Advocacy Center for Equality and Democracy

As ACED discussed in our last post, the term “spoiler” is inherently oppressive because it implies that citizens who express minority political views degrade the quality of our electoral process.  Because this is the nature of the term, it is doubtful that those who use it always intend it that way, which we mention to [...]

[UPDATED BELOW] ANSWER – They can in theory, but maybe they don’t in practice. On Tuesday, Joshua Spivak wrote a column in the Atlantic on the likely impact of a third-party candidacy on the presidential election later this year.  There are a number of problems with his piece (for more on those you can see [...]

The gross inequality in the United States, the rising number of people in poverty, and the federal government’s role in driving both led to the creation of ACED.  Most often, ACED posts about how a citizen can influence the federal government to serve the public at-large rather than the elite – but not today.  Here [...]

Ezra Klein’s article Kill the American Primary to Save American Politics, on which we commented last week, is only one of several pieces discussing Americans Elect to appear recently.  With its first caucus approaching soon, it is about time ACED, too, weighed in on Americans Elect (“AE”). First, what is Americans Elect?  To answer that, [...]

Here is Part II, a day later than expected. Ezra Klein is a very prominent blogger and writer who cameoed as guest host of the Rachel Maddow show last week.  He also recently appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books.  His recent activity reflects his position as one of the [...]

[UPDATED BELOW WITH HOWARD GREENEBAUM'S RESPONSE] It is good to see coverage of alternatives to the two major parties because it should help voters make better-informed choices, which in turn should improve the quality of our democracy.  With that goal in mind, ACED has commented on a couple of items published last week that pertain [...]

There are important differences between Barack Obama and the Republican candidates, just as there are in every presidential election.  Judging by the policies of each individual candidate, it makes sense for some people to vote for the Republican candidate, others for the Democratic candidate, and still others for an alternative to the major parties. However, [...]

In 2010, 15.1% of people in the United States were living in poverty.  Broken down by race, 26.6% of people of Hispanic origin, 27.4% of African-Americans, 12.% of Asian Americans, and 9.9% of White Americans lived in poverty.  The absolute number, and the proportion, of people living in poverty increased from 2009 to 2010. The [...]

ACED believes that citizen action is the key to positive social change.  Thus, we concluded in our Blueprint for Change that people should not rely exclusively on existing mechanisms for change, but should also “devise new strategies to change our political system and to create a more just society.”  One important example of this is [...]

(This is essentially a re-post of an earlier blog entry.  We think it is worth bringing back up.) It is 2012.  Later this year, the citizens of the United States will choose their President.  Whom Americans choose will depend on the candidates themselves:  personality, intelligence, speaking ability, and the policies and values they represent.  But [...]