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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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Democrats Are Dangerously Close To Changing Laws So Our President Is Elected By Popular Vote
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Issue
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jul 30, 2022 12:17pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Author | Andrew Morgan |
| News Date | Thursday, July 28, 2022 06:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The left is at it again, and conservatives need to be on high alert. The left has been pushing for a national popular vote to elect the president of the United States for years. Since 2017, 10 more states have either signed the National Popular Vote bill into law or approved the bill in one state legislative chamber. This should be a grave concern because it directly undermines the electoral system established by our Constitution. If not stopped, the American system of presidential elections will be changed potentially forever.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has been enacted by 15 state legislatures plus Washington, D.C., and passed in 41 legislative chambers in 24 states. For the proposal to become the law of the land, enough states totaling at least 270 electoral votes would be required to enact the law, and states would then commit their electoral votes to the candidate with the most popular votes nationally, regardless of which candidate won at the state level. |
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| [View All 15 Previous Messages] |
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 Un:9757 | BrentinCO ( 6338.6216 points)
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Tue, August 2, 2022 02:50:41 AM UTC0:00
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I would actually like to see someone try to defend the current system for reasons other than "my party can't win the support of a plurality of voters right now".
Our founding fathers created the electoral college for the very circumstances we are in right now.
We purposefully designed our democracy to not have a popularly elected President even if that is what has happened most times. The electoral college was designed to prevent large states from over-influencing the federal government. And its doing that.
I would contend that the circumstances we are in now and in seven of the last eight presidential elections are precisely why the system is working. The union is kept together, especially now, by having the electoral college. One culture does not dominate.
As much as we like to think we are a homogeneous country or even a two party country, there is a lot of evidence to suggest we aren't. We only need to point to history to see we are a nation of peoples with entirely different cultures. I've come to realize this living in Colorado, New Mexico, and California over the last six months. Sure there are many things we commonly enjoy, but there are subtle to stark differences.
The electoral college prevents one culture or one nation of people dominating the others.
Here are couple of interesting books that shed some light on our different cultural pasts.
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-11-nations-of-the-united-states-2015-7 (summary article)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11140803-american-nations?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=JpRB9vdvMY&rank=1 (Goodreads Book Link)
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32081.Albion_s_Seed?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=9QoMrUYf3s&rank=1 (Goodreads Book Link)
Understanding the history of our differences as a people is very relevant to how different regions of America have developed their cultures and laws. These cultures and laws persist today defining what we are experiencing where we live today.
Puritan law does influence the nature of today's New England culture. Ben Frankin and the Quakers have had a tremendous influence on the mid-Atlantic states. The Spanish in the west. The French in Louisiana. There is a good list and the American Nations book covers someof those cultures.
If its fair criticism that Republicans have not had a majority of the vote in seven of the last eight elections, its also fair criticism to say that Democrats are losing support outside the cities and coasts.
I'm not saying the system is perfect, but the electoral college does insure that the winning candidate has the popular support in most American States. And in the end this insures that the cultures of our many nations and people are balanced even when sometimes it doesn't seem like it is.
CA Pol Junkie: I would actually like to see someone try to defend the current system for reasons other than "my party can't win the support of a plurality of voters right now".
Our founding fathers created the electoral college for the very circumstances we are in right now.
We purposefully designed our democracy to not have a popularly elected President even if that is what has happened most times. The electoral college was designed to prevent large states from over-influencing the federal government. And its doing that.
I would contend that the circumstances we are in now and in seven of the last eight presidential elections are precisely why the system is working. The union is kept together, especially now, by having the electoral college. One culture does not dominate.
As much as we like to think we are a homogeneous country or even a two party country, there is a lot of evidence to suggest we aren't. We only need to point to history to see we are a nation of peoples with entirely different cultures. I've come to realize this living in Colorado, New Mexico, and California over the last six months. Sure there are many things we commonly enjoy, but there are subtle to stark differences.
The electoral college prevents one culture or one nation of people dominating the others.
Here are couple of interesting books that shed some light on our different cultural pasts.
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
[Link] (summary article)
[Link] (Goodreads Book Link)
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America
[Link] (Goodreads Book Link)
Understanding the history of our differences as a people is very relevant to how different regions of America have developed their cultures and laws. These cultures and laws persist today defining what we are experiencing where we live today.
Puritan law does influence the nature of today's New England culture. Ben Frankin and the Quakers have had a tremendous influence on the mid-Atlantic states. The Spanish in the west. The French in Louisiana. There is a good list and the American Nations book covers someof those cultures.
If its fair criticism that Republicans have not had a majority of the vote in seven of the last eight elections, its also fair criticism to say that Democrats are losing support outside the cities and coasts.
I'm not saying the system is perfect, but the electoral college does insure that the winning candidate has the popular support in most American States. And in the end this insures that the cultures of our many nations and people are balanced even when sometimes it doesn't seem like it is.
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| Un:9757 | BrentinCO ( 6338.6216 points)
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Tue, August 2, 2022 03:10:59 AM UTC0:00
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Edit above - William Penn not Ben Franklin. I should know better as I believe William Penn is one of the greatest Americans of all time.
Edit above - William Penn not Ben Franklin. I should know better as I believe William Penn is one of the greatest Americans of all time.
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| I:1038 | WA Indy ( 1790.9733 points)
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Tue, August 2, 2022 05:52:19 AM UTC0:00
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The history of our differences and many cultures and nations? That's getting awfully close to that CRT thing conservatives discovered 6 seconds ago and decided to hate.
The history of our differences and many cultures and nations? That's getting awfully close to that CRT thing conservatives discovered 6 seconds ago and decided to hate.
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| D:6086 | Jason (11889.0225 points)
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Tue, August 2, 2022 02:36:08 PM UTC0:00
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Considering the very system the founders created led to a civil war less than 80 years later, it's hardly a system that should ever be celebrated as a barometer of stability. Particularly when the "minority" in question to be protected (slavers and rural agrarian states) dipped when things briefly didn't go their way in one election.
Considering the very system the founders created led to a civil war less than 80 years later, it's hardly a system that should ever be celebrated as a barometer of stability. Particularly when the "minority" in question to be protected (slavers and rural agrarian states) dipped when things briefly didn't go their way in one election.
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Having a heterogeneous culture is not an argument for the EC. Plenty of states have the same thing in microcosm and still vote by popular vote for governor, etc.
Every election has a winner, but that doesn't make one culture "dominate".
Having a heterogeneous culture is not an argument for the EC. Plenty of states have the same thing in microcosm and still vote by popular vote for governor, etc.
Every election has a winner, but that doesn't make one culture "dominate".
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| D:7 | CA Pol Junkie ( 4947.9873 points)
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Tue, August 2, 2022 03:21:27 PM UTC0:00
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Having a heterogeneous culture is not an argument for the EC. Plenty of states have the same thing in microcosm and still vote by popular vote for governor, etc.
Exactly. The electoral college makes possible the cultural domination within states: the Bay Area and Los Angeles make interior California irrelevant; white voters in many southern states make African-American voters irrelevant. Tens of millions of voters nationwide are effectively disenfranchised by cultural domination because of the electoral college.
My Congressman is a Weiner: Having a heterogeneous culture is not an argument for the EC. Plenty of states have the same thing in microcosm and still vote by popular vote for governor, etc.
Exactly. The electoral college makes possible the cultural domination within states: the Bay Area and Los Angeles make interior California irrelevant; white voters in many southern states make African-American voters irrelevant. Tens of millions of voters nationwide are effectively disenfranchised by cultural domination because of the electoral college.
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