Re: NAC Politics

At 10:51 AM -0500 7/6/05, Allan Goodall wrote:
>
>There are several "unwritten aspects" of U.S. law. The one that's
>received the most notice, due to the outcome of the 2000 election, is
>the election of the president.

The EC is hardly unwritten. Its codified in the Constitution and in
electoral law. As well as all the state laws. Its just poorly understood
by the masses.

>The president is not chosen by popular vote, he's chosen by electoral
>college vote. Each state has a number of "electors" equal to the
>number of members the state sends to Congress (number of House
>Representatives, plus the two senators).

Of course, the State Senate used to choose the congressional senators
too.

>
>If this sounds "weird", it was actually quite deliberate. The U.S.
>governmental system was devised in the 18th century when classism
>reigned. The electoral college system was designed to protect the rich
>and educated from the unwashed masses. "Democracy" was seen as "mob
>rule". In fact, there's nothing in the U.S. constitution that requires
>a popular vote for the president! (This in spite of what most
>Americans believe.) The Federalist Papers suggest that the so-called
>"founding fathers" envisioned that the standard way of selecting a
>president was by the choice of the House of Representatives.

The other key to the system is that the proper focus should be at the
local level where most everything should be happening in one's life. One
has the most impact there with one's local state legislature.
Personally, I think the State Senates should appoint the Congressional
Senators as part of the tiered system of elected/representative
officials.

>
>More likely would be an economic union that formed a de facto
>political union later. About the most realistic path to the NAC
>(which, honestly, is pure fantasy), would be by way of the Canada/U.S.
>free trade agreement and NAFTA.

Anglosphere anyone?

> The U.S. and Canada would start by
>developing very similar border security rules, such as similar
>immigration policies. This has been talked about in real life. Throw
>in some sort of monetary crisis (fuel is probably a good one,
>particularly if oil prices continue to rise to the point where tar
>sands extraction is economically viable), and an economic threat from
>the E.U. or -- more likely -- China and India, and you have NAFTA
>moving closer to a North American Union, modelled roughly on the E.U.
>A NAFTA dollar is created, and eventually a NAFTA presidency is
>formed.

India is looking like it'll lean closer to the US/UK/Australia/Canada
than China. Especially given the true democratic leanings of all of the
former British holdings.

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