“I’ve seen how these states are written off and ignored, and people are effectively disenfranchised in the presidential race. And I really do now think it is time to change that.” – Former Vice President Al Gore
AMEN. …and hallelujah.
If you don’t live in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, your vote means less. It discourages people from voting.
But since 2000, I’ve wanted to wipe out the Electoral Vote. That was the most egregious assault on our democratic republic since Nixon. Or since Justice William Rehnquist was appointed.
Of course, if this year the Electoral College wasn’t in play it might bend the election to Mitt Romney’s advantage. It certainly would mean you couldn’t game the election this far out. The biggest challenge Romney has is electorally. The map remains tremendously challenging this year.
I’ll throw in another Amen and Hallelujah, and add a Hot Damn!
I know, Joyce. Having someone of the establishment weigh in is tremendous.
It should be eliminated. I wish that people would vote anyway, but a vote in Pennsylvania shouldn’t count more or less than a vote in Oregon or Alabama.
Yes, Yes, Yes to infinity! Sick and tired of the states mentioned here being fetted for their votes whilst the rest of us are mostly forgotten.
And, if anyone knows the stings of the electoral college it’s Al Gore who won the popular vote in 2000 and that’s when I, too, was furious at what happened and not only because of the Electoral College but it was the first time I gave it any thought, frankly, and fiercely wanted it done away with.
Now we need to get rid of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina’s going first in the primaries. Since primaries are relatively new, I need to catch up on the history of how those three got to go first. We need to change how the primaries work as well as dump the caucuses.
Super yes with a cherry on top and a slice of warm South Carolina pecan pie! The 2000 election proved without a shadow of doubt the utter nonsense of the electoral college. Only in politics does a majority means no.
Open Quote:
Only in politics does a majority means no. T-Steel
End Quote:
A’int that the truth, T-Steel. Same as the filibuster crap in the Senate where the minority gets to run the show. It’s farking nuts and anti-democratic given the classic definition where majority rules. But, agian, that is the beauty of the American system where it has come to today where the minority voice is not supposed to be drowed out constitutionally, however, that is just what some quarters want to happen.
http://tinyurl.com/2wljt2j This is an NYU study about the Senate filibuster abuses. Same can apply to the Electoral College.
This is my own comment that needs to be revised:
Open quote
But, agian, that is the beauty of the American system where it has come to today where the minority voice is not supposed to be drowed out constitutionally, however, that is just what some quarters want to happen.
Close quote
Wow, did I misstate what I meant:
So, please allow me to give it another go:
But, agian, that is the beauty of the American system, where the minority voice is not drowned out by the majority and is best exemplified by decisions rendered by the Supreme Court.
As in these several examples “Brown vs. Board of Education”, “Loving vs. Virginia” (interracial couples could marry), “Miranda vs Arizona”, “Bragdon v. Abbott” (persons with HIV ( was the first Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) case to make its way to the Court, which held, among other things, that HIV-positive individuals are protected under the ADA.) and “Lawrence v. Texas” (In the 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in thirteen other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory.)
Nevertheless, there is also the concept of the tyranny of the minority exemplified by the Electoral College and the NYU study noted in my previous commentary about the Senate filibuster abuses.
Thank you those reading this for your patience with my mistakes and my efforts to correct them.
Without the electoral college the MSM would be hard-pressed to predict a winner hours before the polls have closed. WAY pat time for it to go!
Uh-0h, that’s a great point. I am old enough to remember a time when those who lived on the West and Mountain time zones were “discouraged” to vote because back East, the broadcast stations, CBS, NBC and ABC (this was before cable) called the elections around 7 or 8 pm EST well before the polls closed on the West Coast and in the Mountain Region.
Way PAST time…
I bit off topic here. I wish we had Current TV here on Long Island where our Cable service is Cablevision. I write to them every month and ask to include Current in our schedule. They recently moved a whole block of pay-per-view speicalized stations about a week ago and I’m hoping one of those half dozen freed up “spots” is filled by Current TV.
I think this is one of the ways the radical fringe has taken over so many state legislatures. If you know your state is not going to matter because the opponant is so far ahead it represses voting leaving a small determined group to vote for local elections.
It is probably a factor in the thinking “my vote does not matter anyway” which makes my teeth hurt.
BTW…I have been having a very hard time staying connected to the new site, I finally figured out that I have to constantly refresh to stay connected. Anybody else having trouble?
I have other issues. Sometimes it takes a really long time to load. Also, since there is no preview feature that I can find, I tried to type things into Word for spell and grammar checking but if i copy and paste, all types of formatting junk gets posted. So I switched to Notepad, but it doesn’t spell check. Oh well!
P.S. I want the Electoral College to go away too. Does anyone believe it every will???
I have noticed since the Todd Akin debacle that MO is getting a little more Dem love, mostly in the form of the WJC ad.
Loosing the EC will still mean that many states will still be ignored. No presidential candidate is going to stump in either HI or AK. Who is going to bother with either of the Dakotas? Meanwhile, other areas will get swamped. I can see San Diego County getting a lot more attention than it does now. Both CA and TX will get the carpet bombing that VA and OH get now.
Politicians will just concentrate on a new grid of states. Heavily populated states with major TV markets will get the love, and the money. The “flyover” states will still be ignored.
Besides the only way the EC goes away is for a Republican to pull a Gore. If Romney wins the national vote, only to loose because he lost narrowly in VA or FL, then the momentum for getting rid of the EC will be unstoppable. The Elephants are O.K. with the College, both times it borked they were the beneficiaries.
Correct. It will still be a numbers game.