December 17, 2018
Dear Reader,
I hope that with this letter, you all are able to understand the three projects enclosed within this portfolio. I have submitted for a freshman introductory course in the City College of New York’s English 11000: an expository paper, a literacy narrative piece, and a research paper. I choose to select these topics of all of my work because I believe that they show growth. I also choose these topics because these pieces because I believe that if I have to rewrite them, they would come out ten times better than what was originally produced. Below are descriptions of each piece, along with my review of what were my strengths, and what were my weaknesses.
My first paper titled, ‘Humor Is My Mask’, was a literacy narrative in which I was asked to reflect on something related to me. It could have been an experience of something unfamiliar, or even a memory that shaped me into who I am today. My specific intention for this paper was to give the reasons an insight of how I feel that I am around myself or others. Humor is an important quality trait that I honor every time I use it. Without it, I’m not sure life would be the same. I dissect why humor is important to me and the people around me while giving small anecdotes as an example of the impact I have.
I do believe that this paper could have been improved. Throughout my piece, humor is referenced more than a handful of times. The problem is, the paper is missing the most important factor: humor. I missed chances to be humorous and it took away from the paper because, here the reader is reading about someone who loves the emotion of laughter and happiness, but there is nothing to make the reader laugh to show that. Apart from that weakness, I believe that I shined in being able to express why humor was important to me. If I weren’t able to do that, there would be no point in continuing the paper in the first place. I believe that I was able to give the reader a good sense of how I felt, and why I felt it.
My second paper titled, ‘The Man of Intelligence and Innovation – Elon Musk’, was an expository paper in the form of a profile, to exhibit conducting research and telling the reader something they may have known or not known about this person. I was asked to take a unique perspective on the topic of my choice, in this case Elon Musk, and present it clearly and accurately. I felt as if people were not aware of Elon Musk and his importance in society. He was able to create a wealthy life with a bachelor’s degree, and a passion for engineering/business. Elon Musk was also a relevant person for me to write about because prior to writing this paper, I had seen interviews and read articles about his upcoming tasks and plans for the future.
I believe that I dropped the ball on this paper when it came to presenting the reader with information that clearly was researched. I had confused my knowledge, with knowledge that I had gained from elsewhere, hence missing some citations. This was a big hit for me because giving someone their credit is the most important etiquette in writing. Apart from this flunder, I believe that I did a good job in choosing my angle on Elon Musk. A man who built his way up without a dynamic resume, or an extensive education. For many readers, especially those who may not be fond of school, this can give them something to relate to. Anything is possible and Elon Musk is the definition of that. My best parts of this paper included mentioning Musk’s background and giving the reader insight of how became a billionaire.
My final paper titled, ‘The Electoral College vs the People’, was my favorite piece: a research paper. This research paper was given to conduct data and research, and then compile a paper to support your thesis on the topic. This was my favorite piece because it allowed me to choose my own topic. I was able to choose something very controversial and it gave me a lot to write about. This topic was also very important to me because as an American I have questioned whether the Electoral College was really needed. I hoped to give readers a definitive answer with reading my paper. My ultimate purpose of writing this paper was to show that I can effectively collect data and facts by researching, and then laying it out point by point.
I believe that my only weakness in this paper was consistency. Writing a research paper that was over eight pages means that there is a lot of space to mess up. I believe that I fell off at some points because the research was not strong enough or because I was not able to word things as I wanted to. Nevertheless, I was able to include effective pictures within the piece so that there were references of my data and why elections turn out the way that they do. I also believe that I got through the material without missing out on anything that I wanted to include.
I spent much time writing all of these pieces including this reflection for each project. Although some pieces may seem unfinished, they are all a learning experience for the next time I am asked to write a similar piece. Looking back on my goals from the beginning of the year, I am proudly able to say that I was able to learn and strive in writing things that I may not be excited about. All of my writings are a remind that I can write something effective if I set my mind to it, and although I may not be 100% perfect, I am going to get there. In regard to any reader that read through the pieces I hope that my papers reflected on what I spoke about and that they are worth more than just words on a paper. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Christopher Lall
Enclosures(3)
Christopher Lall
ENG 1100/A
Intro to Composition
Prof. I. Bodre
October 3, 2018
(Enclosure 1)
Humor is my mask
You never know when your day could take a turn for the worst. No matter who you are, what you own, and what you do, this is an undeniable agreement. There isn’t any specific moment that I can define as giving me a personality trait that translates into who I am today, but rather separate moments that gave me a different outlook. People have their own way of dealing with “baggage”, and their own way of covering up whatever they might be dealing with. For me, it has been humor. I couldn’t stress the importance of humor enough to myself, and it eventually became a building block to raise me, and a trait that people began to like me for. I believe that humor is not only an expression of happiness and laughter, but it is an outlook of life. Humor does not give the green light to laugh when something horrid is happening, but it rather gives you the ability to acknowledge when you can maintain your own optimism in times where pessimism seems to be the right choice.
I recall (countless) moments in high school where friends of mine got mad over small things. For example, a friend of mine got mad one time during a group debate project. For the sake of privacy, I will call her Sarah. I was a part of Sarah’s team and I was the leading speaker to propose the argument of the topic to the opposing team. The debate was about a book titled ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. During the preparation for this grand debate, Sarah had spewed ideas to all of the group members except for me. The group then took her ideas and implemented them within their speeches and although, Sarah said it was alright to use her ideas, she broke down crying because she had nothing left to write. Many would think that she was sad. But, in fact, Sarah was angry at the other group members. This caused her performance in the debate to decrease dramatically and it became a weight on my team’s shoulder. Here is where I began to treasure my humor. I glanced at the auditorium once more and saw that there were barely any seats left. “Almost a full house”, I thought to myself. Was I going to let Sarah embarrass herself, and more importantly, embarrass the team that worked so hard to get to the finals? Or, was I going to do something about it? At first, a member of the group named Ashley asked, “Chris can you do something about Sarah? You’re the only one that can.” I replied with, “Oh, hells no, trying to calm Sarah down when she upset, is asking for trouble.” Ashley then stared at me as if she were going to kill me because I didn’t want to do anything to fix Sarah’s mood. Time was running out, so I had to make my move. I asked myself “Do I want to deal with a crying girl, or deal with Ashley and start World War 3?” The answer was clear, I was going to deal with World War 3. But, I remembered that the team was relying on me, so instead, I took the situation lightly and while preparing for the final event of that debate, I began to try and lighten the mood. I joked around with each of my friends and eventually fixed Sarah’s random mood swing of anger and confusion. All I simply did was ask Sarah a simple question. I asked, “Hey, do you remember that one time you cried because you had nothing to write and almost lost a competition for us?” Sarah gave me a light punch on my shoulder and started laughing with me. The simple fact that all I had to do was think positive and make humor out of a situation, showed me how much my humor is worth. If I hadn’t done that, we would have lost the debate and more importantly, deal with Ashley.
I’ve learned, on numerous occasions, how important it is to distract yourself from the complications that life presents to you. For every large presentation in front of any class I have ever done, I used my humor to benefit me. I used to be nervous and stutter on my words because it was something that I was new to. Over time I put myself in the mindset that all of these people were my friends and if I looked at these situations lightly rather than harshly, things would be easier for me. It helps to be able to distinguish how to use my optimism because it allows me to stay happy when I most need it for my best performance. You can think of this as looking at the glass half full rather than half empty.
Optimism cannot go without humor for me because I am not able to find something funny or feel happy while being negative. Joking became an important factor in my life because it is how I find my amusement. This is how my humor works: I look at the situation, if it’s a situation where I can make a joke, I will make it, and I hope to lighten everyone’s mood including my own.
Humor has taught me about mood as well. I tend to familiarize humor with happiness and happiness is all a person needs to make it through the day sometimes. When I was a child, my parents had split and divorced each other. No matter who you are, this is a tough trial to go through as a kid. Bottled up emotions aren’t good for anyone and, unfortunately, I had school every morning. However, I am not one to let outside factors affect my school life, so I used my humor to mask it. I created humorous environments for myself such as joking with close friends and I never let my parents’ situation get to me. Sure I was upset and didn’t want the divorce to happen, but I was not going to show anyone what I was going through. But, there was nothing I could do, so why be negative? Neither of them were dead or disowned my sister and I so I took what I got. Most importantly, my school life wasn’t affected, and it allowed me to stay positive and mask my ‘baggage’ the right way.
This may not be everyone’s way of masking situations in their life, but humor has worked and still works for me. Throughout hardships and normality of life, I was never brought down nor sunk into pessimism because I’ve always thought “what would that do for me?” By lightening up each situation, I can always find the light in the tunnel and stay away from almost anything that brings me down. Humor does not make me invincible, but it makes me who I am today. Someone who can look back at moments where it may have been ok to be sad or angry but, chose to be humorous instead.
Christopher Lall
ENG 11000/A
Intro to Composition
Prof. I. Bodre
October 15, 2018
(Enclosure 2)
The Man of Intelligence and Innovation – Elon Musk
I’m sure you have heard of Tesla, SpaceX, and even Paypal. Each of these heavyweight companies and organizations were or are owned by the commercial businessman named Elon Musk. Most notably known for becoming CEO of Tesla and founding SpaceX, Elon Musk seems to care a lot about the economy and the world that we live in. Just like most billionaires, Elon Musk had to work his way up to become a figure of innovation. Musk, born in South Africa, was always keen on becoming an engineer. Musk moved to Canada to stay away from South Africa’s violence and to enjoy the “cool” technology that America had to offer. He attended two universities and he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with two undergraduate degrees in economics and physics. It is no surprise that a multi-billionaire, such as Musk, had a degree in economics and (with his innovations in the motor industry and the space industry) no surprise that he also had a degree in physics. The interesting fact of the matter is that Elon has no further education apart from those two degrees and two days of education at Stanford. He is a prime example of making money without a dynamic resume.
Money began to roll in for Elon Musk after the creation of Zip2. According to the website Time.com, Zip2 was “a company that provided maps and directories to online newspapers.” (Klebnikov October 13, 2018) Musk dropped out of Stanford to pursue Zip2 as he believed it had much promise, and judging by his wealth today, he was correct. Four years down the line, in 1999, Zip2 was sold for $307 million. Musk walked away with $22 million of his own. The money venture did not stop there. Another $12 million was invested into X.com, a financial service which ended up becoming the infamous Paypal.com, increasing Elon’s net worth with another $180 million due to Ebay’s $1.5 billion buyout. At this point in Musk’s career, he began his pursuit with a chance to innovate and influence the world.
With success brewing for Elon Musk, he continued his endeavours in making money and creating innovations. SpaceX was the third co-founded company by Elon Musk. SpaceX is a company which specialized in space exploration and the creation of technology for exploration. Comparable to NASA, SpaceX demonstrated innovation by launching the first unmanned capsule into space named Falcon 9. Falcon 9 delivered supplies to the ISS (International Space Station) and ever since then, SpaceX has become invaluable to space exploration. The company is valued over $12 billion with recent investors such as Alphabet (owners of Google), investing $900 million.
If Musk’s investments and risks within the SpaceX, and Paypal did not demonstrate Elon’s integrity with his option to endow money into companies that became successful due to his technology/innovations, then his brilliance in wanting to fix the world should. Elon Musk, in an interview posted on March 11, 2018 on Youtube.com, spoke about his ideas on bringing life to Mars. Optimistically, Musk set a date for the exploration and settlement of the new frontier as early as the beginning of 2019, however other times he has claimed 2022. The word settlement should be used lightly, as the landing of Mars will be a test to whether the new spacecraft that SpaceX is creating can be reusable and efficient. Musk’s acceptance of society and wanting to “save mankind” if all goes down the drain, is admirable because Musk is a part of the process that he speaks of. He believes that Mars could save humans from a “future dark age” (Statt 3), possibly World War III which shows his interest in not, only in himself, but humanity.
Along with SpaceX’s success, Elon Musk is also the CEO of Tesla. Tesla is an innovative automotive company whose mission is for the world to transition into sustainable energy through electric cars. To show Tesla’s success, it is now a multi-billion dollar company due to the uniqueness on the market, as the market has not been introduces with cars similar to an example shown on the right. Although Tesla is not dominating the market in the U.S. they are the most sold luxury sedans in Europe, which is an accomplishment of its own. However, the idea behind revolting against the fossil fuel industry is still on Musk’s mind. Over time, if humans do not change the way that they use energy, they will run out and damage the environment. According to Elon Musk, via an informative video on Youtube.com, says that the goal should be moving towards this sustainable energy to protect humanity and the economy (October 13, 2018) Musk is always taking an extra step in trying to innovate the way humans should be thinking so that Earth can be a better place.
Although Elon Musk has not achieved high status through his education, he became a multi-billionaire that changed the economy and continues to be a person that wants to see global progress. Through innovations in SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has created a name for himself demonstrating that anything is possible and yet is still more to come from him. Will he achieve colonizing Mars? Probably not due to the limitations of time and resources. Will Elon continue to be successful? Most likely. One thing is for sure, his rare talent to tackle complex issues was, and will be, the answer for any question he has had, and Elon Musk will continue to innovate and try to change the world.
Works Cited
“About Tesla | Tesla.” Tesla, Inc, www.tesla.com/about. Accessed October 13, 2018.
Alvarez, Simon. “Tesla Roadster Performance Specs Are Actual and Not Theoretical, Says Test Driver.” TESLARATI.com, 1 July 2018, Accessed October 13, 2018. www.teslarati.com/next-gen-tesla-roadster-test-driver-car-fans-support/.
“Elon Musk.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 1 Oct. 2018, Accessed October 13, 2018.
www.biography.com/people/elon-musk-20837159.
Klebnikov, Sergei. “How Elon Musk Made Money Before Tesla | Money.” Time, Time, 8 Aug. 2017, time.com/money/4883868/8-innovative-ways-elon-musk-made-money-before-he-was-a-billionaire/. Accessed October 13, 2018.
Smith, Rich. “How Does SpaceX Make Money?” The Motley Fool, The Motley Fool, 25 June 2016, www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/25/how-does-spacex-make-money.aspx.
Statt, Nick. “Elon Musk Still Thinks a Mars Colony Will Save Us from a Future Dark Age.” The Verge, The Verge, 11 Mar. 2018, www.theverge.com/2018/3/11/17106910/elon-musk-ai-threat-mars-moon-colonization-nukes-sxsw-2018. Accessed October 13, 2018.
Stockton, Nick. “Elon Musk Announces His Plan to Colonize Mars and Save Us All.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, www.wired.com/2016/09/elon-musk-colonize-mars/.
sxsw. “Elon Musk Answers Your Questions! | SXSW 2018.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Mar. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlUyrccbos.
yonseienglish. “Elon Musk’s Unbelievably Simple 12-Minute Killer Break Down on Climate Change.” YouTube, YouTube, 31 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCuDxpccYM.
Christopher Lall
ENG 11000/A
Intro to Composition
Prof. I. Bodre
December 9, 2018
(Enclosure 3)
The Electoral College vs the People
Voting for the President of the United States of America has been a tradition for over two centuries. The President of the United States has an important role to play by becoming the leading figure for the nation. But, over centuries of voting within the voting system in America, controversy began to arise. The voting system in America comprises of the people’s vote, but more importantly, the Electoral College. Electoral Colleges play an even more important role than the people, and to many Americans, this is a problem. This problem leads to Americans targeting the Electoral College’s power and validity. While there is a popular vote given by the people, there are Electoral Votes given by the Electoral College. However, it is the Electoral College that puts the President into office. The question provoked by the lack of using the people’s voice in the election is: Should the Electoral College be removed from the voting system in America to give people the power? The Electoral College should be removed from the voting system in America because it challenges democracy. However, how did the Electoral College come to be apart of America’s voting system?
In 1787 when the founding fathers of the United States sat down to discuss the framework of the country, the voting system and the Electoral College was brought up. The Electoral College gives states power within the federal level. According to historycentral.com, “The founding fathers were afraid of direct election to the Presidency. They feared a tyrant could manipulate public opinion and come to power” (Schulman). This is a strong statement of itself. The people lose their voice in voting because the votes do not directly lead to the election of a President. Due to the way that the founding fathers perceived government and power, the people of today are affected by the Electoral College. In other words, this was a way for a “qualified” runner to be given Presidency. This takes away from their Democracy because the people’s say does not matter in the polls.
Since the popularity vote does little in the Presidential Election, it leads Americans to question why this form of voting is still in place. Hundreds of years ago when the founding fathers decided that the Electoral College safely gave the correct candidate the Presidency, there weren’t many ways for electors to know much about their candidates compared to today. In the 21st century, information is brought to people in multiple ways. Social media and television are two of the biggest ways that electors learn about candidates running for Presidency. Now that people are more educated about political issues today, they are likely to make a better/more educated decision. For example, “Trump said his social media accounts provide “a tremendous platform.” He estimated that he has a combined 125 million followers across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook” (Mccaskill). America has over 300 million people across the states, and the current President has about 1/3rd of the population following him (numerically) on social media. His tactics and views are represented through his media, and it allows people to formulate an opinion on him. This alone is a campaign within its own rights as it spreads information to anyone that accesses his tweets or posts. Since Americans can learn anything about a candidate, why is the Electoral College is still more powerful than the people’s vote?
At the end of the day, the people outweigh Electoral Colleges, and a democracy is based on the people. In voting, it is important that everyone has a say in who becomes President. Otherwise, why give people the option to vote? There are 50 states in America, but each of these states have a different population, and everyone wants to be represented and accounted for. That is why each state has two senators, and in the House of Representatives, each state gets representatives proportionate to their population. If a state with 800,000 people were to be ignored because a President focused on the state with 5,000,000 people, then their voice would not be heard. These smaller states would not have an equal say in who becomes President, for example, according to Procon.org, “Without the Electoral College, groups such as Iowa farmers and Ohio factory workers would be ignored in favor of pandering to metropolitan areas with higher population densities, leaving rural areas and small towns marginalized” (‘The Electoral College’). Similarly stated, a scholarly piece notes that, “In addition, they argue that the electoral college protects the interests of small states and sparsely populated areas, which they claim would be ignored if the president was directly elected” (Britannica Academic). This means that the President would spend less money and focus less on minority populated groups. But, this argument is flawed. Whether their voices were heard or not, the Electoral College is still the ultimate factor in an election. In fact, presidential candidates just focus on states that can make an election unpredictable.
A strong fact against the case that candidates don’t already ignore small states is due to the voting system with Electoral Colleges. In voting, there are certain states where the votes are usually close, and the outcome can change instantly. These states are called “swing states”. Swing states can allow for a presidential election to swing in one direction to another because small margins matter. For example, in the 2016 election, “Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made more than 90% of their campaign stops in just 11 so-called battleground states. Of those visits, nearly two-thirds took place in the four battlegrounds with the most electoral votes — Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina” (‘The Electoral College’). With the system that the Electoral College put in place, candidates can focus on those states that can swing the
Fig 1. Swing States Effect. Andrew Prokob.
election based off of their effect in the voting system. However, this is the major flaw in the Electoral College. The candidates can just focus on these states much like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump did. Focusing on solely the votes that the Electoral College gives, there is not much room for the people.
An example of how important swing states are is directly related to the 2016 Presidential Election. Swing states allowed President Trump to win Presidency solely off of the outcome in four states. According to figure 2, the swing states that Trump won were Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, and Pennsylvania. These are swing states because the margin of winnings were less than only 2% (Meko, Lu, Gamio). According to figure 3, if Hillary was able to flip Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, she would have won the election with 272 votes.
Figure 2. ‘Where the race was close’, Tim Meko, Denise Lu, Lazaro Gamio.
Figure 3. ‘2016 Presidential Election Results’ 270towin.com.
In fact, the Electoral College ignores the will and power that people have in voting. If you hope that your casted vote affects the presidency, then you are mistaken. With swing states, the Electoral Votes are all that candidates are fighting for. If 40 million Americans vote for one candidate and 10 million other Americans vote for the other, it is clear which candidate the people want as President. But once again, popularity does not win the election.
For years America has had a two party system in government: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Third parties have seen little to no success in Presidency. The winner-takes-all premise that states have adopted, makes it hard for third parties because most people know about Democrats and Republicans. If one of those two dominant parties gains the most votes, the rest of the Electoral Votes belongs to that party. Since third parties are not popular, people would be more concerned voting for that party. For example, “The electoral college helps keep the two-party system strong. It makes it very hard for a third party to break through at the national level and increases the risk that a third party could spoil a candidate’s chance of winning, which in turn discourages people from voting for third-party candidates” (Josephson). Americans haven’t seen much of a third party in government and that is likely due to the Electoral College. With abolishing the Electoral College, it will allow for more freedom in government rather than only two parties. However, if a two party government were popular among Americans, the voting system can go without the Electoral College as well. For example, a professional journal titled ‘The Electoral College: An Enigma in a Democratic Society’ states:
What these scholars see is a magnifying effect built into the single-member district in which the winning party is able to acquire more seats per number of votes, the greater the percent of total vote the party can win. Success in winning votes across the country in effect inflates the relative power of the winning party. The converse is also true: The less successful the losing party, the more votes it will take to elect a representative. Major parties do not disappear, however, because they are liable to remain strong regionally or in certain kinds of areas. That the effect is devastating on minor parties, however, is borne out by the fact that minor parties have not held more than two of the U.S. House seats since 1944. (Bayh)
If Presidency goes to the party that the candidate represents, it is likely that that party fills more seats within government. The runner up party would also have filled up some spots in the government because it would have been second. Thus, this eliminates the third party aspect if Americans wanted to keep government a two party system. Although it would be devastating that third parties would see no success, regardless if the Electoral College were removed, this is just proving the fact that the voting system does not need to include the Electoral College (Bayh).
Apart from parties, with abolishing the Electoral College, the American people gain the democratic feeling that America was said to be built upon. With each vote directly going towards the outcome of the Presidential Election, more people may show up to polls. In figure 4,
Fig 4. Martin Luther King Jr Freedom Center. Voter Turnout from 1789-2016 Presidential Election
only about 60% of Americans show up to the ballot to vote, and while the Electoral College is not to be fully blamed, it plays a part. If the Electoral College were to be removed and the turnout rate increased as a result, the people would truly have a President that they all wanted, reiterating that the popular vote should be more important. According to figure 5, Trump won the election with over 270 Electoral Votes to Clintons 232. However, the popular vote went to Hillary by .5%. This means if the power were directly in the people’s hands, the election would have turned out differently. The 2016 election was the most recent Presidential Election, but this would be the case for any Presidential Election since Electoral Colleges are around.
Figure 5. ‘Presidential results’ WashingtonPost
In conclusion the Electoral College should be removed from the voting system in America. It has been over two centuries since the founding fathers introduced Electoral Colleges into government, but it is time to change that for the people. If the people are allowed to vote, but their vote is triumphed by Electoral Votes, why are American citizens given the right to vote? Instead it is just the right to voice their opinion rather than their actions meaning something. Without the Electoral College, the people could possibly get more involved and be given direct power to elect who they want as their President. After all, a Democracy is what the people want, not oppression.
Annotated Bibliography
This paper focuses on Electoral Colleges in America’s voting system. Since 1787, when the founding fathers decided that Electoral Colleges will be apart of the voting process, Electoral Colleges directly took power away from the citizens that exercise their right to vote. In doing so, there is a split in society in which many Americans oppose Electoral Colleges while others support it. Should Electoral Colleges stick around in the voting system if it challenges Democracy? The Electoral College should be removed and the power of voting should be given to Americans. Pros of keeping the Electoral College do not outweigh the cons and it is seen in the research.
“2016 Presidential Election Actual Results.” Split Electoral Votes in Maine and Nebraska, Date Accessed 12/9/18, www.270towin.com/maps/2016-actual-electoral-map.
Provides a map of the 2016 Presidential Election. Also provides which states voted for which party and the amount of votes that each state gives.
Birch Bayh, The Electoral College: An Enigma in a Democratic Society, 11 Val. U. L. Rev. 315 (1977),
Date Accessed 12/9/18, https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1672&context=vulr
Peer reviewed journal with the introduction of where the idea of an Electoral Colleges comes from. There have been plenty of offered amendments to abolish the Electoral College, but not one has been accepted into government. There are also three defects of this way of voting a President into office. Those three defects are: giving the Presidency to an unpopular candidate, unbalanced weight of votes, and the voting power of the people have been stripped of them and given to a higher power. Most of these defects were not thought out fully by the founding fathers because since then, society and America has changed much. Direct election should instead be implemented because it is the people’s right to have that power.
“The Electoral College: Top 3 Pros and Cons.” ProConorg Headlines, Date Accessed 12/9/18, www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005330
Pros of the Electoral College includes allowing each state to be involved so that candidates do not single out any specific state. It also includes “ensuring” that America has the right leader rather than someone who is not suited to hold the highest position of government. With this, there is no need for an entire recount, just a single state recount which makes the process easier. However, for every pro there is a con. Cons include taking away the people’s voice, the allowance of swing states, and the fact that America has changed over the past 200 years. Something that may have worked previously may not work now, so it is important to mend power according to the present.
“How Trump Won the Presidency with Razor-Thin Margins in Swing States.” The Washington Post, WP Company, Date Accessed 12/9/18, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/swing-state-margins/.
The 2016 election was one of the few elections in which the President that wins the popularity vote loses the election. Due to swing states, the margin of votes were diminutive and either side could have won the Electoral Votes. There were a few swing states in the 2016 election that ultimately gave Donald Trump presidency. Swing states are powerful and important in an election. If Hillary had won three of those states, America would have a different leader right now.
MCCASKILL, NOLAN D., et al. “Trump Credits Social Media for His Election.” POLITICO, POLITICO, 20 Oct. 2017, www.politico.com/story/2017/10/20/trump-social-media-election-244009.
In the 1700-1800’s, Presidential Elections, in which candidates had to spread their ideas on how to run the country, were done differently than today. Today, the emergence of technology lead to social media and television being two ways in which candidates can connect with Americans to earn their liking and vote. Even Trump acknowledges that social media had helped him win the election. Due to social media, the Electoral College should also be removed because there are more educated people (that know about politics) in society. This means that today, there is no need to secure the “right” candidate as President.
Prokop, Andrew. “Why the Electoral College Is the Absolute Worst, Explained.” Vox.com, Vox Media, 19 Dec. 2016, Date Accessed 12/9/18, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/7/12315574/electoral-college-explained-presidential-elections-2016.
The Electoral College is what ultimately decides who is going to become President of the United States of America. The first candidate to 270 Electoral Votes wins Presidency. Unfortunately, the election is settled in just a few states due to, swing states and although it is unfair, it is the voting system that Americans are stuck under.
Schulman, Marc. The Debate over the Bank, Date Accessed 12/9/18, www.historycentral.com/elections/Electoralcollgewhy.html.
The Electoral College was created for a few reasons. The main reason being that the founding fathers wanted to assure that there was not a direct election. This assured the “right” candidate into office and not a tyrant. Will the voting system ever be changed? Unlikely.
Wayne, Stephen. “Electoral College.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 Apr. 2017, Date Accessed 12/9/18, www.britannica.com/topic/electoral-college.
The Electoral College puts the President into office. The President then selects his cabinet with his/her new power. Due to Hamilton’s fear of direct democracy, this system is still in place. While there are both advantages and disadvantages, each constitutional amendment proposed to abolish the Electoral College has not went through. The winner-takes-all system has been adopted by 48 states, and this can help candidates focus their campaigns. Other than an extremely small amount of third party action, third parties remain in the shadow while the government is ran by a two system setup: Democrats vs Republicans.
