More On The Vote

There is nothing in the Constitution requiring candidates to be listed on the ballot with their party affiliations, and, if you think about it, the custom of doing so is vaguely undemocratic. It makes elections a monopoly of the major parties, by giving their candidates an enormous advantage?the advantage of an endorsement right there on the ballot?over everyone else who runs.

• Louis Menand, New York Times

Forty-nine per cent [of voters surveyed in election years between 1952 and 2000] believe that the President has the power to suspend the Constitution.

• ibid.

Unaware of basic governmental structure, or powerfully politically prescient? You be the judge.