Yearly Archives: 2020

[Third in a series of essays on the current political climate in the United States. These are not meant as definitive fixes for anything but just bringing up ideas for discussion. But, should the become the basis Constitutional Amendments, I expect full credit. 🙂

Part 2: Doc on…the Electoral College
Part 1: Doc on…Ranked Choice Voting
]

Did you know that the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government doesn’t have divisions led by an elected official, and is the only such branch?

The Legislative Branch has Congress, where they are all elected. The Executive Branch have the President and Vice President, who are elected, although I’d argue that the Vice President isn’t elected as such, but is “appointed” by the candidate…when has anyone ever changed their vote based on who the VP was?

But the Judicial Branch has the U.S. Department of Justice, which reports to the Attorney General, who is appointed by the President, and the Supreme Court, which consists of lifetime appointments made by – you guessed it – the President, although with the approval of Congress.

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[Second in a series of essays on the current political climate in the United States.

Part 3: Doc on…Judicial Branch of government in the U.S.
Read Part 1: Doc on…Ranked Choice Voting
]

Whenever a contentious presidential election comes up, especially when the popular vote does not match the electoral results, people call for the Electoral College to be abolished. I was one of those people. I don’t think that way now, but I do think a lot of changes are needed.

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[First in a series of essays on the current political climate in the United States.

Part 3: Doc on…Judicial Branch of government in the U.S.
Part 2: Doc on…the Electoral College
]

With a very contentious election coming up, I figured now is as good as ever to talk about some of the things that have come up a lot.

In Massachusetts, one ballot measure that is up for decision is Question 2: Ranked Choice Voting. Alaska voting on a similarly measure, and Maine has it already. It’s also used in a number of municipalities like Cambridge for certain elections, and has been used for years elsewhere like Australia. It is even used for voting on the Hugo Awards, the Oscars of science fiction fandom.

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