[kj] OT: Powell endorses Obama

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

I guess I should add that a candidate in the US does not even 50% of the 
vote plus 1 more to govern all 100% of the population. he just needs a 
plurality, a la Bill Clinton in 1992 who was able to govern 100% of the 
US public by geting something like 40% of their vote in '92. Perot and 
Bush Sr split the majority; Perot acted as a soiler, as all 3rd party 
attempts do in our system, going back to Teddy Roosevelt and the 
Progressives. Winner-take-all.

It'll take structural reform, not just people voting a cerain way, and I 
would hope specially not in this general election on Nov. 4, when the US 
really can' afford a spoiler from the left, because if McCain/PALIN are 
elected the US will become a festering hellhole.

-Oliver



B. Oliver Sheppard wrote:

> It'll also require structural electoral reform in the US, so that we 

> have proportional representation the way some European countries do, 

> so that the 3rd party candidate in the US does not perpetually play 

> the spoiler.

>

> Here, the candidate who gets the 50% of the vote + 1 one more gets to 

> govern as if he had a mandate to govern all 100% f the electorate. In 

> some (real) democracies, if one man gets 50% of the vote, another 

> (wo)man gets 20%, and a third gets 30%, then those three get, 

> respectively , representative governing power equivalent 50%, 20%, 30% 

> voting ability.

>

> But in the US, it's winner take all.

>

> -Oliver

>