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Are Americans Better or Worse Off Than 4 Years Ago?

By Nicole Crossey, Widener University Student

As Americans are we better off, worse off or neither than we were 4 years ago?

In Landler’s “‘Are You Better Off?’ The Answer Is Less Clear than It Was in 1980” and Rutenberg’s “Democrats say that U.S. is Better Off than Four Years ago”, a mix of good and bad appears and makes that question hard to answer. Democrats say we are better off and Republicans say we are worse off.

The Democrats use the “auto bailout, Osama Bin Laden, supporting gay marriage, ending don’t ask, don’t tell, easing the threat of deportation to illegal immigrants, and the healthcare overhaul” as points of progress in these past 4 years.

The Republicans say that we are worse off—“federal debt is ballooning”, the unemployment rate is still bad and housing rates are not better. “47% of Americans think we are worse off” since Obama has entered office.

For some, our recovery is too slow. Jobs have been added to the economy, but government spending cuts have slowed this growth. While Obama has racked up $5 Trillion in national debt, we are still recovering from the Bush Administration (tax cuts, debt, Medicare prescription drug coverage, and wars).

Ultimately, I think voters will give Obama more time in office because he has put us on a path of “sustainable recovery” and he kept us from falling into a “double-dip recession”. However, Romney did throw Obama for a loop on this question—perhaps we will see more like this.

Looking at the state of our nation statistically, we are worse off. In the context that we are recovering from one of the worst recessions in history, we are better off. Therefore, it depends whether the “glass is half empty or half full” to voters.

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Keys to the 2012 Democratic Convention

Here are the keys to a successful convention for President Obama and the Democrats this week:

watch?v=t0OvtUxuz7M

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3 Keys to the 2012 Republican Convention

Three things to watch form at the GOP Convention this week:

1) Rebranding Romney

2) The Tone of the Convention

3) The Future Stars of the GOP – a number of governors are among the list of up and coming leaders of the party that will address the Convention: Chris Christie (NJ), Susana Martinez (NM), Bob McDonnell (VA), Scott Walker (WI), Nikki Haley (SC) and Bobby Jindal (LA).

Special thanks to Allyson Roberts of the Widener PR Department

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Revamping the Electoral College

by Andrea Stickley

Widener University Political Science Major

The current Electoral College should be abolished and a new one instituted in America. While the foundations of our current Electoral College are very strong and make sense, some tweaking needs to occur to make the system better. The main issue is the possibility of a presidential nominee winning the popular vote, but not getting enough votes from the Electoral College to become president. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen. There is a reason that one candidate receives the most votes from the people- because the voters believe that person would make the best president out of the candidates. The whole purpose behind the founding of America was that the people would be represented by who they felt had their best interests at heart; hence, the presidential nominee who receives the most votes in the popular election. When this isn’t allowed to happen, it brings into question why someone is president that most of the people don’t have faith in.

The other problem with our current Electoral College is that it basically eliminates a third-party candidate from having a chance at winning. This comes back to Duverger’s Law and the fact that with a winner-take-all method implemented in states to delegate votes in the Electoral College it doesn’t allow a third-party candidate to ever receive votes really, despite the possibility of winning a percentage of the popular vote. With a plurality system in place, it doesn’t place any emphasis on the smaller parties, leading to a two-party system essentially. America is supposed to be about the minority and representing them and giving them a voice, but with this method of voting, it is repressing the smaller parties and what they stand for. Especially in these times when other parties are starting to gain more support, they need to have a chance to gain votes in the Electoral College and make an impact in the election.

This isn’t to say that everything about the Electoral College is bad. There are some positives to it, such as having the people elect who becomes part of the Electoral College and the fact that it is based off of the number of representatives a state has in Congress. The problem becomes when candidates receive votes from the Electoral College that they shouldn’t because it doesn’t reflect the popular vote. The key is to give the American people what they want, which means making sure that whoever receives the most national votes should win the election in the Electoral College, too. That’s the main issue.

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The Case for the Electoral College

by Stephen Scuderi

Widener University Political Science Major, Class of 2012

The Electoral College should be retained. Many argue that a simple direct majority vote should take its place but that opinion is wrong. It is true that a direct vote would appear to be more democratic, but the Electoral College creates a safety net for equality. The Electoral College protects small states with low populations from being overlooked by Presidential candidates. If the election was a direct vote, campaigning and candidate favor would focus only on large metropolitan centers where a majority of population resides. Small population states such as in the Midwest could have their interests severely ignored. In relation to ensuring the interests of low population states are not ignored, the Electoral College promotes thorough coast to coast campaigning. To win the election, candidates must visit a majority of states and conduct a long drawn out campaign. This allows citizens to receive maximum exposure to the candidates and have ample time to decide who they want to support.

It may seem unrealistic, but the Electoral College system also prevents the election of a charismatic tyrant who gained the support of the ignorant masses. In that situation, the members of the Electoral College would know better and prevent such a travesty to occur.

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Will Romney Pick a Governor for VP?

Pundits are floating the names of several governors (or ex-governors) as potential Vice Presidential candidates for Mitt Romney. The most prominent prospects are Chris Christie of NJ, Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Tim Pawlenty of MN. A second tier consists of Nikki Haley of SC, Susana Martinez of NM, Jeb Bush of FL, Brian Sandoval of NV and Bobby Jindal of LA. Another, Mitch Daniels of IN has accepted the post of President of Purdue University so he is no longer part of the VP-stakes.  Here’s my take on who will get the nod (courtesy of the Widener University PR Department):