Surprise, Surprise, Surprise
Why is everyone so anxious to elect a president based on the "vote of the majority"? This country is not a democracy. It is a republic. (look it up). The cliché' "Democracy is two wolfs and a sheep voting on what's for dinner" is true even if it is a cliché'.
This is an expanded visit to a previous post located here.
The primaries are not an election; they are a private group (club if you will) of Democrats or Republicans parties whose interest is more in the party survival than the election of a President. Just
ask the publisher about the "Club" mentality. They make up the rules. While it may seem like a rigged system, political parties have been the root of all our politics since the founding. We should never try to turn our national election process into popular vote. (see above)
Local and congressional elections by popular vote allow the voters to choose what is in their best interest. However, local elections are usually broken down into districts, counties or cities. The people elected locally are accountable to a smaller group of voters. To do the same with a National Election would be to invite the larger Population States to elect the rulers of the smaller States. We fought a war over that and other issues once.
States' Rights was hijacked by the 'Slavery is our Right' crowd during the 1800's but it could just as easily be the "You have no right to Gun" or
"You owe me Free Tuition" crowd during the 2016's.
Now The Donald is moaning about the "Crooked System"' which he was more than happy to play in when he was donating money to politicians (including Hillary and Bill) to get preferred treatment on Land acquisitions and tax breaks for his projects. I agree with his assessment in one way. It is a crooked system. The fault is the voters for the continued election of the same people who have created this system. Now there is a movement afoot to set term limits on Congress. What the hell do you think the election every two years is?
Our problem in this country is the "POGO Theorem". We have not only met the enemy, we have embraced the enemy. If we can take from the achievers and producers and give to the moochers and losers, is there no end to what the government can do to individuals? Does that sound a bit harsh? When we decided that the government could fix our problems by taking from some and giving to others, we chose the path that lead to our current mess. When the government decides who needs help it creates a system of moochers and losers who are more than willing to sell their votes for handouts.
When the drunk was laying in the gutter and saw the Cadillac drive by, he had it just about right. "There but for me, go I"! If you disagree, I suggest you get out your checkbook and write a check to your favorite charity, or perhaps take in a few homeless people and feed them. If you do not want to do that, maybe you could persuade your elected representative to stop adding pages to the tax code that has become so convoluted it is ripe for misuse and abuse. That includes the personal home interest deduction, and charitable deduction.
If you look at your tax form this year, take your total tax paid and divide it by your total income before deductions. That is your effective tax rate. Next year try to just do that and send the check to Uncle Sam. Most likely you will pay the same taxes and not have to worry about deductions, exemptions or which footnote in the tax code you can use to defray the cost of the system you have voted for repeatedly. But Uncle Sam will not allow that. He is more interested in how and where you earned your money so he can continue to tweak the tax system to extract more from some and less from others.
Better still, why not just have a Fair Tax, based on how much you spend and not how much you make. It should not be anyone's business on how much you make unless they are trying to divide us into groups that they can pit against each other. Politicians do that with race, money, and every other difference between humans.
Fair Tax Website
You may think you can transfer your Christian responsibility to the government, but you cannot transfer your guilt. If you are not a Christian, then you can follow whatever belief you have that may or may not include charity or helping others. Do not worry, if you ever find yourself in need of help, one of the Christians still left will be honor bound to help you because that is their mandate as a Christian. If none of that works for you, then maybe you can just take care of your own family and relatives and there may be no need for huge charitable foundations that are founded for tax avoidance rather than actual charity.
Back to The Donald, who keeps telling us that he has the most votes. Well, that is just not true. He has more votes than any other candidate does. He does not have the most votes. He only has 40% of the vote total. If there were a 'None of the above ' candidate, it is possible that he would be a has-been candidate like the rest. He is a master of the divide and conquers approach, which most conservatives complain about the liberals.
One of the pundits made a statement recently that stuck with me.
"You have to be selected by the party before you can win the general election. Pi$$ off the party and you probably will not be in the general election".
Here is a chart of the current popular vote total so far (4/20/2016) in the Republican primary.
Real Clear Politics
Donald Trump's delegate count is roughly the same percentage as his popular vote count (about 40%). It takes a majority (and not a plurality) of delegates to win the party nomination which Donald is well on his way to achieving. Do you remember the party unity discussion in the first debate. It was designed to provide unity for the party's eventual candidate.
I suspect that the ship has left the dock, but let us not fool ourselves that we are making a change for the anti-establishment. You cannot build multiple casinos and hotels without being part of the establishment. While DT may in fact be very adept in pointing out the imperfections in our system, he is a product of those imperfections and not the solution. Of course, if he is the selected Republican Candidate, I will vote and support him because the alternative is beyond my comprehension for this country. Because he is used to running things as an autocrat, I will also watch for the abuse of his presidential powers just as closely as I have with the current president.
But like I have said before, I will do so like I am reading the morning paper on the porcelain privy. I will turn on the fan and endure the process because it goes with the territory.
Ben Franklin may have been a prophet in 1787 when he answered the question. "Well, Doctor, what have we got-a Republic or a Monarchy?"
"A Republic, if you can keep it."
I have followed the various articles on that here on BCN and it appears to mirror the same dysfunctional approach of the national Republican party. I have no knowledge of the history or the intricacies behind the coup d'état.
Perhaps when your multiple plates are less full you can devote the time for an article for us drive by readers.