Re: [EL] would Americans be happier if the USA broke up?

Subject: Re: [EL] would Americans be happier if the USA broke up?

From: Curtis Gans

Date: 1/15/2011, 12:53 PM

To: "richardwinger@yahoo.com" <richardwinger@yahoo.com>, "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

The liberal opposition to National Popular Vote and direct elections has nothing to do with lack of acceptance that we are one nation. It has everything to do with avoiding fully empowering the political consultants, a national media campaign with no incentives for grassroots activity, disincentives for coalition building, undermining the positive aspects of the principle of federalism -- of understanding that while we are one nation, there are local, state a regional differences and concerns that need to be addressed in campaigns and public policy; and the possibility of needed a recount of all the votes cast in the nation making the 2000 Florida recount seem a day in the park. With regard to NPV -- procedurally, it is foisting a radical restructuring of how we elect president by a stealth campaign and the equivalent of a putsch.

Curtis Gans, Director
Center for the Study of the American Electorate
Center for Democracy and Election Management
American University
3201 New Mexico Avenue NW
Suite 395
Washington, DC 20016-8026
Phones: (202) 885-6295 (o); (703) 304-1283 (c), (540) 822-5292 (h)
Fax: (202) 885-6294
e-mail: gans@american.edu; curtis.gans@gmail.com
Website: http://www.American.edu/ia/cdem/csae

From: Richard Winger <richardwinger@yahoo.com>
To: election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Date: 01/15/2011 02:03 PM
Subject: [EL] would Americans be happier if the USA broke up?
Sent by: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu

I sometimes wonder if residents of the U.S. wouldn't be happier if the United States ceased to be one nation, and each state became its own independent country. So much of our political issues are really regional, somewhat in disguise. The cultural conflicts are extreme and seem related to regionalism.

Of course this is not a new or original idea. There has been so little discourse on this list for so long, I thought I would throw it out and see what happens.

The fierce difference opinion about the electoral college seems to reflect that a very large share of Americans really don't accept that we are one nation. It seems obvious to me that when the U.S. has a presidential election and the voters believe they are choosing the president, the person with the most votes ought to be the winner. The root of the opposition to that idea, I think, is actually based on resistance to the idea that we are one nation.

There also seems little support for the notion that the election laws governing congressional elections ought to be uniform. As it stands now, congressional elections are a hodge-podge of various state election law systems.

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