Legislatures act on the will of the people, and if enough people took the time to write and call (and it wouldn't take that many) they could act to fix our ballot.
Since I wrote this, I edited it slightly to get under the 300-word excerpt rule (mostly by creating contractions, which I don't normally use. I marked them all with square bracketes. I still don't have formal approval from the paper to post full versions here, because we are working through the new free-lance contract agreement.
It would be unfair if none of the candidates were able enough to meet the requirements.
Let me ask this. Does any other State require a candidate to get 10,000 signatures in order to get on a ballot?
The Virginia rules were known for over a year, or several years; depending on who you talk to. If any candidate is unable to follow the Virginia rules to make it on the ballot, I do NOT want them to be in charge of the entire nation!
by the time we get to vote in Va., Romney will have it in the bag, just like McCain in 2008.
I like the article. Levin mentioned some recent rules changes. Do you know more about that?
I strongly disagree with you on a couple of points though. You write:
“This is not a game. We are picking the leader of the free world.”
I submit that this is in fact a game, and that the world now is essentially unfree. I wish you were right on these points.