Monday, June 11, 2007

Presidental Approval Over The Decades

There is an interesting article over at The Best Article Every Day that plots the approval ratings for US Presidents from Truman to Bush Jr. I wanted to comment on some interesting trends I noticed.

  • From Truman to Reagan, every President ends with a much lower rating than they begin, and their replacements always come into office with a higher rating than who they replaced.
  • Clinton is the only one to leave office with a higher rating than he entered with.
  • Somehow, Clinton's rating climbed when the Lewinski allegations were made and yet dropped when he was cleared of charges. Do we actually want a dirty President?
  • Bush is the only one to enter office with a lower approval rating than who he replaced.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Upgrade Your Democracy

Seth Godin is a bright guy. I thought so yesterday and I think so more today. Having your views paralleled and expressed when you haven't found how or where to do so is great. Few other experiences are as refreshing as unannounced, welcome company.



Read is post on why our outdated politics need to adapt, which a far truer thing than most of us realize: Seth's Blog: 1840s democracy



My favorite two points involve the outdated geographical systems of our districts and candidate ranking versus voting.



To quote Seth, "Our issues aren't farm-based any more." I agree on more issues with people in entirely different locations than I ever will with people next door or even in the same town. New communications make connecting those people all the more easy, and yet we need to struggle, all of us, to gain ground mixed in with so many people in our locale. Popular opinion does not walk or run, but it does fly right over your neighbor's head and to you.



Saying anything about how bad our bipartisan system is won't do any good and won't include anything original, but candidate ranking replacing candidate voting would only improve the situation. How many of us either throw out vote away on a minor-party candidate or refuse to give them any help at all out of fear of throwing away that vote? Ranking solves the issue, because even if the Greene Party has far too few votes to get an official elected, they can still get their second choice into power. Bush would not have happened with a ranking electoral process. Period.



Definitely some things to think about.





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Wednesday, May 02, 2007