Page 39 - CBA 1997 YEARBOOK

The Balance of Power
You did not have to be a genius to know that the incumbent,
President Bill Clinton, defeated congressional veteran Bob Dole in
the last presidential election of the twentieth century. But if you
paid a little more attention to the elections results, you would have
discovered that a new trend is emerging in American politics —
a balance between Democrats and Republicans in our govern­
ment.
This year, Americans headed out to the voting booths and told
their government that they do not want a majority. Even though
Clinton seemed to win by a landslide in the electoral college, he
failed to receive a majority of the popular vote and found himself
having to work with a predominately Republican Congress.
Even at our own school, students failed to give a single candi­
date a majority of the vote. Perhaps this election, therefore, rep­
resents the first step towards establishing a balance and common
ground for American politics in the next millenium.
In between voters, the lonely
voting booth sits in the library
waiting to be used. Sadly,
lonely voting booths all over
the country wait for less than
half of all registered voters to
use them.
Someone has to be in charge of
regulating the voting booth.
Mr. Roache teaches his gov­
ernment class while keeping
an eye on the voting booth.
Michael Osinski
Election '96 35