there are both virtues and problems with having a Federal system in the US. Being this large and diverse, it is convenient to have local government, i.e., 'states' to deal with local problems, but there has almost always been differences of opinion about how much power the Federal govt should have and how much should remain with individual states. This is especially awkward with modern transportation and communication making changing demographics a political minefield. (Look at all the places Carol C has lived recently, and how the relative power of her vote has changed!) In the District of Columbia, the Capitol, they get no vote for President at all!

Thus, when it comes to elections, we have the inane situation of have the candidates playing mostly to those few states which are percieved as borderline...Ohio, Florida...etc...Even the candidates were largely determined by those states who held primary contests earlier...Iowa, N. Hampshire, etc....

Every political party like rules that favor them in elections, but the Republican's recent attempts at Gerrymandering and purging voter rolls in Florida, etc., have broken new ground in making it more likely they will have the decks stacked in their favor in future 'elections'.

The idea of a true "Democracy" would scare the pants off Bush, Rove, Cheney, Ashcroft and their ilk....."what? accept a system where simple information and free, un-influenced elections determine who is in charge? Horrors!"