From: Dave Long (dl@silcom.com)
Date: Tue Nov 14 2000 - 11:30:40 PST
> I really wonder what a nationwide revote would reveal on the popular
> front, with *everybody* mobilized.
Wasn't the Constitutional process written in order to avoid
making things purely a matter of the popular vote? Lincoln
only had something like 40% of the vote, yet we thought him
a good enough president to merit a holiday.[0]
Instead of a revote, or even a recount, why not just flip
a coin? (that is, if either candidate had the guts) It'd
save a lot of energy and time all the way around, and it'd
especially avoid any pretense of popular mandate.[1]
-Dave
[0] <http://www.wellingtonpublications.com/hpr/elections/tepsec1.htm>
> Five of the presidents who were unable to poll a majority
> are honored in the ranks of the nation' s ten greatest
> presidents, while Ulysses S. Grant, who won a second term
> with 55.6 percent of the popular vote, and Warren Harding,
> who won with 60.3 percent, are numbered among the nation's
> worst presidents. Richard Nixon in 1972 received 60.69
> percent of the popular vote, rivaling FDR's second win,
> yet he was forced to resign from office. The record
> doesn't say much about the people's judgment in choosing
> their Chief Executive.
see also:
"American People Ruled Unfit To Govern"
<http://www.theonion.com/onion3514/unfit_to_govern.html>
[1] OK, maybe a coin flip isn't very media-friendly. Perhaps
as a tiebreaker we should get them on one of those game
shows in Japan (chugging pitchers of beer on ice floes?)
or make them hitchhike around Ireland with a fridge.
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