The Crazy thing about America....

What is it, you may ask?

Our election system.
So remember how America's all about freedom and representation and equality?
well, that's apparently not when it comes to our election system.
See, America operates under Single Member Legislative District. This creates a "winner take all" scenario. It works like this:
Each state divides themselves into districts. Within each district, voters cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice. But here's where it gets sketchy: No matter the proportion of votes in each district, whoever maintains plurality wins the representation.
Imagine a situation in which there are four candidates representing four different political opinions in the district lettered A-D. The votes in one district are as follows:
Candidate/Opinion A: 30% of the popular vote
Candidate/Opinion B: 27% of the popular vote
Candidate/Opinion C: 25% of the popular vote
Candidate/Opinion D: 18% of the popular vote
However, Candidate/Opinion A wins the vote, and only that 30% of the population is accurately represented. There is a chance that this could be okay, though.
Unless--(yes there's a catch)
Unless this happens in every district, which it almost always does. Then the people of Opinions B, C, and D don't receive representation at all.

And here's a real life example!

In case the print is too small, these are the voting distributions from the McCain/Romney primary election from 2008. The purple-ish bar represents the way votes were allocated by district. The red bar shows the votes proportionally by a general vote. As you can see....Romney would've only been

7 votes behind McCain at that point!

Personally, I'm appalled by the fact that we're still using the "Single Member District/Winner Takes All" method of voting. There a few specific reasons why, and here they are:

1.  This method doesn't accurately represent the opinions of the people, which is what The Constitution set up the government to do. The Winner Takes All method practically voids my personal vote in an election! I want a voice! I would like to be able to speak my opinion and be heard!
2. This method also favors and values some votes above others. Due to the population deficiency, the vote of a Wyoming resident is worth 4x as much as the vote of a California resident! I'm not sure I feel comfortable with the fact that someone in some other state has a vote that matters more than mine...after all, we're both citizens of the United States of America. Shouldn't that mean equality and sameness?
3. Due to the nature of this method, candidates feel no need to campaign in "safe" areas. If they know that they have all votes or that the other candidate definitely has all the votes, that area automatically misses out on all the campaigning fun. This counts for states in the presidential elections as well. States like Idaho, where the vote is guaranteed very strongly, must specifically search out the campaigning material. We never get visited, either.
4. This evens out radical opinions and forces candidates to neutralize their opinions as much as possible. Due to the fact that you MUST receive a plurality of votes no matter what to get representation, candidates cater to the broadest range of people possible. This means that, potentially, some opinions will go un-represented, no matter how hard their third-party candidates campaign and advertise.

I would think that, if Americans were smart, we'd move to a proportional method of representation, where each vote counts and every opinion is represented appropriately.

That is all for tonight.

Rachel.

Hey! Look! A title bar!!

Today I wanna write about two things in particular. First, the
BYU Symphonic Orchestra
concert that I went to last night with my roommates (one of my roommates actually performs in it! She plays the violin, and she sort of rocks!). Second, the ridiculousness of what I learned about in
 American Heritage today.

So here goes: the concert--

Let me tell you a little about me. I was in band from my fifth grade year clear until my sophomore year of High School. It didn't matter where we moved, I'd be in the band, and I loved that little piece of stability in my life. My junior year, I decided to try out for the mixed choir, and I miraculously made it! It was unlike anything I'd ever done before...and I loved it. Throughout all of my musical experience, the thing that I really loved most was being right in the middle of the music. Being able to close my eyes and play...or sing...and just feel the music running through me, wrapping around me, surrounding me, enveloping me. That's something I really miss here in college.

So what does this have to do with the concert last night? Everything.
I honestly don't think I have ever heard an orchestra perform well! I didn't have high expectations for the concert, in fact, I didn't even have low expectations for the concert. But the moment that the conducter cued the beginning...I was gone. I was lost inside the music, the feeling of it again, that feeling I've missed so much! I just had to close my eyes and revel in it! It was incredible. My absolute favorite, though, was "Lullaby" from Gayaneh by Aram Khachaturian. I loved the smoothness of it, the pulse through the middle section....it gives me chills to think about it!

Listening to classical symphonic music like this makes me wonder something, though....
Why the heck did Mr. Weed even let us touch music like this in band?! We never ever ever could've played it up to par, and I know for a lot of it, I sat in my chair and glared at the sheet music like it was my personal enemy. Comparing the two experiences was like comparing the taste of
packet hot chocolate
 to the taste of
Starbuck's hot chocolate!
There is no comparison. The packet hot chocolate is just a sad imitation. Our rendition of classical symphonic music was just like packet hot chocolate. Sad. Tasteless. Pitiful.

Unfortunately, I have to save the ridiculousness for a later date...I've got to get to class fairly soon. But stay tuned! Don't go! It'll come.
Rachel

hello blogging world,
here I am!
I'd like to introduce myself a little, but I don't want to waste too much time or space. So here goes:

I am Rachel. I am a student
                                              a daughter
                                                                            a friend
                                                                                        an English Major
                                                                                                                                          a sister
and also a movie-watcher, an ice-cream-eater,
a reader, a smiler, a mystery.

Bottom line (but not for this post, at least):
I am me. And I am here!
Anyway.

I'm taking Classic Civilization 101 (Or 110, I don't really remember) this semester. Most times it feels like the two credit overload I really don't need at all. But other times, like yesterday, I realize that this class is shaping me into a member of society, cultured and ready to send my voice out among the myriads of voices in the world.
This class is an Introduction to Ancient Greek and Roman Literature. Yesterday, the assignment was to read
Georgics IV by Virgil. Yes, the translation we read was REALLY (yeah, REALLY) bad, but if this class has taught me anything, it's that Greek women scorned are horrendously vengeful, and that there is a way to discover and retain an overarching story idea in a bad translation.
The first half of Georgics IV is the description of a colony of bees.
The second half is the story of Orpheus and Eurydices. This story, for some reason, has always struck me. I'll give a little rendition of it, just for those of you who don't know what the heck is going on:

Once upon a time, there was a guy, and there was a girl (Guy: Orpheus, Girl: Eurydices). They were in love, deeply--you know how these Greek stories go. But unfortunately, Eurydices died, and Orpheus was left heartbroken.
Orpheus had a hard time letting Eurydices go, so he traveled to the underworld to beg Pluto and Proserpine (Hades and Persephone) to let her go. They agreed, under the condition that he was not allowed to look at her as he led  her to the surface. Of course, he looks back just before reaching the surface, and she is sucked back under forever.
The end.
This story makes me wonder about life. Do things run in absolutes like that? Could I lose everything precious to me after one fatal mistake? Is there ever a point when I've lost my chance to happiness? Lost my chance at redemption? My chance for forgiveness?
My whole goal in life is to someday be happy forever, surrounded by those I love. Can I ever really lose my grip on that goal?

Food for thought.