Ever since the 2000 presidential election, I have been skeptical of the way America votes. Elections are bound to be close, but I simply did not buy into the opinion that 2000 was a fluke emergence of Electoral College insanity, a chance manifestation of democracy’s worst enemy — when vote totals are irrelevant and the rightful winner falls short.

Amid the recent chaos on Wall Street and the lack of any bipartisan remedy from Congress, few in the media have noted how extraordinarily close the United States is to making history.

A debate among Southern states has resurfaced in the past few weeks, leading to cheers, jeers and uncontrollable laughter. It involves American borders and, miraculously, has nothing to do with Mexico. Rather, it has been discovered that Georgia’s northern border, which lies literally feet away from the Tennessee River, was incorrectly measured by surveyors in 1818.