How We Used to Vote.

Slashdot ^ | November 2, 2008 | Staff

[Bubba_Leroy]

Think hanging chads, illegal purges of the voter rolls, and insecure voting machines are bad? The New Yorker looks back at how we used to vote back in the good old days:

'A man carrying a musket rushed at him. Another threw a brick, knocking him off his feet. George Kyle picked himself up and ran. He never did cast his vote. Nor did his brother, who died of his wounds. The Democratic candidate for Congress, William Harrison, lost to the American Party's Henry Winter Davis. Three months later, when the House of Representatives convened hearings into the election, whose result Harrison contested, Davis's victory was upheld on the ground that any "man of ordinary courage" could have made his way to the polls.' Now I feel like a wuss for complaining about the lack of a voter-verified paper trail."

The article notes the American penchant for trying to fix voting problems with technology — starting just after the Revolution. This country didn't use secret ballots, an idea imported from Australia, until quite late in the 19th century.

[aclusux.com]

Liberals and common sense are like fat kids and carrots.

[El Sordo]

Innerestin’

[FFranco]

Interesting.

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[NYer]

How America Used to Select its Candidates

Popularism - candidates were chosen from ordinary folks - carpenters, farmers, and everyday citizens who had good and solid ideas on how to improve the country (not their poll numbers). When their term was finished, they returned to their previous jobs.

Today, many candidates come from a pool of lawyers who have studied political science. Today, running for office is a career.

[Bernard Marx]

Today, running for office is a career.

And a very lucrative one, too, with the regular salary and lush benefits, and what you can take under the table for "services rendered" to rich constituents. It doesn't take long to forget all about the "little people."

[Max in Utah]

...and what you can take under the table for "services rendered" to rich constituents.

Shades of the Late (Roman) Republic...

We will never have anything approaching honest politics until we get rid of professional politicians.