"F. George McDuffee" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 5 Nov 2008 04:12:14 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Nov 5, 3:42 am, F. George McDuffee gmcduf...@mcduffee-
associates.us wrote:
On Tue, 4 Nov 2008 05:33:25 -0800, "SteveB"



Any of our international participants have some suggestions? Is
the lack of a consistent national ID document the problem in the
US?

It should be simple, but you guys insist in making things complicated
with this miserable fear of the federal government and the "right" to
have "freedom of choice" - whatever that means.

Here in OZ (where the sun always shines) the AEC (a federal government
statutory authority) keeps a register of all eligible voters. They
also decide electoral boundaries, trying to keep to the maxim "One
person one vote" On voting day, in your electorate, your name gets
crossed of an alphabetical list. ID? - drivers license will do. You
then fill out PAPER ballots, which can be re-counted if disputed. No
results are announced until all polling stations are closed.

Its simple, it works. You guys can put a man on the moon, but cannot
cooperate enough to run a paper electoral system....you guys ARE
funny, sometimes.

Andrew VK3BFA.
----------
Thanks for the insight. In many cases a different viewpoint is
necessary to see a problem.

While the phrase "this miserable fear of the federal government
and the "right" to have "freedom of choice" - whatever that
means," appears correct as the common ==excuse/rationale== for
the current cobbled together system, the actual underlying reason
may well be tacit cooperation between the Republican and
Democratic political machines to keep third parties and their
candidates from attaining electoral office through the current
arcane and baroque system.

Picking a very large nit, the reason we don't have viable third parties is
because they don't work in a bicameral, federal, presidential system. They
lead to deadlock.

To make them work you need something like a modern parliamentary system.
I've studied those systems, traveled throughout Europe researching and
writing about them, and I want nothing to do with them. They're fine in
small- to medium-sized countries. They're fine in homogeneous societies.
They're fine when the structures of power are ancient and traditional. They
are not fine here.

--
Ed Huntress