Linkagogo Archive 1: Election Reform

Moderate Muslims Are the World's Swing Voters
Posted: 3 February 2009 - Huffington Post. Moderate Muslims should be seen as the world's swing voters. The Obama administration should think carefully about the lessons of the past eight years, indeed the past 80 years. There are hundreds of millions of moderate Muslims in the world, and they are waiting for an American partner that is cognizant of its role in a long, difficult history of colonialism and imperialist interventions. They, too, are looking for a "new deal." A president with the name of Barack Hussein Obama presents an opportunity, but the opening may not last long.

In Canada, Regular Folks Are Put to Work on Reforms
San Jose Mercury News, by Steven Hill, 17 November 2004. One of the solutions may lie across the border in Canada. It's called a Citizens' Assembly, and it was on display last year in the province of British Columbia. The government there turned over to the people the task of basic political reform, and by doing so took the partisanship out of the process, something California badly needs.

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Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics
Book: published - Routledge, 2003. On November 9th 2000, two days after the presidential election, as the nation was beginning to absorb the full extent of the five-week debacle that was about to ensue, USA Today published a map (similar to the one printed on the back cover of this book) that was portentous in its message.

Study Shows "Top Two" Could Elect More Extremists, Not Moderates
Post: 10 March 2009 on a blog from New America's Political Reform Program. Here is some brand new analysis from Washington state results that might shed light on the efficacy of the top two primary, which many are promoting as a good thing for CA. It is especially directed at whether the top two would elect more moderates -- or more extremists? This evidence below suggests it's a bit of a crapshoot, the top two primary could as easily elect more extremists as elect more moderates. Follow the link above for details.

Who's Right Now? Europe's Far-Right Resurgence Fizzles Out
Article: 1 February 2003 - The American Prospect. The idea of European society as a "melting pot" or "rainbow quilt" is alien and new, and undoubtedly there will be strains for some time to come. But for the American media and punditry -- right, left and mainstream -- to portray the situation as one in which Nazis and fascists are gaining a real foothold in Europe is erroneous and hyperbolic.

Why Progressives Lose: Affirmative Action For Conservatives
Article: June 2003 - Progressive Populis. It is deeply ironic that, for all the radical conservative philosophy oozing from the ideologues of the Republican Party, low-population, conservative, and predominantly white states have benefited from the most flagrant form of representational affirmative action. The representation scheme for the U.S. Senate and Electoral College was founded on quotas for low-population states that have disproportionately favored conservative and white-dominated states for decades.

The World Wide Webbed: The Obama Campaign’s Masterful Use of the Internet
Article: 6 April 2009 - Social Europe Journal. Just as President Barack Obama has shaken up the status quo in his first 100 days in office, his campaign overturned old formulas about how to win the presidency. The Obama campaign did not focus only on battleground states, but instead charged into states that previously had been solidly Republican turf.

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Elections

Stephen Hill Linkography: Electoral Politics