The voting system.

On November 4 Americans will vote to elect a new president. They will have to choose between John McCain and Barack Obama - and as a consequence of their choice they will also elect either Joe Biden or Sarah Palin as vice president.

Elections in America were not always that way. Before the year 1800 it was much simpler. Whoever polled the most votes got the job of president - and whoever came next got the vice presidents job.

All that changed after the 1800 election when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr got an equal number of votes in the Electoral College - resulting in a messy row about who would get the top job.

That resulted in the Twelfth Amendment to the US Constitution, becoming law on December 9, 1803 - and creating separate indications on the voting paper for a president and a vice president.

There was a lot of wisdom in the old way.

John McCain and Barack Obama are both good men - and depending upon political leanings - either would do a good job in the presidency.

When the voters decide, nearly half of American citizens will be disappointed because their choice failed to get the job. Whoever wins or loses - a huge number of Americans will see a president in office who was not their choice.

Before 1800 both contenders served in the top rank of government. The president had the ultimate power, but the vice president - of a different political persuasion - was there as a voice to explain alternatives and offer a different view on policy directions.

In many ways this mimics the Westminster system in use in the UK, Canada and Australia. There the prime minister calls the shots, but the leader of the opposition is on hand to suggest other ways and to try and change the prime minister's mind.

In the US the winner gains the oval office - and the loser departs into political oblivion.

A return of the old system could work well, provided there was another amendment to the Constitution. The death of a sitting president should not mean an automatic change of the governing political party - as would happen if such a vice president was the successor.

In such a case, the power of office would need to shift to the president of the Senate - on a temporary basis until a new election made a voter's choice for the top job.

Pondering a McCain/Obama - or an Obama/McCain presidency raises some interesting speculation !