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By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
California is generally thought of as a very liberal place. The Democratic Party is certainly doing well; Republicans are at an all-time low almost everywhere in the state.
This applies to social positions as well. The stereotype is that Californians are very socially liberal. California is, after all, home to San Francisco and Berkeley – the natural environment of the godless hippie and homosexual. Hollywood is also located in California, and Hollywood’s not exactly a bastion of social conservatism.
It may surprise some, then, to note that in the past four years Californians have voted against gay marriage, marijuana, and the abolition of the death penalty.
More below.
By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
Argentina is a country famous for football, for its invention of tango, and for its great beef.
Amongst economists, however, Argentina is also famous for its economic slide backwards over the past century.
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By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
The electoral college is one of the lingering undemocratic parts of American politics. Unlike almost every other country in the world, America elects its presidents not via the popular vote but rather via a strange system of “electoral votes” distributed by states. The good news is that this system generally reflects the popular will. The bad news is that it occasionally fails, as last happened in 2000.
Since then there has been a push to reform the electoral college so that all states cast their electoral votes for the winners of the popular vote. Currently half the states needed to implement the reform have signed on.
More below.
This is part of a two-part series evaluating absentee ballots, which are being used more and more often. The first part will focus on their advantages. The second part will focus on their disadvantages.
Absentee ballots are increasingly being used throughout the United States. They are especially popular in the West Coast; elections are entirely absentee-ballot in Oregon and Washington, for instance.
More below.
By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
Today is Labor Day. When I was younger, I didn’t understand what that meant. A day to celebrate labor? It was a strange concept. It didn’t mean much to me.
That was because to most Americans Labor Day means nothing. They take a day off work. They go shopping. They mark the end of summer.
The rest of the world doesn’t celebrate Labor Day, either. Instead, they celebrate something called May Day, or the International Workers’ Day.
May Day in China
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This post will look at the demographics of America’s governors by age, as of August 2012. All in all, this series on the demographics of America’s governors examines:
Outside of place of birth, this was the hardest category to get information on. Unlike race and gender, which are pretty obvious, your face doesn’t indicate which religion you are.
More below.
By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
Mexico has recently elected as president Governor Enrique Peña Nieto. The handsome new president won 38.2% of the vote, 6.6% over Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Peña Nieto’s vote was also 12.8% over Josefina Vázquez Mota, from the right-wing National Action Party (PAN).
Here’s what happened:
Mexico’s North-South Divide
Green – Enrique Peña Nieto, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
Yellow – Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)
Blue – Josefina Vázquez Mota, National Action Party (PAN)
More below.
By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
The story of the 2012 French presidential election is quite interesting. Right-wing incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy entered the election deeply unpopular. Opinion polls consistently showed him losing by around 20%.
France’s presidential system has two rounds. In the first round, everybody can be a candidate. The top two winners of the first round move to a second round run-off.
As election day approached, Sarkozy’s deficit continually shrunk. Opinion polls just before the first round showed Sarkozy losing by low double-digits. As the campaign for the second round began, they showed him behind by high single-digits.
Sarkozy ended up losing by 3.2%. That’s a pretty steep drop-off from the polls that showed him behind by 20%.
More below.
By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
One of the phenomenons of the twentieth century has been the rise of the dictator. Dictators rule countries undemocratically and usually until death, crushing the opposition. Unlike the kings or emperors of old, these men generally don’t have any family linkage with previous rulers.
Notice the gender-specific word ”men.” All dictators have been male, without exception. A woman has never ordered the army to crush nascent protests against her authoritarianism. Nor has a woman ever led a coup to overthrow a democratically elected government, replacing its rule by her own.
More below.