4
October Special
Forum
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America's political system needs change
J ennifer S itton
Staff Reporter
The Republican and
Democratic parties need
to be abolished. America
has had a two
party system
since the 1830's,
when candidates
discovered that
to capture the
electoral vote,
they would need
to have a unified
platform that agreed with
a majority of voters. Every
American president since
1856 has been either a
Republican or a Democrat,
and though there will be a
total of thirteen presidential
nominees on the ballot
come Nov. 4, none of
them have a fair chance of
winning.
The two party system
should be abolished
completely. Instead of
voting by party, Americans
should vote for the
candidate whom they feel
shares their viewpoints and
feels that they can lead our
country in the best way
possible.
★ ★ ★★
Many
argue that the two party
system makes it easier
for voters to choose a
candidate they trust, and
that by having two, long-
developed parties running
for president, it provides a
sort of stability for America.
It has also been said that
two candidates who stand
for the same issue will
theoretically receive the
same amount of votes.
Therefore, the candidate
who opposes that issue
will receive the rest of the
votes. In turn, the voters
who are for that issue
will have their votes split
between two candidates.
This causes the majority
of the votes to go
toward the opponent
who opposes that issue.
Another potential
advantage to the two
party system is that by
having two candidates who
are both reaching out to the
majority of voters, they will
most likely overlap in some
of their opinions, which
may in turn contribute to
To the editor:
Election brings out political opinions
"Wright" connection
is wrong
To the editors,
Senator Barack Obama is
not qualified to be president
because of the controversy
surrounding his past and
p resen t re la tio n sh ip w ith
the Reverend Jeremiah
Wright.
Wright is a reverend at
the Trinity United Church
in Chicago. Videotapes of
his sermons revealed him
making anti-American
statements, as well as
in statements made in
an interview with Sean
Hannity on March 1, 2007.
Wright asks, "Do you know
Black Liberation Theology?"
and "How many of Cones'
books have you read?"
These words are very scary
whether you realize it or
not.
Black Liberation
Theology is spin-off
religion of Liberation
Theology, supported and
led by Marxist agitators
and directed to the black
community centering
on racial and economic
conflict. Wright says he
believes in Black Liberation
Theology and praises the
works and philosophy of
James Cone.
Cone is BLT's most
highly praised "scholar"
and founder. In his book
Black Theology and Black
Power, he asserts, "If God
is not for us and against
white people, then He is
a murderer, and we had
better kill Him." This is
the man and the ideas that
Wright admires and lives
by.
Obama attended Rev.
Wright's church for 20
years and claims that he
■
has never heard Wright
make statements like
these. If this is true, it
means that Obama has
attended Wright's sermons
1,040 times, assuming he
went every Sunday, and
never heard them. When
analyzed thoroughly, the
beliefs of BLT highlight
what Obama's political
philosophy is.
I do not necessarily think
that Senator McCain is the
best choice for president
but Ido believe that Obama
is the worst choice and
would make this country
weaker in every way.
Carlos Splitstoser
junior
Presidential article
prompts rebuttal
To the editors,
I was disappointed
how all talk about the
Presidential election was all
slanted to the political left.
Any talk about Obama was
about how good he was
and any talk about McCain
was how evil he was.
In the article that
was written by Adam
Holmes, he completely
missed the point of the
McCain commercial that
compared the experience
of Palin and Obama. It was
saying that the Democrat
presidential candidate
had as much experience
as the Republican vice-
presidential candidate. He
also failed to point out all
the flak that Palin has taken
for her family life, or the
fire McCain has come under
for not totally releasing his
health records.
Vice-Presidential
candidates do not need
as much experience as
Presidential candidates.
Even then, Palin still has
more experience running an
area than Obama. Palin was
a governor, Obama was a
senator. A governor is like
a president of a state. Who
is more qualified to run a
country? His article was
hypocritical, claiming that
we need to stop making
low-blows when this article
is one huge low-blow to
McCain/Palin.
The only other problem
I had was that the issue
of abortion was called
"Women's Rights." That is
a very biased name for it
and it isn't even the issue at
all. Any sort of complaint
about women's rights now
is used to refer things like
differences in pay between
men and women, not
abortion. If you want to
play that game, I will start
calling the issue "Mass-
Murder of Babies," then
claim that Obama is for it,
while McCain is against it.
Hans Farnbach
senior
Opinions expressed in
commentaries and editorials
represent only those of
the writer, and are not
necessarily the opinions of
West Linn High School,
its administration, faculty,
staff, or student body. All
readers are invited to send
their letters to the Amplifier
at wlhs-amplifier@wlwv.
kl2.or.us. Limit letter to
250 words. All submissions
become property o f the
Amplifier and will not be
returned; submissions may be
edited and may be published
or otherwise used in any
medium.
stability in the American
government.
The cons of the two party
system greatly outweigh
the pros. By having two
major parties constantly
being elected,
it gives voters no chance to
vote for anyone outside of
those parties because they
know that those candidates
won't win and they don't
want to waste their precious
vote. Another setback is
that candidates don't really
have the opportunity to
have individual opinions,
because to be elected, they
have to take on the opinions
of the group of people
whom they are trying to
represent. For instance,
a Republican candidate
couldn't say they were pro-
choice, because they would
lose all of the conservative
Republican voters who are
against abortion. Another
problem with the system
is that many voters agree
with both parties on some
issues, some voters even
agree with candidates from
independent parties. So,
in turn, voters aren't truly
voting for the candidate
they most agree with, they
are voting for the party
they most agree with.
Our country is in an
economic crisis right
now, making this
J election crucial for
W
the future of America.
Let's stop worrying
about whether or not
we're voting into office a
right-wing Republican,
a left-wing Democrat
or Independent Party
candidate Ralph Nader, and
vote somebody in who will
save our country from this
downward spiral. Whoever
our next president is, be
it Barack Obama or John
McCain, lets help to remove
that little R or D next to
their name on the bottom
of the television screen and
simply support them as the
44th President of the United
States of America.
Survey asks:
Which class is hardest?
In a survey conducted asking students which class they
thought was the hardest, 166 responses were received. A
breakdown of the classes with the highest response is listed
below.
Teachers were also asked which class they thought was the
hardest to teach, and no two answers were the same. Of the six
responses received, they thought Fiber Arts, Physics, Discrete
Math and French 4 or 5 were the most difficult.
Sue Raivio, English teacher, believes that classes shouldn't
be compared to each other. "None of them are hard; they're
just all different which keeps it fun," Raivio said.
Classes with highest response:
Biology 5
Spanish IV
33
English 5
US History
22
Advanced Algebra
AP US History 4
13
AP Psychology
4
Chemistry
11
Honors Law A
3
Pre-Calc
8
Organic Biochemistry
3
AP Chemistry 2
8
Geometry
7
6
World History
AP European History
AP Physics
Honors Humanities
2
1
Music -1%
World
Social
Studies
4%
Tech/
Math
16%
Science - 36%