The American Electoral Process

Part A: Which statement BEST states the central idea conveyed in the text?

A. It is inherently unfair that the votes of citizens from more populous states should count less than those of their small-state counterparts.

B. The American Electoral College system – though somewhat effective – is flawed and excessively complex.

C. The greatest flaw of the American Electoral College is that it forces presidential candidate to devote significant economic resources to their campaigns.

D. The process by which we elect our president has been rendered irrelevant by modern technological innovations.

B. The American Electoral College system – though somewhat effective – is flawed and excessively complex.

Explanation:

The American Electoral Process is an article written by Mike Kubic, a former correspondent of Newsweek, which describes the history and function of the United States Electoral College. In the article, the writer tried to explains the pros and cons of United States of America Electoral process. Hence, the central idea of the article is that, though the American Electoral College system has its effectiveness, it is so what flawed with excessive complex such as inequality of votes among voters, as the votes of congressmen determines presidency rather than the normal citizens.

Another is the issue of two senators representing each state, regardless of how bigger the population, thus, giving the smaller state advantage.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)