Changing the Voting Structure
As a minority in the United States, Black people start off from a disadvantaged position from birth. Racism, prejudice, and systematic manipulation of economic, social, and educational structures in the United States lead to securing the disadvantaged position that black people maintain. The role and impact of majority rule, single member districts, and Black representation will analyzed in its effects on Black Americans' in a watered down Democracy. In contrast solutions such as interest representation, cumulative voting and super majority rules will be discussed and analyzed to interpret what impact they could have on the current system if any. Majority rule is defined as "the proposition that 51% of the people should be able to get whatever they want" (Guinier xvi). Guinier points out several problems with majority rule, which include: a disproportionate distribution of power, voter dilution, and racial polarization within the legislature. These all serve to point out the fact that majority rule is not a just form of rule. Guinier hypothesizes that in order for a rule to be fair, "it must comport with the stability, accountability, and reciprocity assumptions." In light of that, Guinier says, "A system i
Is one to believe that democracy is truly being carried out in a system, which allows occurrences such as the one, described? In effect, a government, which is rigidly lopsided, can never be fair. This holds true in many other respects. Guinier states that interest representation locates "politically cohesive minorities" and demonstrates existence of alternative electoral processes that give better results. " Examples of such unjust majority rule would be how certain cities are drawn into districts in order to maximize legislative power. If the oppression gets bad enough it will spark a result, but at this moment in time black people are content with tokenism. Now the question remains: is interest representation, cumulative voting, and a supermajority rule just and Constitutional. Guinier considered someone politically authentic if black voters elected him or her. Black representation holds weight when black legislators are actively involved in the decision making process. There isn't that much diversity in voter participation as to where votes are going to get splintered across a plethora of candidates. Through cumulative voting a united group could ensure that clumping all their votes together in support of the candidate of their choice represents them. The biggest problem is not getting representation, it's maintaining participation. She also proposed giving voters as many votes as there were seats in an at large election. What kind of customer satisfaction would a store get if it sold broken goods to everyone who came into their store? What kind of athlete would someone be if they lost every contest? What kind of teacher would a person be if every student flunked every exam? Each one of those individuals would be unfit to have their position, unless someone corroborated against their success. The government's duty is to carry out actions, which satisfy those objectives, wishes, and goals of the people it represents.
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Acceptance Essays
