.

And this isn’t just some Political Science-style speculation. When I say politicians cater to those who will get them elected, some of them will really take it to another level.

For example, Walden O’Dell was a major fundraiser for Bush in his home state of Ohio during the 2004 election, and wrote a letter pledging to “deliver its electoral votes” to Bush. He was also the CEO of Diebold; the corporation that manufactured the voting machines that were used in some states, including… (wait for it) Ohio.

I’m just saying. Some politicians really take it to another level.

Last 5 posts by giles

• Love or Something or Other - July 15th, 2008
• Hollywood? - July 9th, 2008
• That's All You're Good For... - June 25th, 2008
• Apologies to My Man - June 20th, 2008
• Sublingual - June 10th, 2008

Tags: Elections, Youth Media Blog-A-Thon.