Philosophy
If you cheat in a game and are caught, you lose. In forfeiting, your opponent wins. But in elections, it is different. If you break election laws, even ones that would have had a decisive effect on the election results, you pay a fine, go to jail, have to resign your post, or suffer some other penalty, but the candidate who suffered the harm as a result of the cheating is left out in the cold. If it is, say, a governor who is removed, it is his personally selected lieutenant governor who takes over. It may be a penalty for the person himself, but not for his agenda. The crime was a person and a political one, but there is only a personal and not necessarily a political price to be paid.
One possible solution is to appoint the loser from the last election if the office holder is removed for election fraud, but what if it is somewhere like the district of Columbia where the general election is a foregone conclusion, but the primary is the big fight? Do you go back and hold a new general election with the candidate who was cheated in the primaries getting his turn?
Can this be done fairly?
- When Are You Owed An Apology?
I find it fascinating that in the light of the political dust-up about Mitt Romney's work and filed forms about Bain Capital that Romney has demanded an apology from the President. It leads to the general question about the grounds that would...
- Is Addiction Itself Problematic?
I had lunch yesterday with my editors from Johns Hopkins University Press and one of them who ordered a cup of coffee was making light of her supposed caffeine addiction. It leads to the question whether such an addiction would be a problem. ...
- The Sacred Right Of Complaint
With several elections going on today, it seems appropriate to bring out this one. I heard someone the other day utter the old chestnut "I vote because if you don't, you have no right to complain." It's a veritable cliche of American...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- Electing God
So, apparently it is not just an election to determine who gets to be President, it's an election to determine who gets to be God: Unhelpful for establishing the tone McCain sought in Davenport was the Rev. Arnold Conrad, past pastor of the Grace...
Philosophy
Cheating and Elections
If you cheat in a game and are caught, you lose. In forfeiting, your opponent wins. But in elections, it is different. If you break election laws, even ones that would have had a decisive effect on the election results, you pay a fine, go to jail, have to resign your post, or suffer some other penalty, but the candidate who suffered the harm as a result of the cheating is left out in the cold. If it is, say, a governor who is removed, it is his personally selected lieutenant governor who takes over. It may be a penalty for the person himself, but not for his agenda. The crime was a person and a political one, but there is only a personal and not necessarily a political price to be paid.
One possible solution is to appoint the loser from the last election if the office holder is removed for election fraud, but what if it is somewhere like the district of Columbia where the general election is a foregone conclusion, but the primary is the big fight? Do you go back and hold a new general election with the candidate who was cheated in the primaries getting his turn?
Can this be done fairly?
- When Are You Owed An Apology?
I find it fascinating that in the light of the political dust-up about Mitt Romney's work and filed forms about Bain Capital that Romney has demanded an apology from the President. It leads to the general question about the grounds that would...
- Is Addiction Itself Problematic?
I had lunch yesterday with my editors from Johns Hopkins University Press and one of them who ordered a cup of coffee was making light of her supposed caffeine addiction. It leads to the question whether such an addiction would be a problem. ...
- The Sacred Right Of Complaint
With several elections going on today, it seems appropriate to bring out this one. I heard someone the other day utter the old chestnut "I vote because if you don't, you have no right to complain." It's a veritable cliche of American...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- Electing God
So, apparently it is not just an election to determine who gets to be President, it's an election to determine who gets to be God: Unhelpful for establishing the tone McCain sought in Davenport was the Rev. Arnold Conrad, past pastor of the Grace...