REPRESENTATIVE
JERRY G. MELVIN
Capitol Office:
402 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300
Phone (850)488-1170
District Office:
Suite 1A Sound Office Complex
38 Miracle Strip Parkway
Fort Walton Beach, FL
32548-6649
(850)833-9319
SUNCOM: 674-9319
Email:
Dear Mr. Melvin:
It is my understanding that, upon being told of the
dissatisfaction of the American people regarding the political process that has
selected our next leader, you expressed an interest in knowing who these
Americans were.
Apparently, the popular vote is a concept with which you
are not familiar. The term 'popular' in
this case is not used in the colloquial 'high school' sense, as you might have
incorrectly assumed, but rather is an adjective, which means "of the
people." I am attaching here a
more complete definition, to assist you in our discussion:
pop*u*lar (adjective)
[Latin popularis, from populus the people, a
people]
First appeared 1548
1 : of or relating
to the general public
2 : suitable to
the majority: as
a : adapted to
or indicative of the understanding and taste of the majority
b : suited to
the means of the majority : INEXPENSIVE
3 : frequently encountered
or widely accepted
4 : commonly liked
or approved
You may have incorrectly assumed that the word 'popular'
was being used in this case to mean 'commonly liked or approved.' While that is also true, that is not what
'popular' strictly means, when discussing the term 'popular vote.'
In the case of the term 'popular vote,' 'popular' is used
to denote 'of the people.' So, to put
it all together for you, 'popular vote' means 'vote of the people'!
See how simple it is?
Next, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that
the popular vote (the vote 'of the people') was won by Al Gore. The final vote in the 2000 General
Presidential Election is:
BUSH 50,456,169
GORE 50,996,116
I do not expect you to, nor should you, take my word on this
matter. A well-known American media
company, of which you may be unaware, CNN (Cable News Network), has posted
these numbers on their website.
Since you have an e-mail address, I am assuming that you,
or someone you know, has a computer. If
they also have Internet access (this is a service that allows a computer to
access the World Wide Web, also called 'the Internet'), you can verify this
information independently, by going to the following Internet address:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/
Next, if you, or someone you know, has access to (and
knows how to use) a calculator, you can confirm that Al Gore won the popular
vote (the 'vote of the people,' remember?) by 539,947 votes. To confirm this, subtract the little number
(BUSH 50,456,169) from the big number
(GORE 50,996,116).
See? The result
you get is 539,947, just as I said it would be!
See how simple it is?
In case you didn't know, 539,947 are more than one half of
one million (one million = 1,000,000).
I understand that numbers and math are difficult for some
people to understand, so I hope this simplification will help you in our
discussion.
Next, I would like to discuss the term "the American
people." While this term can be used
to mean 'all Americans', here it is used to mean "Americans who voted in
the 2000 General Presidential Election."
Generally, in a democracy, the people who vote in
elections choose the leaders of the government.
In the case of this most recent election, the people who
voted in the election chose Al Gore!
See how simple it is?
So, when someone says that the American people are not
satisfied with the leader that our political process has selected, what they
mean is that the popular vote (the vote 'of the people') did not select our
next leader. Instead, a political
process selected our next leader.
You see, America is not now, nor has it ever been, a
democracy.
This is a more complicated discussion, so you might want to prepare yourself by reading some of the media coverage that followed the November General Election, before we continue delve into those deeper issues.
Until then, let me just draw your attention to a few more
quick points.
Most Americans want their country to have democratically
elected leaders -- to have 'We the People' select our political leaders. This has been the case for quite some time
(over 50 years).
Instead, we have, despite the wishes of the people, a
political process that selects our leaders.
The political process that currently selects our leaders
almost always selects the same candidate to lead as the popular vote (the vote
'of the people') selects.
On a very few occasions, however, this is not the case
because of something called ‘The Electoral College’.
This is a system, currently in place, which causes some
peoples' votes to count more than other peoples' votes. Most Americans do not approve of this
system, and would like to see it abolished (done away with).
To confirm that what I am saying is true, you can use the
Internet (the computer access to information that I talked about earlier) to go
to the following address:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr010105.asp
This is a report by the Gallup Organization. Have you ever heard of the Gallup Poll? Well, this is the company that conducts
those polls!
See how simple it is?
This company, in that report, says:
"There is little question that the American public would
prefer to dismantle the Electoral College system, and go to a direct popular
vote for the presidency. In Gallup polls that stretch back over 50 years, a
majority of Americans have continually expressed support for the notion of an
official amendment of the U.S. Constitution that would allow for direct
election of the president."
I know what you are thinking. Because you are under the false impression that the American
people are satisfied with the leader selected by this process (George W. Bush),
you are probably thinking, "Well, that may have been true in the past, but
it isn't true now."
If you will look closely at the report, though, you will
see that as recently as the middle of last month (December 15-17, after Al Gore
conceded, and people knew that their next leader would be George W. Bush), most
Americans still wanted the system abolished, even though it would mean amending
the United States Constitution.
In case you weren't aware of it, The United States
Constitution is a very old and revered document that forms the basis of our
national government. It is a very
serious thing to amend this document, and the American people are generally
reluctant to do so. But not in this
case. In this case, the American people
DO want the Constitution amended.
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that surveys have a "margin of error"
(a margin of scientific uncertainty as to the results), and that these results
must lie within that margin of error.
Not true. In this case, the
margin of error is only 3%. This means
that, in the worst case scenario (the one that would shift the results most in
favor of your argument), a majority of the people still want to amend the
Constitution, and abolish the electoral college, by a margin of 56% to 40%,
instead of the survey's actual results, which were 59% to 37%.
See how simple it is?
Now, I know in your e-mail that you asked to know who the
people are who are dissatisfied with the political process that has selected
our next leader. I am sorry that I cannot
provide you with all their names. I
cannot, because we have something in this country called the ‘secret
ballot.’ What this means is, you cannot
know who voted for whom.
I can however, tell you on my honor, that I personally am
one of the people are who are dissatisfied with the political process that has
selected our next leader.
I am one of “We the People.”
Though I was not aware that there was a need to claim
membership in this group in writing, I am grateful that you have called my
attention to the oversight, so that I may correct it.
Again, I say, I am personally a member of "We the
People."
Should you require further clarification, please do not
hesitate to contact me directly, either by phone, mail, e-mail, or (if it is more
pleasing to you aesthetically and philosophically) carrier pigeon.
I would be more than happy to acquaint you with others who
feel precisely the way I do, to assist you in the process of broadening your
understanding of this issue.
Sincerely,
The Diva