hans.gerwitz

Show Me Democracy

Posted on November 30th, 2008

In about a week, Missouri will offi­cially certify John McCain as their pres­i­dential candidate of choice, losing their bell and becoming just another wether.
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RTF 9th Amendment

Posted on February 4th, 2007

…the Constitution doesn’t say every indi­vidual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the Senate Judiciary Committee (tran­script not available online, see coverage by the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times)

The best reaction to this attitude towards habeas corpus I can imagine is Mark Jaquith’s: it wasn’t long before he went from “pedantic tool” to “the reason for the 2nd Amendment” in my mind.

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ranked voting

Posted on October 9th, 2004

Ranked voting systems permit the voter to select multiple candi­dates, indi­cating an order of preference.

Although instant runoff is more popular and Condorcet is the most “accurate”, I prefer approval voting as a prag­matic solution that is more supportive of third-​​party candi­dates. (I, personally, would love to vote Libertarian for repre­sen­tative legis­lators, without feeling I was “throwing my vote away” and giving up the chance to vote against the worst of the available fascists.)

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