Some information about the USA political parties and electoral system

Here you have some answers to the questions you asked about the USA political parties and electoral system: 

- Here you have the explanation to the symbols of the Democratic and Republican party:

 Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/arts-culture/political-animals-republican-elephants-and-democratic-donkeys-89241754/

The donkey started being used by the Democrats in the 19th century. During the presidential campaign of that year Democrat candidate Andrew JAckson was called a jackass (a donkey) by his opponents and he decided to adopt this animal for his campaign. Later cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized the symbol.

Thomas Nast was also the inventor of the elephant that became the symbol of the Republican Party. In 1874 he drew a cartoon inwhich the Democrats' donkey appeared as clothed in lion's skin, scaring all the other animals. There was an elephant labelled as "The Republican Vote" and from then on the elephant was associated with the Republican Party.

Here you have Nast's cartoon in Harper's Weekly:

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-parties-got-their-animal-symbols/

Democrats today say that the donkey is smart and brave, while Republicans say that the elephant is strong and dignified.

Here you have some more information about this topic: 

http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/how-did-the-republican-and-democratic-parties-get-their-animal-symbols

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0881985.html

- The colours associated to every party date back from year 2000 and it comes from the colours the TV channels used to represent the states every party won. . Red is associated to the Republican Party and blue to the Democratic Party. This is the opposite to the use of these colours in Europe, where red colour is associated to leftist parties and blue colour is associated to the conservative- rightist parties. Curiously, before 2000 several channels used red for the Democrats and blue for the Republicans, as we do in Europe.

Here you have two more links about this topic:

http://www.vox.com/2016/9/15/12926618/why-red-means-republican-and-blue-means-democrat

http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/6/3609534/republicans-red-democrats-blue-why-election

- This video explains why they vote on Tuesday. There is a campaign to move the voting day to a holiday, so that more people can vote:

- This is a video that explains the process of primary elections, where the USA citizens elect the candidates of each party:

- This video explains all the process to run for the presidential elections:

 - Here you have some short videos that explain the peculiar electoral system of the USA, with the importance of the electoral college:

Monday 25th May, 2015

Hi classmates!!!

Today in the class of Social Sciences we have had a "relaxing" class.
When we have arrived Paqui was very angry with the students of the previous lesson. So, she has given us our exams of units 5-7 and she has said that we had to calculate our mark and write it on the top of our exams because she hasn't had time to calculate. So, we have calculated our marks with our calculators and written it on the top, without traps (because she will calculate again our marks).

Then, Alfredo has said that we could speak about the elections and tell our opinions, included Paqui of course.
Paqui has accepted the Alfredo's offer. She has said that, in her opinion, Spain need a change. We have also talked about Cáceres because there have been problems with the elections, they have changed the vote of older people of an asylum or a centre like this to another party. For me, this is a shame.
We have talked about another topics and it's clear that there are different opinions in my class. So, there's no accounting for taste, the colours.
While we are speaking Paqui has written on the blackboard new words:

-Apparatus: aparato
-Meeting point: punto de encuentro
-Stingy: tacaño, cutre
-Healthcare: sanidad
-Sanity: cordura
-Insane: insano
-shameful: vergonzoso

And that's all, few minutes before the class ended, group B has gone out to another lesson because they had an Ethics exam.

Today's class has been short and interesting for me, I've learnt a little bit of politics.

See you tomorrow!!

SOURCE: http://queaprendemoshoy.com/los-extranjeros-y-el-derecho-al-sufragio/

Results of the elections in the USA

Source: http://ingenia-pro.com/2012/08/diario-de-campana-usa-2012-quedan-12-semanas/

As some of you have showed interest on this topic, here you have the link to a website that offers complete information about the Presidential election, the future composition of the two Chambers, the elections to governors in some States and the results of ballot propositions. The Ballot Measures´ section is very interesting, because you can see what most of the voters of every State think about some burning topics: marijuana legalization, same-sex marriage, taxes on tobacco or gambling, funds for abortion and education, mandatory healthcare system...

http://www.politico.com/2012-election/map/#/President/2012/

One last piece of information about 2012 elections voter turnout: less than 50% of the eligible voters  participated in the elections yesterday. Barack Obama has had 10 million votes less than 4 years ago and Mitt Romney has collected 3 million votes less than John McCain in 2008. Here you have a link to a website with information about voter turnout in presidentials election since 1828. Figures show that little more than 50% of the eligible voters participate in the elections since the 70´s of the last century: 

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/turnout.php

Some information about the USA presidential election

Next Tuesday there will be presidential election in the USA. The process is a little different from the elections in Spain, but there are also some similar aspects, such as the fact that the people don´t elect the president. In Spain, the Cortes (Parliament) do it. In the USA, this is a task of the Electoral College, formed by the electors of every federal State. The electors (Congress members and Senators) are chosen by the people, but the party which gets more votes on a State gets all the electors of that State. For example, if Barack Obama gets 99,000 votes in Oklahoma and Mitt Romney gets 89,999 votes there, the 7 electors of the State will go to the Democrats.

Here you have a list of the electoral votes every State has: 

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/allocation.html

On the following videos you will understand the role of this Electoral College in the final results of the elections. That´s why the main candidates calculate the States where they can win and focus all their attention on the so called "swing States", the ones where the results are still not decided or change everytime there are elections. Those swing States are the ones where the candidates can attract undecided voters. The main candidates have spent most of their time and money there and they have campaigned very little in the States where they consider the results are decided yet. 

And this is a historical review of the results of all the presidential elections since the foundation of the USA:

If you want to learn more about elections in the USA, click on the following link:

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/

You probably think that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are the only candidates to the USA Presidency, but there are more. The mass media use to focus their attention only on the cadidates of the two main parties (Democrats and Republicans), but there are other political options. Here you have a link where you can learn more about all the candidates:

http://www.politics1.com/p2012.htm

And finally, next Tuesday elections will also serve to choose the governors of 12 States and decide on other topics, such as marijuana legalization, same-sex marriage, healthcare, tax increases, gambling, public employees´ unions or death penalty. For example, California voters will have the opportunity of deciding on the abolition of  death penalty. On the following map of the USA you can click on every State to learn more about the ballot propositions citizens will have to vote: 

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Portal:Ballot_measures

P.S: Here you have the links to an article in Spanish about the reasons to ask people for the abolition of death penalty in California and the same information in English:

http://blogs.elpais.com/the-american-way-of-life/2012/11/la-pena-de-muerte-es-cara.html

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-new-poll-shows-dramatic-jump-support-repealing-californias-death-penalty

And this is a link to another article which shows that there is no relation between the existence and use of death penalty and the decrease number of violent crimes:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/editorials-evidence-does-not-support-death-penalty-deterrent

Breaking news:results of Spain´s general elections

Source: http://excitingjourney.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/decision-2011-on-voting-49-o-and-tender-ballot/

Here you have a link to follow the votes´ count of today´s general elections in Spain. You can look up the evolution of the results in the whole State, in the Autonomous Communities and in every municipality. If you want to get the last results, click on "update": 

- Elections to the Congress of the Deputies:

http://www.generales2011.mir.es/99CG/DCG99999TO_L1.htm

- Elections to the Senate: 

http://www.generales2011.mir.es/99SN/DSN99999TO_L1.htm