Date: Sun, 23 Jul 1995 13:52:33 -0400 From: Charles J Grapski Newsgroups: uf.general Subject: Re: Congress Tries to Silence Students! Eddie, Well you are correct to point out that we do not have one person one vote --- but it is not simply a factor of single member districts. In the Spring of 94 and Fall of 94, in the judicial branch -- I proved that it is this violation of one-person, one-vote that DENIES the student body a voice in the Senate. In fact, I showed how on average the independents receive about 45-48% of the vote yet ONLY get from 5-12% of the Senate seats. There have even been years where the independents were in the majority according to votes cast -- but the Florida Blue Key party (now Focus) still received about 80% of the seats. Simply because of the laws that they use. In the Fall, the Court accepted my argument and ORDERED the Senate to fix this -- they refused - and refused to acknowledge the court -- so we had that 6 week stand-off, with no elections, until they won out by force. Elections then went on as usual. This week, once again, for the fourth time, I have presented the Senate with a solution that will guarantee one person, one vote. It would allow you to choose who you feel represents you, whether it was another chemistry major, someone who lived in your apartment complex, or someone from out of state, or a graduate student, or a member of the club you belong to -- you decide. The system is the Single Transferable Vote -- and it is the most fair system that can be designed -- BUT dont expect the Senate to move in that direction -- actually, the other proposals go in the opposit of what you suggest -- looking to take away the single member on-campus districts, in which the independents traditionally do well, and making them multi-member, vote for AS MANY block voting like in the other districts (LS and off-campus). These they like because they get rid of those annoying independents -- this should not be allowed, and students need to tell them. As for a bicameral legislature -- I dont actually like the bicameral nature of our federal governmetn -- I think we OUGHT to have a single legislature, properly elected so that ALL persons have representatives that they actually ELECTED -- in strengths proportionate to their existence in the national population. I think the bicameral nature was a result of a compromise that combined two things that really had nothing to do with the overall design inherent in the system. A leftover from the ancient notion of "Mixed Government" - which Plato, Aristotle, Polybius etc put forward -- saying that the best form of government will combine the different classes -- the royalty, the nobility, and they common people -- in the different forms of government that they usually took - monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy -- and also the notion of the STATE as the identifiable political unit that the people were members of, rather than the nation. So if fit well with the needed compromise re: states having (for the little states) an equal voice as each other (not a democratic element) -- and those that believed that the aristocracy were the natural rulers and who had a fear of the common people (also not a democratic element). ______________________________________________________________________________ Charlie Grapski | 1125 S.W. 4th Ave. B1 University of Florida | Gainesville, Fl. 32601 cgrapski@grove.ufl.edu | (904) 335-4439 Take a look at my WEB SITE: http://grove.ufl.edu/~cgrapski ** Resources on Democracy, Proportional Representation, Government, Law, and more - take a look ** ______________________________________________________________________________