The electoral college is a time-honored system that, has only broken down three times in over 200 years. However, it's obvious that reforms are needed. The organization of the states should be altered. This Electoral Reform Map redivides the territory of the United States into 50 bodies of equal size. The 2000 Census records a population of 281,421,906 for the United States. The states ranged in population from 493,782 to 33,871,648.1 In this map, new states have formed, all with equal populations of roughly 5,617,000.2
"Suspension of Disbelief": A Photography Exhibition on Social Commentary" examines our ability, and sometimes necessity, to create new ways of understanding what lies in front of us. The exhibition will showcase photographs depicting alternative ways of thinking, through demystification and fantasy.
Works by Kristi Steinke, William Mwazi, Katherine McDowell Peterson, Ned and Shiva Productions, Nikki Johnson, Cynthia Edorth, Lucas Thorpe.
from the press release:
On January 20, 2009 Americans will witness the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America – having elected a man who will become the first African American to take the highest office in the country. His improbable ascension is due in large part to the enormous galvanization of grassroots organizations – groups often sidelined when it comes to participation in national dialogues. Come January 20, 2009 the new President, indeed all of America who did or did not elect him, inherits two major wars, a severe economic recession, global warming and dwindling energy resources. A reasonable question to ask is "how will all of these problems be solved."
This is a timely idea. The creation of a cabinet level position to reassert the country's commitment to the arts would be a huge step forward for a country in need of getting back to the fundamentals of an open society.
Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, the United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts-- now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
This was my view this morning heading into the gym where we vote. It went smoothly but I have never seen a crowd this size. The wait was 30 minutes which is quite different from what people are experiencing in the Bronx or even Bushwick. I have to say, I got a little choked up watching everyone eager to cast their vote.
• For immediate assistance, call the nonpartisan 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline.
• To report problems to Election Protection’s state teams through Twitter, use these guidelines.
• OurVoteLive.org (http://OurVoteLive.org) – A live map and full database of all the reports received through the hotline
• OurVoteLive Blog (http://blog.ourvotelive.org) – Breaking news and analysis on the state of the vote
• 866OurVote Twitter account (http://twitter.com/866ourvote) – Breaking news and reports as they happen
Also, the Obama campaign has set up its own election hotline:
• To report problems at your polling place or your vote to the Obama campaign, call 1-877-US4OBAMA. • Also, you can find information about your polling place on the Obama/Biden website
We're heading into the final hours of this historic campaign and it seems as good a time as any to look at the nature of Obama the candidate. This entry over at Phronesisaical truly renders why there should be excitement and interest in Obama the President. It also reminds me what is sadly missing from not only the GOP but our national punditry at large. I highly recommend you spend the time to read the full post.
Here are some of the juicier bits from Helmut:
To put it simply, Obama seems to me an experimentalist problem-solver of a pragmatic stripe.
A pragmatist thinks in terms of problems and tools and experiments for solving them. A problem arises, which is such precisely because we don't have the conceptual or normative tools at hand to solve it. The pragmatist looks around for explanations, interpretations, analyses, arguments, and new understandings to try help us resolve the problem. If it's political, or a matter of policy, or a matter of ethics or legal interpretation, the pragmatist understands that we start from an irreducible pluralism of values that are crucial to even understanding the problem, let alone resolving it. In a pluralistic country such as the US, policy and political disputes are often disputes involving complex, competing values and ideas. They are problems of intelligent cooperation.
Ideological commitment of the sort that drives the US political system is problematic here - it may provide us with some useful interpretive tools, but it more than likely frames and constricts our understanding of the nature of the problem and the range of possible solutions a priori, prior to investigating the problem. This suggests that the truth of the matter comes prior to testing ideas and policies. The ideologist ends up, by default, resolving problems from a partial and usually self-interested perspective. Pragmatists think this has it all backwards.
continues-
The pragmatist seeks to suspend prior ideological commitments and focus rather on generating ongoing dialogue, attempting to build a community of public discussion, in order to gain the fullest possible view of the problem as well as in order to eventually engage the most democratic means for resolving it.
What does this mean for Obama the president? I'd like to hope that the office doesn't convert Obama into yet another pragmatist of the crass, non-philosophical version I mentioned above. I'm not worried about him being an ideologue. Despite the right's best efforts to paint him as such, there's little evidence that he's that sort of person. He's going to make a lot of people unhappy on both the left and the right when he doesn't follow the rules of prior ideological commitments. That unhappiness will unwittingly reflect something profoundly wrong with the older and hopefully dying form of polarized ideological politics in the US. But, unlike how many pundits put it, the problem is less "polarization" than it is the epistemological backwardness of ideology-driven politics.
But can Obama function as a genuine philosophical pragmatist? I think so. Given the serious nature of the problems he'll be dealing with as president - from the wars to climate change to poverty and economic collapse to education and healthcare - we really do need someone who's not blinkered by prior ideological commitments and hackneyed policy ideas and tools. We need a philosophical pragmatist with a rich understanding of the complex diversity of the US and the world, a morally reflective person who's willing to listen, to experiment, to involve and engage, and to lead when it is time to lead. Everything in his background says this is precisely who Obama is.
Tomorrow is the big day even though millions have cast early ballots. Here’s a video worth watching about a very important ongoing project called Video the Vote.Everyone who goes to vote, and has the technology to do it, should document their experience. Disinformation? Purged from the list? Long lines? Vote flipping machines? Turned away because of "missing" registration information? Harassment by partisan "monitors"? This collective effort will go a long way towards election reform, which I hope will be a big priority for the new congress and president but it can only happen with a mandate from us.
The clip above is from Video the Vote, a national initiative to protect voting rights by monitoring the electoral process. They organize citizen journalists—ordinary folks like you and me—to document election problems as they occur. VV then distributes their footage to the mainstream media and online to make sure the full story of Election Day 2008 gets told. You can watch another video here. If you have footage from your polling place you can upload it at the videothevote site.
Yes, we're still old school in NY and rockin the lever machines. I have to say, I love these things. They really are time capsules. Things are coming to a close after almost 2 grueling years for this presidential contest. Hard to believe because it seems more like 10 years on most days. I'm anxious to be less anxious and also fear the huge depression that may come as a result of a McCain coup. Regardless, if you want to follow what is happening state to state with all the controversy over fraudulent registration forms, voter purges, touch screens and intimidation in these waning days please saty tuned to the following blogs.
This election has permeated all walks of life here in the city. A friend and I saw these funny, enthusiastic (and creepy) "Obamas" at Triple Five Soul downtown on Lafayette Street.
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