Alexander Hamilton’s Electoral College and the Modern

Alexander Hamilton’s Electoral College and the Modern Election Alexander Hamilton’s Electoral College and the Modern Election Colin Campbell Prof. R Hurl TA: Matthew Lesch Tutorial: Thursday, 4:00 PM, UC 67) U. S. Government and Politics (POL 208 Y1Y) 1 November 2012 Alexander Hamilton’s Electoral College and the Modern Election When American's leaders assembled in Philadelphia in 1787, they originally had the goal of solving issues that had arisen from the Articles of Confederation, which had governed the young nation since separating from Britain.Instead, they drafted a completely new document that established a more permanent and effective central government. With it, they established the office of President of the United States. Rather than being directly elected by the people or selected by the legislature – as described by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers – the head of state was to be elected by an independent institution that exist ed solely for the purpose of finding a man who was up to the job: a group that would become known as the Electoral College.However, as the political nature of the country evolved in an unanticipated and partisan way, the independence of this body became increasingly irrelevant, resulting in a system which fails to meet the standards of a true modern democracy. Although the Electoral College system has never substantially been reformed, it is now a mere formality which leads to the types of campaigns which it was designed to prevent. In The Federalist, Number 68, Hamilton argues that the president should be elected by individuals selected exclusively for that purpose, rather than by an existing body or by national popular vote. Hamilton, par. 8) Although never named as such in this or any other constitutional document, this would be the basis for the institution now known as the Electoral College. Rather than submitting the national leaders-in-waiting to the rigors of campaigning, wh ich would lead to what amounts to a popularity contest, the Founding Fathers believed that â€Å"a small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations. † (par. 3) Unlike the Congress, however, the ElectoralCollege would never meet as a single body. Each state's electors would convene in their respective capitals, then send notice to Washington of their votes. Hamilton believed that keeping the electors apart would reduce corruption by making it more difficult for any one political faction to manipulate the contenders, allowing them to focus exclusively on serving the interests of their state. (par. 4) Furthermore, selecting the president through this independent body would mean that he is accountable solely to the people and not to a legislative body which could depose of him if the two branches were not in agreement.His re-election would n ot be controlled by legislative enemies and allies. (par. 6) Each state would be granted as many electors has they had seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate combined, effectively compromising between the preferred plans of either all states having equal weight (as they do in the Senate) or distributing power based on population (as it is in the House). If no candidate were to receive a majority of the votes, the House would convene to select the President from the top five candidates. par. 7) Hamilton wished for the vice-president to be elected by the same body and through the same method, except that the Senate would select the winner for this office if no candidate won a majority. (par. 9) He notes that this is one of the few aspects of the new constitution that received little dissent, and the final system was ultimately very similar to the one he described. The vice-presidency was, until the passage of the twelfth amendment in 1804, awarded to the second place-can didate.However, this inherently resulted in a rival with opposing political views being first in line to the presidency, and therefore the system was changed to allow the electors to vote for both positions separately. (Nardulli 23) Each state is free to determine how its electors are selected, and various models have been used in the past. At the time of enactment, however, several assumptions about the system were made that would quickly prove to be untrue. It was generally believed that electors would selected from individual districts in a manner similar to congressmen, would exercise personal judgement when voting.It was also believed that they would frequently endorse candidates from their home state, ultimately meaning that no candidate would win a majority and that Congress would determine the victors from a short list of candidates. (41) Some states appointed their electors legislatively rather than through election, meaning that voters did not cast a ballot for either the president or the Electoral College. The emergence of organized political parties by the third election in 1796 led to nationally coordinated campaigns that severely reduced the number of expected candidates, and thus the likelihood that no one would achieve a majority. 44) The results of the 2000 election between George Bush and Al Gore – in which Gore won the popular vote but narrowly lost the Electoral College after a controversial recount in Florida – highlight what is the largest criticism of the Electoral College: it is possible for a candidate to win the Presidency without winning the popular vote. Because less populous states have more electoral votes per capita than larger states, individual votes are disproportionately stronger. (Bennett 9) Detractors of the College claim that this is inherently undemocratic, as all votes should be considered equal in a true democracy.Final victors have only lost the popular vote on two other occasions (in 1876 and 1888), and there has therefore never been substantial support for re-examining the system until 2000. Although the disproportionate power of smaller states has been commonly criticized, it is in fact the winner-take-all method in which states pledge their electoral votes that is responsible for discrepancies with the popular vote. It is currently possible a candidate to win the presidency by only winning as little as eleven states.He could win by a single vote in each of these states, but lose by a significant margin in every other state, yet his electoral count would still indicate him as the majority winner. Five of the seven elections between 1964 and 1988 were won by significant margins in the Electoral College. On each occasion, the winning candidate took at least forty states while barely winning more than 60% of the popular vote. This was most pronounced in the 1984 race between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. The latter received 40% of the popular vote, yet received the electoral vot es from Minnesota and D.C. Furthermore, in 1968 (when some states were won by independent candidate George Wallace) Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey both won approximately 43% of the popular vote, yet Nixon won the election outright with 56% of the Electoral College. (Bennett 37-42) While none of these instances resulted in the popular vote being overruled, they do demonstrate that elections are not a matter of getting the most people to vote for you, but rather the importance of getting the most people in the right places. Analysts have suggested that his year's race between President Obama and Governor Romney could produce a first for the Electoral College: a tie. Although unlikely, this cycle's set of swing states, along with the states that each candidate is presumed to win, allows for a specific combination of votes wherein each candidate would receive 269 electoral votes. While the college has failed to produce a winner in the past, it has always been due to the presence of a third-party candidate. It is also predicted that Republicans will retain control of the House, while the Democrats will continue to hold the Senate.Should the electoral votes come to a tie, these two chambers would be responsible for selecting the President and Vice-President, respectively. Assuming each party would support its nominee, the result would be a Romney-Biden government. (Hamby) Not since the twelfth amendment was passed have opponents been simultaneously elected to the lead the executive. While such a scenario is mathematically rare, it is absurd that a system of government would allow for such a possibility. Despite the counterintuitive relationship that the Electoral College has with the popular vote, there are some key benefits to keeping the system.It emphasizes the federal nature of the United States; that it is not just a monolithic country, but rather a federation of sovereign governments. Indeed, the fact this is found in the fact that each state is free to sel ect their electors any way they choose (through legislative appointment, districts, or winner-take-all). Most states (the exceptions being Maine and Nebraska) use the winner-take-all model to maximize their influence. If they were to be allocating their electors proportionally in a close race, opposing electors would essentially cancel each other out. Nardulli 28) Furthermore, guaranteeing a certain amount of power to each region ensures that it's power will not be reduced based on local factors such as bad weather. For example, even if New Jersey experiences very low voter turn-out because of Hurricane Sandy, those that do manage to get to the polls will still be able to exercise its fourteen electoral votes on behalf of the state. The real problems with the Electoral College do not stem from the mathematic anomalies and misrepresentations, but rather because it serves a political culture that Alexander Hamilton had not envisioned.He explicitly states that it is meant to find the b est man for the job, rather than subjecting the country to tumultuous elections. In modern times, however, electors are designated by their political parties, usually legally bound to vote for a particular candidate, and not even named on the ballot. It is no longer independent individuals who actually consider all possible candidates, but instead a mere rubber-stamp for the will of the electorate. Bennett 55) The Electoral College system envisioned by Alexander Hamilton was designed to be independent of the usual partisanship, with the principle goal of finding an individual who would best be suited as the country's chief administrator and head of state. While it still has the arguable benefit of forcing candidates to pay attention to less populous states, its members are effectively bound to follow the will of their constituents and are therefore unable to fulfill the intended mandate of their position. Works Cited Bennett, Robert.Taming the Electoral College. Palo Alto CA: Stanfo rd University Press, 2006. Hamby, Peter. â€Å"Electoral College Tie Possible in Obama-Romney Race. † CNN. com. Cable News Network, 30 July 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012. Hamilton, Alexander. The Federalist Papers: Number 68. 1788. Retrieved 29 October 2012. Nardulli, Peter. Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Report - Essay Example The main reason for the accidents is lack of proper training and lack of safety equipment. The management does not provide proper personal protective equipments to the employees. When new employees are hired, they are not inducted properly which result in accidents. Record of all the accidents inside the work place is maintained. By analyzing this record I was able to make a hypothesis about certain areas which were most dangerous as compared to others. Primary source of Information: I did not use any other source of information; instead I focused on visiting the workplace personally and to collect data about potential hazards personally. I went to those areas which showed higher rate of accidents and injuries in the record. I noted down all the potential hazards for the workers. I visited each and every corner of the work place and collected information about all the potential hazards. By visiting the whole workplace I was able to identify the potential hazards and the old data gave us information about the total number of accidents and injuries in certain areas of the workplace. However I wanted to know about the whole incident, how that happened and who was at the fault. For this purpose I had to arrange interviews with the workers who fell prey to those accidents. So, I interviewed the workers and asked them how the accidents happened with them. They told me the real facts about the accidents. Some workers admitted that it was totally their own mistake. Had they taken some precautionary measures, this accident could have been avoided. Some workers mentioned the carelessness of the management for not adopting safety measures on particular machines. After these interviews we were able to make an opinion that why those accidents happened in the past and how they could have been avoided. Recommendations: It has not become possible in any part of the world to create a hazard free workplace. However through adopting precautionary measures it has become possible t o reduce the accidents and their severity to a great extent. By properly arranging things in the workplace we can easily reduce the risk factor in the workplaces. If we focus more on training it is possible to bring down the accidents rate to almost zero percent.( Armstrong & Baron, 2002) The management should follow the recommendations given below in order to avoid accidents in the future and to make the workplace safe for the workers. Management should not send in experienced and newly recruited employees on machines without any senior worker. They can only work on machines in the presence and supervision of a senior employee for a specific time period.( Price & Price, 2011) There were many large and small objects on the floor when I surveyed the organization. All the objects should be placed properly and there should be some marking with different color lines. A walking area should be marked separately which should be kept clear all the times. Forklifts were moving around in the workplace carrying some heavy objects. Those forklifts should have a separate route marked with yellow color and forklift should operate only in that marked areas. There were few cranes in operation inside the workplace and they were carrying very huge and heavy objects from one point to another. Any mishap can happen there. There should a strong net of steel above the workers, so that if any object may fell, it may not hurt the workers. All the

Effects of Quality Management on Domestic and Global Competition Essay

Effects of Quality Management on Domestic and Global Competition - Essay Example 2. Quality Management at Nokia Quality is at the heart of Nokia’s operations. Quality has been embedded into every aspect of the products in order to achieve the goal of continuous improvement. Quality Management at Nokia starts right at the top management level and flows from top to bottom. There is a ‘Self-Regulating Management System’ at Nokia which charts out the framework for management practices. The customer needs are the most important input in Nokia’s quest for continuous improvement. Therefore, Nokia makes it a point to thoroughly analyze the lifestyles and needs of its target customers (10 Operations Management Decisions). Nokia lays a great amount of stress on Research and Development. More than 30% of Nokia’s workforce is deployed in Research and Development across geographies. The company strives to maintain a balance between the technological design and user friendly layout. Special fashion designers are deployed for the later (10 Oper ation Management Decisions). 3. Quality Management at Micromax Quality management at Micromax is driven totally by customers. According to Vikas Jain, one of the co-founders of Micromax, Micromax is not a poor cousin of Nokia. Micromax has two important success criteria – perfect assessment of the customer needs and the ability to adapt their supply chain to those needs. The company was a pioneer in initiating dual sim phones in India and challenged Nokia’s supremacy with its innovations. The company realized that a large number of customers were willing to use more than 1 sim cards for various reasons. However, not many were willing to carry 2 or more mobile phones in their pockets. This latent need led to the development of mobile phones with dual sim cards which have become a norm today (Dharmakumar, 2010). 4. Common process between the two organizations and its impact The product design process of the two organizations is quite similar. Both organizations consider assessing customer needs as the most important and preliminary stage of product design. In Nokia, this research is done very methodologically by specialists across various geographies and cultures. At Micromax, the market research is not very structured and the focus is more on identifying the latent needs and to target niche segments of the market. The next step is to choose the theme and develop the product. While Nokia believes in designing an experience rather than a product, Micromax considers a theme such as dual sim and develops and markets its product around that theme. The next step is to test the prototype on a selected group of customers. While this step is a must for Nokia, Micromax may actually skip it and go ahead with judgment of its management. After the product is developed, the supply chain management is very important for both the firms. Nokia maintains a set of requirements for its suppliers. Nokia makes efforts in maintaining a sustainable e-supply chain. The su pply chain management at Micromax is less structured but also less complicated. This enables the company to easily swing the supply chain making it more agile. The product design process has a significant positive impact on their competitive position in the market. By focusing on customer needs, these companies win half the battle. This helps them in efficient planning and execution. By maintaining an effective and agile supply chain, these companies are better equipped to manage change in customer needs, market conditions, global economic

Busniess ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Busniess ethics - Essay Example This has enabled me to learn to respect others, be honest, trustworthy, obedient and truthful among many other virtues. My personal ethics are because of my parents who always had to ensure that my siblings and I learn from the best. This is by setting good examples as role models. My teachers have also been of great help in developing my personal ethics through education that includes instilling discipline in each student for our own good. Through parents and education am able to realize that nothing good comes from dishonesty, disrespect and selfishness (Howard & Korver 13). It is paramount to give a helping hand to those who need our help as we go through our daily routines. How we relate with others everyday defines us as individuals. Other family members in my extended family have also contributed greatly in shaping my personal ethics in one way or the other. Several factors influence my code of ethics in an inevitable way. This is the most basic factor of all others for they are responsible for punishing and rewarding according to our conducts and discipline. In life and as we grow from the people we are familiar with, people we trust and look up to in our lives. My parents and others members of the family are the ones responsible for my current personal code of ethics. Sometimes some of these family members may not have a constructive control on our behavior and that is why it is significant for our parents to ensure that they have a strong bond with their children. This leads to a better and stronger friendship that is important in instilling positive morals in their children as they grow into adults. Friends and age mates play a major role as far as personal ethics are concerned depending on which kind of people we hang around with. I personally relate with friends who are positive minded rather than with those with negative influences. People will always judge an individual based on the type

'The employment relationships is based on a contract entered into by Essay

'The employment relationships is based on a contract entered into by equal parties but it is in fact a relationship characterised by parties with unequal power' - Essay Example While employment and the process of working for a particular employer may be defined in legal terms with contract documents and legal definitions which try to be as exact as possible, it is the psychological contract between the employer and the employee which is difficult to define and creates the inequality in the relationship. Any company would like to keep individuals working for the company engaged and motivated in their work. However, the process of engaging individuals as well as providing the motivation to all concerned parties is not an easy one (Vance, 2006). Establishing the psychological contract requires careful management, an understanding of what motivates certain individuals and understanding the work-life balance which prevents employees from burning out (Erdogan, 2005). These responsibilities may be considered as a part of the equation on the side of the employer but then dedication and devotion must also be offered from the employee to create a balanced psychological contract. There are several examples of companies employing effective policies and others where the policies may not be that effective and these can be discussed in the light of theoretical analysis to show how company policies can influence the employment relationship with a view to the psychological contract. Robinson and Rousseau (1994) suggest that the psychological contract is significant for all sides of the employment contract and those employees who are given employment with the company always hope to obtain more benefits from their employment in future. As per the meaning of the term the psychological contract is the implicit contract of various understandings between the company and the workers as they relate to both the expectations of the employees and the obligations of the employer (Emott, 2006). For example, as reported by Welch (2005), when employees are heavily rewarded for high performance

Discipline of planning policy in the UK Assignment

Discipline of planning policy in the UK - Assignment Example This paper is intended to explain the national, regional and local framework for planning policy and practice identifying the main instruments for plan making in the UK. The paper focuses on particular policies relating to sustainable urban regeneration and critically examines the impact which these polices have had on a selected city in England.The salient feature of the UK planning system consists in a paradox – being born and clearly rooted in local government practice (Cherry, 1988, p.72) during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it tended to be highly centralised over the time, but in contrast with many other countries, there is a lack of a spatial plan at national level (Balchin, Sykora and Bull, 1999, p.89). It may have its origins in the British governmental system which, as Cherry writes (1988, p.183) is generally characterised by three-component, interactive structure providing periodic responses to demand for reform and innovation. The first element is the bureaucracy (local government and the civil service) which is conservative in terms of outlook; the second are the active pressure groups – reformist in nature; and the third element is represented by the elected politicians who decide policy and implement the taken decisions. Given this scenario, planning regulations are categorically a political act and represent the outcome of conflict/degree of compromise between competing views. Plan making itself, being considered not just a technical activity, but deeply political, deriving legitimacy from values expressed in the community, has become a highly sophisticated process of complex bargaining and negotiation, in which powerful interests (including professions) ‘both mediate and promote their preferences’ (Cherry, 1988, p.184). There are three distinctive patterns of policy that dominated the post-war Britain, and which have left their imprint in the field of planning – the concept of welfare state manifested in the redistributive policies and decentralist land use strategies particularly characteristic of the period between the 1940s and 1970s; the significant neo-liberal shift in the 1980s characterised by interventionist practices – market-driven, ad hoc, piecemeal and responsive to particular pressures, with certain limitations on local government practice in terms of strategic role and oversight on town and environmental planning (Cherry, 1988, p.1

The Future of the Renewable energy of Saudi Arabia(Jeddah) Dissertation

The Future of the Renewable energy of Saudi Arabia(Jeddah) - Dissertation Example This much energy can power the entire nation for 72 years. It becomes evident from the study that as the country lies very near to the equator, it is the best place to harvest solar energy (Aljarbou, 2009). In addition, it is seen that Jeddah has an average of 5.78 kWh/m2/day of insolation because of its higher solar intensity. This is because of the altitude of the place. So, in order to meet the entire energy needs of Jeddah, that is calculated to be around 50.915 GWh/day, the total area required will be 36.64 km2 which is about 1.22 % of the total land area of Jeddah (ibid). Aljarboua also looks into the financial aspects of installing Photovoltaic technologies. Here, the picture is negative. When the economic analysis is conducted using the national renewable energy laboratory guidelines, it is found that the saving to investment ratio (SIR) is very poor in Saudi Arabia as compared to other nations. While the SIR is less than 0.13 in Saudi Arabia, it is much better in other natio ns. The reason for this poor SIR is the low price of energy in Saudi Arabia due to the easy availability of oil resources. That means, if the solar energy technology is to become economically beneficial, either the cost of fossil fuels should go considerably upwards, or the installation costs of the photovoltaic solar energy technologies should come dramatically down. So, in his study, Aljarboua takes the other cheaper forms of harvesting solar energy. Some of them are solar water heating (SWH), and ventilation air preheating (SVP). From the study, it becomes evident that the last two forms of harvesting solar energy are more suitable for Saudi Arabia. While photovoltaic technology has an SIR of 0. 1175, that of SWH is 0.52 and of SVP is 7.78. In addition, the pay back years also vary considerably. If the PV technology requires 149 years, SWH and SVP require only 33.5 and 2.25 years respectively. In fact, the use of solar energy has been rising in Saudi Arabia since 1960. The King A bdulaziz University for Science and Technology’s Energy Research Institute has conducted many studies on the utilization of solar energy. Some practical use of solar energy mentioned in the study are ‘lighting, cooling, water heating, crop/fruit drying, water desalination, operation of irrigation pumps, running of meteorological stations, road and tunnel lighting, road signals and traffic lights’ (â€Å"Renewable energy feasibility study†). Despite all these developments, the practical use of solar energy has not made notable progress. There are various reasons associated with this failure. The first one, according to Said, I.M.Ei-Amin and A. M. Al-Shehri (n.d.), is that oil is easily available in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the oil is more effective as an energy source and it has a considerably lower cost in the nation. The second major issue is the dust effect that reduces the availability of the solar energy by 10-20%. The third most important reason is that while the government provides subsidies for oil and electricity generation, the same subsidy is not available for the use of any non-renewable energy source (ibid). Photovoltaic cells The term ‘photovoltaic’ indicates that electricity is made from light. The most widely used material to make photovoltaic cells is silicon. There are three different varieties of photovoltaic cells; monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous