Today I was reading my email and saw an advertisement for a vote for a dream President. So, I voted, even though I’m not a Republican, and then I checked on the results. After a whole day of breaking down the results into raw numbers I discovered an interesting trend in the poll itself.
So, I found from the top 12 contestants in this poll, there was an interesting trend. According to the chart above (61434 votes were cast):
1. Rick Perry (13749 votes which is about 22.0%)
2. Michelle Bachmann (9984 votes which is about 16.2%)
3. Chris Christie* (6429 votes which is about 10.5%)
4. Herman Cain (5557 votes which is 9.0%)
5. Mitt Romney (5401 votes which is 8.8%)
6. Ron Paul (5284 votes which is 8.6%)
7. Sarah Palin*(5169 votes which is 8.4%)
8. Allen West (2736 votes which is 4.4%)
9. Donald Trump* (2553 votes which is 4.1%)
10. Mike Huckabee (1666 votes which is 2.7%)
11. Newt Gingrich (1618 votes which is 2.6%)
12. Paul Ryan* (1288 votes which is 2.1%)
*According to news reports, these candidates are formally candidates, in fact Paul Ryan said he is not running and Donald Trump may rejoin the race as an independent.
Mr. Perry who won the vote, by a huge margin over Ms. Bachmann shows conservatives, radicals and others who vote Republican would rather favor someone who wants the destruction of the separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson would be ashamed by this, not because he is a Founding Father, but because he created the Separation of Church and State doctrine in an Response to Danbury Baptist Association on January 1, 1802: “that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between church and State.”
On the other hand, there is still some in the Republican Party, who will not vote for those that contradict themselves, that voted for Ron Paul over Sarah Palin by barely more than 100 votes. Ron Paul, as I have written about before as my first blogpost on InterestingBlogger1, is competent to lead America, although some of his positions, like going against women’s right to choose, trouble me. Votes for Chris Christie (pro-tolerance) make me happy because like Mr. Paul it shows that people accept and tolerate others. But votes for Former Federal Reserve Chairman Herman Cain, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Allen West, rich billionaire Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Paul Ryan not only show there is division, but they show that people’s ideas are broad in the Republican Party.
The other votes were less than 1000 for each candidate, but I still graphed them anyway.
The graph above show that even some of the most influential people can be brought down. Influence isn’t everything, perception is everything. If the public perceives you as incompetent or corrupt (or if you actually exemplify these qualities) then you won’t get much attention. But, it’s not because of the people. I believe the biggest reason these candidates (and potential candidates) are excluded from the public is the national media. NBC, FOX, CBS, ABC, CNN and the other corporate media channels (including certain newspapers and podcasts) only show certain candidates that will help their well-being. This is not good for a society. Every candidate should have equal time on TV or any media channel, regardless of the political affiliation. That is the America I hope for in the future.
