- Proportional representation vs. equal representation
- Bicameral congress vs. unicameral congress
- Election by the people vs. election by state legislatures
My group had the document for "election by the people vs. election by state legislatures." We found out about the viewpoints of Roger Sherman, Elbridge Gerry, George Mason, James Wilson, James Madison, Charles Pinckney, and Oliver Ellsworth. Out of these seven men, four supported election by state legislatures, and three supported election by the people. The arguments for election by state legislatures included:
- People can be easily misled
- The state legislatures know more about government, so are more fit to make these decisions
- The legislature wont support a new government if they don't have a say in it
Those who supported election by the people backed it up with:
- It's the whole point of democracy
- A government is more stable with the people's support
- It's essential to a free government
- You get better representatives that way
- It's the only security for the rights of the people
Both sides made good points. Personally I agree with the side that argued for election by the people. I'm all for people having say in government. A government is nothing without the support of its people.
Today in class, we started by taking a quiz on the preamble. I'm pretty sure that at least half of the class was singing The Preamble Song in their heads while taking it. I know I was. Afterwards, we broke up into groups again to share what we wrote in class the day before. This way we ended up with the opinions on all of the issues instead of just the one we got information on yesterday. We then went over it as a class and then moved on to talking about the compromises that were made. Compromise is great. The government really needs to learn how to do that. Instead, they're just like "Oh, you don't agree with me? Well let me say it again, only louder! Or maybe I'll write it with fancier wording to trick you. Oh, do you have an opinion? Yeah, well mine is better, so shush. I SAID SHUSH!" Okay, okay, I made them sound way more childish than they usually are, but I think I got my point across. Everyone is just so stubborn. Things would actually get done if we could all talk things out and have respectful debates and compromise. On the topic of respect, what is up with pretty much everyone in government just saying horrible things about their opponents rather than saying good things about themselves? The voters end up with a thousand half-true reasons to not vote for any of the canditates, but hardly any reasons to vote for any of them. Why do we all have to make it a choice between lesser evils? Okay, I'm getting off topic.. uh.. just compromise, guys. You can say why they're wrong, but say why you're right, too. And please, please, just try to work together.
Wow, I didn't realize that writing about today's class would make me feel so.. talkative. (bloggative?... actually, no. That's a horrid word.)
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