On 7/17/2010 5:09 AM Kurt Ullman spake thus:

In article ,
"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:

(d) To become a candidate and thus qualify for such public funding and
get one's name on the ballot would require nomination by some specified
modest number of citizens and payment of a modest fee; both number and
fee might well vary according to the position being sought.

You most likely won't get this either. Way too close to a poll tax
which has been tossed long ago.

How do you figure that's like a poll tax? A poll tax is a levy on
*voters*; he's talking about a small fee for *candidates*. As things
stand now, candidates for many offices have to pay a nominal filing fee,
as an indicator of good faith, I suppose; I assume that's what he means.
As long as it isn't an insurmountable barrier to some class of
candidates compared to others, it ought to pass Constitutional scrutiny.

(e) Direct election of President/VP -- no Electoral College.

Until 2000 I probably would have agreed. We had enough trouble with
FL, just think what would have happened if we had to recount EVERY state
and EVERY precinct in every state. We'd still be at it.

Well, we do have these newfangled things called "computers", you know,
which can help count votes even when paper ballots are used. Should be
do-able.


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)