Sue

Sue had not yet posted her draft--she was still in the invention stage. Dan, Angie, Jeff White, and I then tried to help her by dialogically guiding her toward establishing a stance on the subject of the electoral college. At one point, Sue made a direct appeal for help in deciding what approach she should take because her research had shown that the framers of the Constitution purposely founded the electoral college to limit democracy but she believed that most people want direct election of presidents--thus disagreeing with the wisdom of our ancestors. Out of the complications and contradictions surrounding the electoral college, several discussants helped Sue reach a middle-ground viewpoint that took the major issues responsibly into account. One, however, was clearly in favor of abolishing the electoral college in favor of direct democracy--and made her views known in a variety of ways. Later, Sue's draft text illustrated how she put this transactional invention episode into essay form, attempting to do justice to this complex question.