I've stated that I don't vote because the U.S. still relies on an out-of-date form of "Democracy" to choose a President, the Electoral College. I've heard several reasons as to why the Electoral College was originally implemented, but the one that has stuck with me came from my 7th and 8th grade Social Studies teacher. He taught that our fore fathers didn't believe the general populace didn't have the educational background to choose a national leader. Two hundred years ago, this was probably the case, news was slow and information wasn't passed on to everyone. The U.S. didn't have an education system like they do now, most children were home schooled or just grew up learning a trade from their parents or as a conscript.
This may have been the original reason, however, it doesn't fly today. Yes, there are a lot of really dumb people in the U.S. but for the most part, people are educated enough to know the issues, or to have at least heard about them, news is transmitted quickly, information is passed to most, if not all, and everyone is required to attend school until they are 16 years old (that was the law in my home state, at least). If the Electoral College still exists today because of this reason, then the U.S. Government is openly spitting in the face of their own education system.
Every four years, the media makes a big deal about voter turnout and try to speculate as to why it's so low. I have news for the media, the U.S. populace knows the score, they know that Al Gore won the 2000 popular election by a 1/2 million votes, their votes. They also know that Al Gore didn't serve one day as President of the U.S.A. because the Electoral College chose George W. Bush as OUR President. If Democracy is going to truly continue in this country, then the people's voices need to be heard, and those voices need to count. After all, Abraham Lincoln once described our government as a "government of the people, by the people, for the people".
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