National Civic Review articles from June 2001

National Civic Review archives from June 2001

NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Election 2000 put voting reform on the national agenda. The inability to ensure that all duly registered voters could vote and that all votes could be counted was unsettling to everyone. Such problems have direct implications for the...

Citizen Democracy.
June 22, 2001... As this article was being written, electoral reform proposals were in early flower in Washington. Senate passage of the McCain-Feingold bill presaged new possibilities for reforming our political system. No less than those of baseball fans,...

Federal Campaign Finance Reform: The Long and Winding Road.
June 22, 2001... On February 26, 2001, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke at the University of Oklahoma to an enthusiastic crowd of fifteen hundred people from the university and surrounding communities. Oklahoma was one stop in a series of events throughout...

Localism and Reform: The Benefits of Political Diversity.
June 22, 2001... One result of last year's presidential election is heightened interest in voting systems and political reform. Media coverage of the tight race between Al Gore and George W. Bush publicized weaknesses in American election practices: confusing...

New York City's Campaign Finance System: Why Is the Best Hope for Reform Being Ignored?
June 22, 2001... The movement for campaign finance reform, although it is finally beginning to show progress, has recently diverged along two branches, leaving a vast unexplored territory between them. Some of the most promising ideas for reducing the...

Free Airtime: Another Means for Cleaning Up Campaigns.
June 22, 2001... For decades now, the congressional debate about campaign finance has played out along familiar lines. Reformers charge that there's too much money in politics and that new laws are needed to prevent the corrupting influence of unlimited...

So You Want to Run for President? Ha! Barriers to Third-Party Entry.
June 22, 2001... Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the part where it says "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President," is...

Who Should Elect the President? The Case Against the Electoral College.
June 22, 2001... We the people do not directly elect the president of the United States; the electoral college does. This election method may satisfy some people, but a desire for change is in the air. In Congress, in state legislatures, in newspapers, in...

Renewed Momentum for Voting System Reform.
June 22, 2001... For decades the National Civic League, and its predecessor the National Municipal League, has touted reform of the plurality-wins-all voting rules typical of U.S. elections. After remarkable successes--including implementation of the choice...

Voting Reforms After Florida.
June 22, 2001... Whatever else might be said about last November's election in Florida, it was certainly an educational experience. The country and the world were introduced to the lexicon of American election administration--punch cards, butterfly ballots,...

What Does It Mean to Be a Good Citizen?
June 22, 2001... "We get the politicians we deserve." Can this saying be true? We might grudgingly admit that there is some truth to it, but surely it's almost like blaming the victim to think that we're responsible for who governs us. Or is it? This is,...

At a Crossroad.(community development)
June 22, 2001... Growing up as a boy in Mexico, Gilberto Cetina spent hours watching his mother cook. The family operated a small fonda, or boardinghouse, that served Yucatanese cuisine, a delectable blend of Mexican, Spanish, and Lebanese foods. Cetina...