This is a pretty neat site that shows us what the Electoral Map would have looked like this year if only women voted, or men, or people over 65, etc, etc, etc.

The information is of little practical use – but it’s quite fascinating for you Government junkies!

Click here for: Hypothetical Election Maps!

According to CNN exit polls, this is what the map would have looked like if voters 65 and older decided the election.

It’s too bad for McCain that all those voters under 65 showed up! (kidding)

What did you think of our congressional simulation? Have your opinions about Congress changed?

Here is a summary of your homework due next class. Take some time to make this nice – I’d like to show them off to people around the classroom/school/district.

In each box, illustrate the answer using as few words as possible. Make sure that the average person can understand your drawing (without you there to explain it!) Try to put all of the complexity you would put into your writing into your drawings.

Divide your paper into six equally sized boxes and fill them in with graphic illustrations as follows in the table below:

Remember, the issue you care most about may actually not the the greatest problem facing the United States right now! Take some time with this fun assignment – don’t slack on it – and you’ll enjoy it.

Filibuster might be a sandwich, but more likely its a ‘stalling tactic’ used by the minority party in the Senate (currently the Republicans) to prevent legislation from passing through the Senate.

The big number is 60

With 60 votes you can invoke cloture – and end a filibuster. Because of the filibuster 60 votes (rather than a simple majority) are needed in the Senate in order to get any controversial legislation passed.

If you don’t have 60 votes and your legislation is controversial – you might as well go home.

The filibuster is not mentioned in the United States Constitution, but it is a long running tradition in the Senate. It gives the minority party a significant source of power, despite its minority status. The question is, however, should the minority party be able to wield this kind of power? More people did, in fact, vote for the other party.

Currently, the Democrats (along with the two Independents who caucus with them) have 57 58 votes with races in Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota still undecided after November 4th. This COULD lead to 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans. It’s doubtful that the Democrats will be this fortunate, however.

Update: Alaska’s seat has been called for the Democrat, Mark Begich. He upset incumbent Republican Ted Stevens

Even though the Democrats may not get 60 seats needed for a supermajority – the Republicans still won’t filibuster quite like they (and Democrats) used to.

Here’s an article that argues why!

Let’s count the actual votes on the Republican side of the aisle, asking which senators would have both the inclination and the will to join a filibuster. Every issue calls forth different levels of resistance, of course, but in each instance the opposition would need at least 41 total. In the very worst case, should the Republicans pick up all the remaining seats, they will begin with [44].

This means that the Democrats only have to pull three Republicans away from their party in order to prevent a filibuster. Only three. In a body where loyalty is rewarded, but not demanded, and in a political climate leaning left, this may not be very difficult.

In fact, the Democrats haven’t had 60 votes in the Senate since 1977 and the Republicans (if I do my math correctly) haven’t had a filibuster proof majority since 1923. Back then Robert Byrd (D-WV) was only five years old!

Does the Democratic supermajority concern you? After January 20th, the Democrats will control the White House and both Houses of Congress. Is it possible that this is just simply too much power for one party to handle?

Update: Politico mulls the idea of a Democratic supermajority

In case you have been living in a cave and your only source of news is MrOsman.com – Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States of America. He landed the 270 (and more) electoral college votes that he needed.

Were your electoral college predictions correct?

Even I didn’t know this!!!

From takeyourkids2vote.org:

Do you know why Election Day is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November? Don’t worry. Most people don’t. That day was picked by Congress in 1845 because most Americans were farmers back then; and by November, most of the crops were in.

But, why Tuesday? That‘s because most of the people who lived in rural America had to travel quite a long way by horseback or carriage to reach the county seat where they voted. Monday wasn’t a good day because many people would need to begin traveling on Sunday, and that would have meant missing Church.

Why the first Tuesday after the first Monday? Lawmakers wanted to prevent Election Day from falling on the first of November for two reasons. First, because November 1st, the day after Halloween, is All Saints Day, a Holy Day for Roman Catholics. Second, since most merchants were in the habit of doing their books on the first day of the month, Congress chose a day that wouldn’t interfere with the business community.

Fascinating!

The lesson to be learned in this post is that I told you something incorrect in class:

I told you that the election date (the first Tuesday after the first Monday) has been set since the constitution was ratified by the original thirteen colonies. Obviously that’s not correct!

So after I did some historical research on this subject, I got to thinking about election day.

Even though Tuesdays made sense for elections in 1845, do they make sense 163 years later?

Tuesday, a work day, can be a difficult day for voters to make time to get to the polls. Saturday may be a more advantageous day to have election day. Citizens are less likely to be at work on a Saturday (although a significant amount of the populous does work on weekends) and more likely to be available to vote.

In 1845 election day was moved to Tuesday to encourage rural voters to make it in to town to vote. If election day was originally moved to Tuesday to encourage voting, why not move it to a day like Saturday in order to encourage voting?

In addition, other than tradition, why do we vote in November?

Why not vote the day after taxes are due, April 16th? This would surely encourage a more fiscally responsible government. Or why not vote on July 4th while patriotic spirits are high? Election day on July 4th would surely encourage a higher level of voter participation. Right?

This week we’ll spend a lot of time talking about how we can change the Constitution. Every year dozens of amendments are proposed to the Constitution an in the entire history (230+ years) of the United States, we’ve only approved 27 amendments. Of those 27, the first 10 (the Bill of Rights) were more like an extension to the original Constitution. In fact, several amendments have been passed by congress and not passed by the states. Obviously its pretty difficult to amend it!

However, the Constitution is far from a perfect document. We have an Electoral College that prevents the people from directly electing the President, a Senate that isn’t truly democratic, and a Supreme Court that isn’t democratic at all! Some political scientists even argue that so many Americans are disinterested in the political system because an antiquated Constitution alienates them!

If you WERE actually able to amend the Constitution, what would you change?

I found a list of recently proposed amendments to the Constitution.

Some of the more interesting ones ( along with the Congress that voted them down) are:

109th Congress (2005-2006)

• To ensure reproductive rights of women
• To allow non-natural born citizens to become President if they have been a citizen for 20 years
• The “Every Vote Counts” Amendment – providing for direct election of the President and Vice President, abolishing the Electoral College

108th Congress (2003-2004)

• To lower the age restriction on Representatives and Senators from 30 and 25 respectively to 21
• To restrict marriage in all states to be between a man and a woman
• To allow Congress to pass laws for emergency replenishment of its membership should more than a quarter of either house be killed

107th Congress (2001-2002)

• To specify a right to “equal high quality” health care
• To allow for any person who has been a citizen of the United States for twenty years or more to be eligible for the Presidency

106th Congress (1999-2000)

• To provide a new method for proposing amendments to the Constitution, where two-thirds of all state legislatures could start the process
• To declare that life begins at conception and that the 5th and 14th amendments apply to unborn children

105th Congress (1997-1998)

• To provide for the reconfirmation of federal judges every 12 years
• To prohibit the early release of convicted criminals

Sanford Levinson, professor at the University of Texas, says we need to make some significant changes to the Constitution!

Larry J. Sabato, professor at the University of Virginia, makes of list of 23 amendments that should be made to the Constitution!

Some other interesting ideas:

• War Making Limitations
• Non-Natural Born Presidents
• Proportional Representation in the Senate
• Extending the length of House Terms
• Term limits for members of Congress
• End Lifetime tenure for Supreme Court Judges
• Mandatory retirement for Federal Judges
• Improving/Removing the Electoral College
• Automatic Voter Registration
• Mandatory National Service in the Military

What do you think? Should we add something new to the Constitution? What should we amend? Or should we simply have another Constitutional Convention and start all over?

And remember Thomas Jefferson’s ideas on the Constitution:

Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of nineteen years. If it be
enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right. – 1789

Download the assignment (.doc) here:

Amending the Constitution activity

You will use Microsoft Word, the textbook, and the internet to complete the assignment. I will let you know how to turn the assignment in at the end of class. Do not print it!

Take some time, when you’re completed with the assignment, to post some comments on MrOsman.com!

(Don’t forget your next test is on Wednesday the 24th)

Here’s the PowerPoint from Friday. Don’t forget the homework that’s due Tuesday of next week

Use the PowerPoint to study, take notes, and review. According to the schedule, the next test will be September 24th/25th so start preparing. I’d like to see SOMEONE get a 100 on this one! Use the link below, or view the PowerPoint below to study. You will need Flashplayer to view – download it here.

Foundations of American Government PowerPoint