Rants!

November 2nd is only a little over a month away and as you all know, in addition to being able to vote Dubya and life partner Dick Cheeney out of office, we Rhode Islanders will also be asked for our opinion on various referenda. This election year there are 14 state-wide questions being asked, 12 of which deal with bond approval for state projects involving arbitrarily large sums of money. And, for someone like myself that has never had more than a 1000$ at once at my disposal, how am I supposed to know whether a 14,000,000$ bond for an undersea exploration center to the Pell Library is a good deal or not? I mean really. But, regardless, it’s important to make a somewhat informed decision so in case you haven’t looked at this year’s voter handbook, I’ll list the questions for you that actually mean something:

1. Amendments to the constitution, Seperation of Powers:
A good thing for us. Bad thing for John Celona. These ammendments will prevent officals from serving more than one govermental branch at the same time.

2. Constitutional Convention:
Our RI constitution is about 20 years old since its last makeover. This is asking for a convention of politicans to comb through and bring it up to date. I’m gonna go with ‘No’ on this one. The basic laws that were instilled 20 years ago are still applicable today– and I personally thing it’s just another way to extort more taxpayer money…a cool 2 Million (hidden cost).

3. 60,000,000 Transportation bonds
Money for roads? Why not…

4. bleh

5. 50,000,000 Higher Education Residence Halls Bonds
Hell no! URI does not need more money. That university spent a ton of money on the Ryan Center which serves absolutly now educational purpose besides LOSING money. Now that the poorly planned behomoth is a fiscal weight to the school, URI has added an extra 200$ in required fees for every student (starting next semester) to ameliorate this burden. So, I’m with a vehement ‘No’ on this one.

6..7..8..9..10..11..
I have no idea, more arbitrary state expenditures, Yes? No? Flip a coin

13. 50,000,000 For URI BioTech and life sciences bonds
You kidding me?

14. bleh
no opinion

During a converation yesterday with an old friend from high school, my friend brought up this really excellent point regarding our nations current election process, specifically about the equivicol “electoral college”.

In this day and age, haven’t we moved beyond the electoral college? A democratic vote in RI is almost insignificant in the realm of national elections. Rhode Island contributes only 4 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the election, and since the state has been consistantly noted as a democratic state, our 4 democratic votes are merely an expectation– requiring little to no effect to earn. Why are those living in some of the countries ’swing’ states like Ohio or Florida the key to determining the outcome of this year’s election? Is this really fair? Why seperate states as though they are different countries, but instead, pool all the votes from every citizen regardless of which state they come from, and determine from this number who wins the popular vote. I was under the assumption that every citizen was equal and had an equal share in determining who is president, but I’m afraid this is really not the case. Rhode Islanders, as well other predisposed, low population state residents, have little to no effect on national elections, individually.

I Think thar be some “amending” to be done!

Time Magazine ran a poll (10/14/2004) asking people “Do you think the U.S. should keep the Electoral College or should we amend the Constitution and elect as President whoever gets the most votes in the country?”.
37% Keep the Electoral College
56% Amend the Constitution
7% Don’t Know