Although on the surface, the conditions for running for state legislators in the United States are very relaxed. As long as they are over 21 years old, have lived in the state for more than one year, have received a certain education, and have a minimum knowledge of parliament, any American citizen can run for state legislators. (
The requirements vary slightly from state to state, but in general the requirements are not high)
But in fact, those who are actually elected as members often possess various advantageous conditions that most citizens lack, such as being from a wealthy family, receiving higher education, living locally for a long time, having experience in running a business or practicing law, etc.
From a political point of view, if you want to become a state legislator, you generally have to be a member of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. Although the law does not prohibit citizens who do not belong to these two parties from running for state legislators, in fact very few people can succeed.
The election of state legislators is divided into two major stages, namely the preliminary election and the general election. The task of the preliminary election is to select the congressional candidates of each party. This competition is extremely fierce among the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, but it does not matter to Downing, the Constitutional Federalist Party, because it is basically
No one can argue with him.
The general election naturally involves selecting members from among the candidates of each party. It is generally divided into two forms. One is one member per constituency, and the person who gets a simple majority is elected; the other is multiple members in one constituency, who gets a simple majority.
The candidate is elected, but in this case, each party usually sends multiple candidates to participate in the election, because there is no limit to the number of seats each party can win.
For example, a party that gets a majority of votes may get 65% of the seats even though it only gets 55% of the votes; and although another party gets 45% of the votes, it only gets 35% of the seats. So this system has always been
Much criticized.
But to Tang Ning, these are not important, because the Constitutional Federal Party does not have seats in the parliament, let alone votes.
"Tony, have you prepared any campaign slogans?" Philip asked Tangning casually, because he originally thought that Tangning, a guy who was just here to have fun, would not make any preparations at all, and maybe he didn't even know what a campaign slogan was.
have no idea......
But to his surprise, Tangning nodded and replied, "Yes! My campaign slogan is "Healing the Pain of War"!"
"The war you are referring to is the U.S.-Mexican War?" Philip asked tentatively.
Tangning nodded and replied, "That's right!"
The U.S.-Mexico War was a crucial war in the history of the expansion of the American continent and the westward movement. It not only promoted the formation and development of the U.S. economic power, but also intensified the contradiction between northern industrial capital and southern slavery, becoming the precursor of the American Civil War.
.
Although the war ended with a great victory for the United States, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hydelgo was one of the largest treaties in modern history in which a defeated country ceded territory to a victorious country. Even U.S. General Grant
He admitted that "this war was one of the most unjust wars ever fought by a powerful nation against a weak nation."
But in fact, the casualties paid by the United States were not small, so much so that Lincoln asked the President in Congress to explain, "The exact place where our citizens first shed so much blood."
Erke's, "The president's war against Mexico is unnecessary and unconstitutional."
Although nearly ten years have passed since this war, soldiers who were injured and retired on the battlefield still have not been properly accommodated and taken care of. It is not that no one has noticed this vote bank, but that most politicians do not like soldiers.
Especially the soldiers after the war.
They feel that these soldiers have too many problems and are disobedient. The most important thing is that appeasing them requires too much money. Who would do such a business where the input and output are completely disproportionate?
That is, people like Tang Ning know that they will not succeed, so they dare to irresponsibly write bad checks! And people like the Democratic Party and the Republican Party who are very sure of winning the election have no need to provoke this trouble, otherwise they will not be honored if they fail to deliver.
Commitment will be troublesome!
After hearing Tangning's idea, Phillip nodded in approval and said, "Tony, you have a good idea. This is indeed a vote bank that has always been ignored, and it is suitable for a newcomer like you who has no pressure to fight for it!"
Tang Ning complained in her heart, you are really good at talking, what do you mean by a newcomer without pressure? To put it bluntly, isn't it just someone who can't be selected anyway, so he can just talk nonsense without being responsible.
So two days later, Downing came to the Louisiana Veterans Association with two campaign assistants assigned to him by the Constitutional Federalist Party.
As soon as he entered, the staff at the door asked him: "Hello, sir, what can I do for you?"
Tang Ning glanced at the assistant Mike beside him, and then he introduced: "This is Mr. Tang Ning, our Constitutional Federalist Party's state parliamentary candidate. He would like to pay a visit to your person in charge, Mr. Adams."
"Okay, please wait a moment. I'll go ask Mr. Adams for instructions." After saying that, the staff member turned and left, but Tangning, who had sensitive ears, heard him muttering as he walked: "When did New York get a constitution?"
Federalist?”
This made Tangning very depressed but helpless, because compared with the Republicans and Democrats, the Constitutional Federalist Party really has no sense of existence...
A few minutes later, the staff came over and said to them: "Mr. Downing, Mr. Adams invites you to come to the office for a meeting."
Although Tang Ning felt that it was rude that Adams did not come out to greet her and instead asked her to go to the office, but the situation was better than others. After all, she came to seek help from others, so she had no choice but to follow the staff to Adams' office without saying anything.
Fortunately, Adams was quite enthusiastic at this time. He stood up and extended his hand to say hello: "Hello, Mr. Tangning! Welcome to the Veterans Association!"
After chatting for a while, Adams cut to the chase and asked: "Mr. Downing, I heard that you were elected as the state representative candidate of the Constitutional Federal Party this time?"
Tangning nodded and replied: "Yes, this is one of the reasons why I came to visit you, Mr. Adams. I hope to gain the support of your association! Because one of my campaign slogans this time is to improve the lives of veterans."
state."
PS: Thank you to book friend "Yueyoulige" for your support! I also recommend a new book "I Was Fallen on the Moon", which feels to be in the same vein as Shen Teng's upcoming new movie "Walking Alone on the Moon".