Electoral college

  • Thread starter Thread starter JOEBIALEK
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
If one comes from a faulty premise, as Slate does , one gets a faulty conclusion
Discredit Slate all you want but anyone who can do spreadsheets can download the total vote by state and come up with the fact that CA would need 165 EV to match the EV voting power of Wyoming’s voter. But to be fair, FL would need 110 EV to match same. Illinois 70. And so forth.

One can make a case where the northern mountain states are perhaps over-represented in the Senate too.
 
Discredit Slate all you want but anyone who can do spreadsheets can download the total vote by state and come up with the fact that CA would need 165 EV to match the EV voting power of Wyoming’s voter. But to be fair, FL would need 110 EV to match same. Illinois 70. And so forth.

One can make a case where the northern mountain states are perhaps over-represented in the Senate too.
👍
 
They are not whining.
And it’s not just the Democrats who think the Electoral College is a bad thing, and not just because their party did not win this election.
The winner this time, Republican Trump, also said recently that: “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.”

It’s a non-partisan belief that many “winners” and “losers” of both parties agree with.

Speaking out and doing what you believe in and trying to change a structure for the better is not…whining.

It’s called trying to make progress.

.
This line of thinking no longer fools anyone, but if the left wants to double down on fundamental reasons as to why they lost this election, that is fine. Our cameras have been rolling on the streets recording these protests/riots, and we’ll be showing them to the heartland voters again in 2018 and 2020. 👍

The progressives have lost all credibility with this because Hillary supporters knew to some extent that it was possible for her to win the EC while losing the popular vote. Even one of Nate Silver’s late models had that happening.

So they weren’t going to dare argue it before the election.

This is nothing more than attempts by the far-left who have for years been secretly looking for ways to win without the heartland, fly-over working class and sweep election cycles easily so they can get elected and vote themselves, their families, their friends and lobbyists free stuff. That’s all this is. There is virtually no merit whatsoever to their arguments or their protests.

And it’s not progress; it’s a regression. Describing the behavior of many protesters and safe space attendees as whining would indeed be very accurate.
 
Discredit Slate all you want but anyone who can do spreadsheets can download the total vote by state and come up with the fact that CA would need 165 EV to match the EV voting power of Wyoming’s voter. But to be fair, FL would need 110 EV to match same. Illinois 70. And so forth.

One can make a case where the northern mountain states are perhaps over-represented in the Senate too.
Based on what? This is the faulty premise, that the national popular vote mean something.
You’re still relating that to the electoral college vote.
Wyoming has 1 EV based on population while California has 53. Wyoming has to have one.
Wyoming and California both have two senators because every STATE has equal representation in the Senate.
If you think this unfair, we will have to just disagree. Every ten years we have a census that has just one purpose: enumeration for the purpose of apportionment of representatives to the STATES. Now, unless you can show how that is unfair, or that each state has two senators is unfair, the EC seems quite fair as it reflects this constitutional construct
 
Based on what? This is the faulty premise, that the national popular vote mean something.
You’re still relating that to the electoral college vote.
Wyoming has 1 EV based on population while California has 53. Wyoming has to have one.
Wyoming and California both have two senators because every STATE has equal representation in the Senate.
If you think this unfair, we will have to just disagree. Every ten years we have a census that has just one purpose: enumeration for the purpose of apportionment of representatives to the STATES. Now, unless you can show how that is unfair, or that each state has two senators is unfair, the EC seems quite fair as it reflects this constitutional construct
As a matter of fact, giving each state two senators is unfair in a sense. There is nothing inherent in the concept of equal reprentation for each state in every circumstance. Reprentation in the senate is balanced by reprentation in the House by the fact that bills must be approved by both bodies. But in electing a president, there is no such balancing body. The unfairness of equal reprentation by state can be seen in how the Untes Nations General Assembly works, where the United States get only one vote, the same as the island nation of Saint Lucia with its 165,000 people.
 
As a matter of fact, giving each state two senators is unfair in a sense. There is nothing inherent in the concept of equal reprentation for each state in every circumstance. Reprentation in the senate is balanced by reprentation in the House by the fact that bills must be approved by both bodies. But in election a president, there is no such balancing body. The unfairness of equal reprentation by state can be seen in how the Untes Nations General Assembly works, where the United States get only one vote, the same as the island nation of Saint Lucia with its 163,000 people.
The Senate is completely fair. There are 50 sovereign states. Each state deserves to have equal representation in the affairs of the federal government, which the states created , as this is part of the very nature of federalism.
There are two balancing bodies for the executive, as you know. The elections college gives each state the proper representation- the number of representatives which reflect population, and the number of senators, which reflects the equal status of the sovereign states.

There is nothing wrong with the General Assembly’s representation, other than the fact that there is not a second house based on population, not to mention that we pay over 20% of the UN budget.
 
The Troubling Reason the Electoral College Exists time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/
At the Philadelphia convention, the visionary Pennsylvanian James Wilson proposed direct national election of the president. But the savvy Virginian James Madison responded that such a system would prove unacceptable to the South: “The right of suffrage was much more diffusive * in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes.” In other words, in a direct election system, the North would outnumber the South, whose many slaves (more than half a million in all) of course could not vote. But the Electoral College—a prototype of which Madison proposed in this same speech—instead let each southern state count its slaves, albeit with a two-fifths discount, in computing its share of the overall count.*
 
This line of thinking no longer fools anyone, but if the left wants to double down on fundamental reasons as to why they lost this election, that is fine. Our cameras have been rolling on the streets recording these protests/riots, and we’ll be showing them to the heartland voters again in 2018 and 2020. 👍

The progressives have lost all credibility with this because Hillary supporters knew to some extent that it was possible for her to win the EC while losing the popular vote. Even one of Nate Silver’s late models had that happening.

So they weren’t going to dare argue it before the election.

This is nothing more than attempts by the far-left who have for years been secretly looking for ways to win without the heartland, fly-over working class and sweep election cycles easily so they can get elected and vote themselves, their families, their friends and lobbyists free stuff. That’s all this is. There is virtually no merit whatsoever to their arguments or their protests.

And it’s not progress; it’s a regression. Describing the behavior of many protesters and safe space attendees as whining would indeed be very accurate.
Agreed 100%
 
Based on what? This is the faulty premise, that the national popular vote mean something.
You’re still relating that to the electoral college vote.
Wyoming has 1 EV based on population while California has 53. Wyoming has to have one.
Wyoming and California both have two senators because every STATE has equal representation in the Senate.
If you think this unfair, we will have to just disagree. Every ten years we have a census that has just one purpose: enumeration for the purpose of apportionment of representatives to the STATES. Now, unless you can show how that is unfair, or that each state has two senators is unfair, the EC seems quite fair as it reflects this constitutional construct
Excellent discussion.

The Electoral College prevents the whole United States from being dominated by California, Chicago and only four of the five boroughs of New York City.

This is really about blame-finding for Hillary’s loss of the election in which the rules specify the Electoral College while she pursued the easier goal of the popular vote [California, Chicago and NYC.]

Take a look at the following illustration:

townhall.com/political-cartoons/2016/12/19/147260
 
Excellent discussion.

The Electoral College prevents the whole United States from being dominated by California, Chicago and only four of the boroughs of New York City.

This is really about blame-finding for Hillary’s loss of the election in which the rules specify the Electoral College while she pursued the easier goal of the popular vote [California, Chicago and NYC.]
Hillary can’t accept she was a flawed candidate from the beginning. Its her fault and that’s it!!!
 
The states still have the last word: an article 5 convention. The central government would have no say, no power, no recourse to anything decided.
In theory the states can do this. But even this mechanism relies on a super majority. So the individual state really has no power.

States working together may have power. However if you study the passage of the 14th amendment this isn’t even the case. After the southern states failed to vote for the 14th the congress simply declared those states to no longer be states. Consequently their votes were ignored. Not only their votes were ignored but their existence for calculating the total number of states was ignored.

Two states rescinded their vote in the affirmative for the amendment. The federal government chose to count the affirmative vote in order for the measure to pass. In the southern states the federal government used its military to force affirmative votes.

There is no reason to not think the federal government would do the same today. So while a mechanism to restrict federal power exists the federal government can simply chose what votes to count, invalidate states who vote in a way it disagrees with and again use its military to force a particular vote. History has confirmed the federal government can and will do anything to stop states from exercising any sovereignty.
 
Excellent discussion.

The Electoral College prevents the whole United States from being dominated by California, Chicago and only four of the five boroughs of New York City.

This is really about blame-finding for Hillary’s loss of the election in which the rules specify the Electoral College while she pursued the easier goal of the popular vote [California, Chicago and NYC.]

Take a look at the following illustration:

townhall.com/political-cartoons/2016/12/19/147260
The excuse du jour …:rolleyes:
 
What I’m saying is the national vote doesn’t matter…at all. It isn’t and shouldn’t be how a president is elected. He/she is elected by the states. It could be argued that it was a more serious concern that JFK won with fewer states than Nixon.
This principle of how a President is elected is highly innovative; it’s not how we do it, or have ever done it. This is your faulty premise.
Again, no one seems to be complaining that the small states through the senate have the same power as large states. That isn’t even the case with the EC.
In our bicameral legislature, the perogatives of the states, as states and by population are balanced in the Senate and the House. Do you object to proportional representaitonint eh House?
Large states, by sheer numbers, have a far greater say than small states. The impact that California voters have over the EC is overwhelming compared to Wyoming. I’m not complaining about that. Just stating the fact.
As pointed out already by Pro Vobis, this is not a fact.
 
😊
This line of thinking no longer fools anyone, but if the left wants to double down on fundamental reasons as to why they lost this election, that is fine. Our cameras have been rolling on the streets recording these protests/riots, and we’ll be showing them to the heartland voters again in 2018 and 2020. 👍

The progressives have lost all credibility with this because Hillary supporters knew to some extent that it was possible for her to win the EC while losing the popular vote. Even one of Nate Silver’s late models had that happening.

So they weren’t going to dare argue it before the election.

This is nothing more than attempts by the far-left who have for years been secretly looking for ways to win without the heartland, fly-over working class and sweep election cycles easily so they can get elected and vote themselves, their families, their friends and lobbyists free stuff. That’s all this is. There is virtually no merit whatsoever to their arguments or their protests.

And it’s not progress; it’s a regression. Describing the behavior of many protesters and safe space attendees as whining would indeed be very accurate.
I don’t see where such labeling is helpful to the discussion.

Trump himself has built on the very infrastructure which you seem to despise. Is it any wonder Republicans are skeptical of his plans?

But I digress. The point I’m trying to make is that the electoral college can be manipulated to produce the outcome you wish. It’s not a left- right thing to do want it takes to win the next election.
 
😊

I don’t see where such labeling is helpful to the discussion.

Trump himself has built on the very infrastructure which you seem to despise. Is it any wonder Republicans are skeptical of his plans?

But I digress. The point I’m trying to make is that the electoral college can be manipulated to produce the outcome you wish. It’s not a left- right thing to do want it takes to win an election.
Yet Hillary did not go for the electoral vote. She went for the popular vote which is not how we elect the president. You would think she knew that!
 
Yet Hillary did not go for the electoral vote. She went for the popular vote which is not how we elect the president. You would think she knew that!
HC along with the operatives behind her campaign were so convinced the election was hers to lose,because of that she didn’t work as hard as she should have.DT on the other hand never gave up went after the states with only one electoral vote,in doing so he created a path to victory.HC put all her eggs into the heavily populated liberal areas.The chickens came home to roost for HC…finally!👍
 
Yet Hillary did not go for the electoral vote. She went for the popular vote which is not how we elect the president. You would think she knew that!
I don’t think she went for the popular vote instead of the electoral vote. What I think happened is that her campaign relied on the ‘rust belt’ vote going to her as it has gone to the Democrat in the past. Trump was a different kind of Republican though and he convinced enough voters there to vote for him to win the states. That is all he had to do to win the election.

If you change the election rules so the candidate would have to win the popular vote instead, then you would see very different election campaigns. Both candidates would try to appeal to the center majority and they would try to appeal across the entire country with a lot of campaigning in the large population areas.

I’m not sure Hillary (or any left wing candidate) would be the kind of candidate that would win those voters. Trump (or Bush for that matter) on the other hand is a populist-centrist at heart and would probably receive a lot of votes in such an election.

I also think a 3rd centrist party may be able to break out.
 
Excellent discussion.

The Electoral College prevents the whole United States from being dominated by California, Chicago and only four of the five boroughs of New York City.

This is really about blame-finding for Hillary’s loss of the election in which the rules specify the Electoral College while she pursued the easier goal of the popular vote [California, Chicago and NYC.]

Take a look at the following illustration:

townhall.com/political-cartoons/2016/12/19/147260
New York voted for Hillary overall by 59% of total votes.

Trump got 35% but it wasn’t just 4 boroughs that did it. Westchester and Nassau counties went to Hillary as did Rockland and Ulster counties, as did Albany county. The more populated areas voted for Hillary.
 
Well, it was an interesting discussion. :rolleyes:
Not sure why anyone is interesting in talking about HRC, or feels the need to make gratuitous insults.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top