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The Electoral College polarized Americans from its inception. Created by the framers of the Constitution during the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the College was put forth as a way to give citizens the opportunity to vote in presidential elections, with the added safeguard of a group of knowledgeable electors with final say on who would ultimately lead the country, another limit on the burgeoning nation’s democratic ideals.
The story of the Electoral College is also one of slavery—an institution central to the founding of American democracy. The bulk of the new nation’s citizenry resided in cities like Philadelphia and Boston in the North, leaving the South sparsely populated by farmers, plantation owners, other landholders, and, of course, enslaved laborers. This disparity in the population distribution became a core element of the legislative branch, and in turn, the Electoral College.
After first day. After the first day. From his first day. From the first moment. From the get go. They've been down since day one, since the very beginning. Put it all together, because you're always on some kind of shit. If you're in the gym working hard, you might be on that 'making gains' shit. If you're getting into new music, you're on that 'what's next' shit. The Usos are on that shit that's of the variety of being down since day one. One is that the name is rooted in the Latin Aprilis, which is derived from the Latin aperire meaning “to open”—which could be a reference to the opening or blossoming of flowers and trees, a common occurrence throughout the month of April in the Northern Hemisphere.
'[Southerners] wanted slaves to count the same as anyone else, and some northerners thought slaves shouldn’t be counted at all because they were treated as property rather than as people,' says author Michael Klarman, a professor at Harvard Law School. In his recently released book, The Framers’ Coup, Klarman discusses how each framer’s interests came into play while creating the document that would one day rule the country.
“One of two biggest divisions at the Philadelphia convention was over how slaves would count in purposes of apportioning the House of Representatives,' he explains. The issue vexed and divided the founders, presenting what James Madison, a slave owner, called a “difficulty…of a serious nature.'
At the time, a full 40 percent of the South’s population was enslaved, and the compromise famously reached by the founding fathers determined that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person when it came to dividing the nation into equal congressional districts. The Electoral College, in turn, provided each state with an allotment of electors equivalent to its Congressional delegation (two senators plus its number of representatives).
Robert W. Bennett, author of Taming the Electoral College and a law professor at Northwestern University, notes that neither women nor white men without property could vote at the time, either—meaning that slavery was not the only factor that made the allocation of the Electoral College out of sync with reality. “A relatively small number of people actually had the right to vote,” he says.
As the voting public has evolved and become more knowledgeable, the outcry against the Electoral College has never abated. According to the National Archives, the past 200 years have brought more than 700 proposed Constitutional amendments to either “reform or eliminate” the Electoral College. This month, Senator Barbara Boxer of California authored a bill that would abolish the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote.
Even if the Electoral College remains for another 250 years, it will still have to contend with another vestige of its creation—the issue of “faithless electors” who decide to vote against their party’s chosen candidate. Over the years, there have been 157 faithless electors, and while some states require that electors stay true to their state's electoral choice, often requiring a formal pledge, 21 don’t require that kind of loyalty at all.
According to the Archives, 99 percent of electors have kept their pledge and voted for their chosen candidate. But it does happen. The first case of a faithless elector was in 1796, when Samuel Miles of Pennsylvania, for reasons unclear, switched his vote from Federalist John Adams to Democrat-Republican Thomas Jefferson. Over the first century of the College, faithless electors often abstained or changed their votes so out of political spite, not high-minded idealism, and have never changed the result of an election. The 1872 election presented a unique scenario in which the losing candidate, Democrat Horace Greeley, died unexpectedly in the period between the election and the Electoral College vote. Their votes ended up being split between three other Democratic candidates, with 19 abstentions, none of which changed the election's outcome—a landslide win by Ulysses S. Grant.
Alcohol 120 for mac os. In history books, however, the election is mostly listed as Grant with 286 electoral votes and Greeley as 0—another reminder of the ineffectiveness of faithless electors. Two more recent examples came in 1988 and 2000. In the former, Democrat elector Margaret Leach acted faithlessly as a way to protest the silliness of the process. In the latter, elector Barbara Lett-Simmons of the District of Columbia abstained from voting to highlight the District’s lack of congressional representation. Sitting Vice President Al Gore still lost to Governor George W. Bush, but the total electoral vote added up to 537 votes, one short of the total. D.C. still does not have Congressional representation.
This year, at least one elector has pledged not to cast a vote consistent with his state’s election results. On December 5, Christopher Suprun, a Republican elector from Texas, announced in The New York Times that he intends to cast his electoral vote for Ohio Governor John Kasich, who dropped his presidential bid in May, instead of Donald Trump.
Even though the franchise was long ago extended beyond white, male landowners, and the way Americans vote has changed radically, the Electoral College remains, a vestige of the country's slave-owning past and anti-populist founding. Barring some unprecedented mass of electors following Suprun's lead and acting faithlessly next month, the college will select Trump as the 45th President of the United States, and the fight to reform or banish the College will begin anew.
Since Day One Meaning In The Bible
Editor's Note, December 7, 2016: This story was updated to include the news about elector Christopher Suprun.
Introduction
'The day-age (progressive) creation account is non-literal and contradicts the clear teaching of Genesis.' I hear or see this complaint quite often, although the statement is incorrect regarding both accusations. I take all of the biblical creation accounts literally. Nothing is symbolic. The Hebrew word yom1 has three literal meanings - a 12-hour period of time (sunrise to sunset), a 24-hour period of time from sunset to sunset (the Hebrew day), and an indefinite period of time. The day-age interpretation of Genesis does not require the use of symbolism to explain the creation account.
The proper interpretation - from Genesis
A simple way to determine if the days are 12 hours, 24 hours or an indefinite period of time is to examine each of the days and see what the Bible says about the time it took for those days to happen. We will examine each day and see if Genesis indicates which interpretation is correct. In this page, we will consider the text of Genesis only and not rely upon any scientific information, about which we can not be absolutely sure of its accuracy.
12-hour days?
Let's look at the first definition of yom - the 12-hour period (from sunrise to sunset). A very casual glance at the text shows that yom could not be referring to daylight only. On the first day, Genesis 1:5 states that there was both daylight and night.2 We can eliminate the 'daylight' definition of yom as being consistent with the Genesis text. The days of Genesis must have been longer than 12 hours.
24-hours days - Day 1
Next, let's examine the Genesis days to see if they fit the 24-hour interpretation. Many things happen n the first day. God created the entire universe, including the earth. God also began the period of daylight and night on the earth. Although science tells us that these events took much more than 24 hours, there is nothing in the biblical text that would clearly indicate that the day could not be 24 hours long.3 The 24-hour interpretation passes the test for the first day.
24-hours days - Day 2
On the second day, God separated the waters above the earth from those on the surface of the earth.4 Since there is no timetable listed for this period of time, it could be 24 hours in length. The 24-hour interpretation passes the test for the second day.
24-hours days - Day 3
On the third day, God formed the land out of the seas. There is no time frame given for the formation of the land and seas. Some time after the land was formed, God created the plants:
Then God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth'; and it was so. (Genesis 1:11)
And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:12)
The text clearly states that the earth 'sprouted' the plants (the Hebrew word deshe,5 Strong's #H1877, usually refers to grasses). The Hebrew word dasha,6 (Strong's #H1876) indicates that the plants grew from either seeds or small seedlings in order to have 'sprouted.' In addition, these plants produced seeds. The Hebrew word here is zera (Strong's #H2233), which is most often translated 'descendants.' This makes matters very difficult for the 24-hour interpretation. Not only do the plants sprout and grow to maturity, but produce seed or descendants. There are no plants capable of doing this within a 24-hour period of time. Things actually get worse for this interpretation. Genesis 1:12 clearly states that God allowed the earth to bring forth trees that bore fruit. The process by which the earth brings forth trees to the point of bearing fruit takes several years, at minimum. God did not create the trees already bearing fruit. The text states clearly that He allowed the earth to accomplish the process of fruit bearing through natural means. Because the process of the third day requires a minimum period of time of more than 24 hours, the Genesis text for the third day clearly falsifies the interpretation that the days of Genesis one are 24-hour periods of time.
24-hours days - Day 6
Day 6 is also a problem for the 24-hour interpretation. During this day, God planted a garden in Eden, and caused the garden to sprout and grow. Then God brought all the birds, cattle and wild animals to Adam to name. God put Adam to sleep, took a part of him and formed Eve (Genesis 2:21-22). Adam's response to Eve's creation was 'at last,' indicating that he thought the day was very long indeed. More information..
Conclusion
We are left with only one interpretation for the days of Genesis one. The literal, clearly indicated, meaning of yom for Genesis one must be an unspecified, long period of time. This is why I believe that the day-age Genesis one interpretation is the only biblically sound interpretation for the creation of the world and life on it.
Related Pages
Long Since Meaning
Other Resources
After One Day Meaning
A Matter of Days by Hugh Ross
Dr. Ross looks the creation date controversy from a biblical, historical, and scientific perspective. Most of the book deals with what the Bible has to say about the days of creation. Ross concludes that biblical models of creation should be tested through the whole of scripture and the revelations of nature.
Peril in Paradise: Theology, Science, and the Age of the Eartha> by Mark S. Whorton, Ph.D.
This book, written for Christians, examines creation paradigms on the basis of what scripture says. Many Christians assume that the young earth 'perfect paradise' paradigm is based upon what the Bible says. In reality, the 'perfect paradise' paradigm fails in its lack of biblical support and also in its underlying assumptions that it forces upon a 'Christian' worldview. Under the 'perfect paradise' paradigm, God is relegated to the position of a poor designer, whose plans for the perfect creation are ruined by the disobedience of Adam and Eve. God is forced to come up with 'plan B,' in which He vindictively creates weeds, disease, carnivorous animals, and death to get back at humanity for their sin. Young earth creationists inadvertently buy into the atheistic worldview that suffering could not have been the original intent of God, stating that the earth was created 'for our pleasure.' However, the Bible says that God created carnivores, and that the death of animals and plants was part of God's original design for the earth.
References
- Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
yôm (Strong's H3117)- day, time, year
- day (as opposed to night)
- day (24 hour period)
- as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
- as a division of time
- a working day, a day’s journey
- days, lifetime (plural)
- time, period (general)
- year
- temporal references
- today
- yesterday
- tomorrow
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root meaning to be hot
Same Word by TWOT Number: 852 - day, time, year
- God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. (Genesis 1:5)
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)
God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. (Genesis 1:5) - And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' (Genesis 1:6)
So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. (Genesis 1:7)
God called the expanse 'sky.' And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. (Genesis 1:8) - Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
deshe (Strong's H1877)- grass, new grass, green herb, vegetation, young
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H1876
Same Word by TWOT Number: 456a - Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
dasha (Strong's H1876)- to sprout, shoot, grow green
- (Qal) to sprout, grow green
- (Hiphil) to cause to sprout, cause to shoot forth
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root
Same Word by TWOT Number: 456 - to sprout, shoot, grow green
Since Day One Meaning Word
http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/genesis.html
Last Modified December 30, 2005