Al Gore calls for an end to the Electoral College

The HIll ^ | 08/31/12 | Mario Trujillo

[RayChuang88]

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they put in the Electoral College because of the very fear that urban areas would have TOO much influence in a national election. Since you need to write an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to end the Electoral College, you can forget about the change because the small states would NEVER go for this idea.

[evad]

"The current system already gives too much weight to the popular vote. In states with large cities, the urban vote carries the whole state, and urban cheating threatens to steal all of the state's electoral votes."

Boy is that true. It's why Maryland is such as disaster.

[Lucky9teen]

[WKUHilltopper]

Well, since the earth hasn’t died from global warming yet—what else does he have to talk about? His motel masseuse stories?

[musicman]

[Real Cynic No More]

Well, Al Gore is still the nut-job that he always has been.

The electoral college was established to protect those minority states which have significantly lower population than the others. The number of representatives in the large populated states is larger, and based on population. So the populace is represented in the House.

The number of Senators gives the smaller states some more clout, because each state has the same number of Senators, not based on population.

The 17th amendment stripped the smaller states of some of their rights in that prior to that, State legislatures determined the number of Senators. Now Senators are elected by popular vote.

To get 3/4 of the States to vote to give up more of their rights under the Constitution is a stretch at best, and just plain wrong.

The Presidency just seems to have too much power already, in that the current “occupant” pays no attention to laws passed by Congress and signed by his predecessors, or to the Consitution upon which they are based. To allow that office to be filled by the pure choice of majority voters - who are becoming more and more recipients of government bribery via welfare and entitlements - is very foolhardy.

Here’s a Constitutional amendment for you... Set term limits for Congress Critters. Senators to have no more than 2 consecutive 6-year terms, members of the House, no more than 4 consecutive 2-year terms.

P.S. If we had the popular vote in 2000, the court challenges and counter challenges would have extended into the subsequent 4-year election period, because every questionable vote in every precinct of every state would have been challenged, and the leadership of our great country would have been undecided for a much longer period of time than it was, leaving us without government leadership for an unacceptable period of time. Even with the electoral college, there was insufficient transition time.

We should actually be thankful for the electoral college in 2000, because although we were attacked by al qaeda September, the fact that we had a decisive leader in Bush allowed us to put them on the run. One has only to imagine what actions might have originated by our enemies due to the lack of Presidential leadership for an extended period.

[dubyajam]

OMG is he still crying over that??? Idiot!

[RingerSIX]

[SamAdams76]

You make some good points and I have always favored changing from a "winner take all" to "assignment by congressional district" system - as Maine and Nebraska are already doing. With the current system, our large cities like Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia are flipping their states to the Democrat candidate even though the Republican candidate usually wins the rest of the state.

Getting it changed however will be a very difficult, if not impossible task.

With regard to the "inevitability" of Texas flipping to a blue state due to demographic shift, we do not need to stand around and just let it happen. We need not concede that the Hispanic voters will always vote Democrat. I believe that many Hispanics who think they are Democrats can be converted to Republican. To wit, Gov. Martinez of New Mexico.

BTW, this applies to all demographic groups. Just because they vote one way today does not mean it needs to always be that way.

[CSM]

Hey Al, You lost the electoral and the popular vote. Go back under your rock now.

[Real Cynic No More]

... many voters who live outside the dozen or so battleground states are cheated ...

Well, this perception really bothers me; it's as if only the battleground states decide the election. And that's just not true. The only reason there is a focus on the battleground states is that the other states have majorities for one or the other candidate. The inference is that those states with single party majorities don't matter... but they do. Take them out of the picture, and don't let their votes count, and see what you have!

With today's instant access via the internet or television, I don't really care whether the candidates visit my state or not - and I'm sure that's true of a lot of voters.

This idea that only the battleground states determine the winner is pure hokum.

P.S. Many years ago, Tampa put in a bid for the summer olympics. After seeing the traffic caused by this year's RNC, it's clear to me that there's no way the transportation system could have been improved to successfully handle the traffic volumes that would have resulted. The number of downtown streets - and highways - that were closed due to security concerns was unprecedented in the City's history.

I remember years ago, in the 90's when President Clinton visited the city. The routes to/from the airport were closed, people lined the street just to see him ride by in his limo - and you couldn't even tell if he was in the car. As for me... I'm better off if they stay away; the security issues in today's evil world make it too difficult to accommodate them for any more than the most critically needed visits.

[kenmcg]

Can’t blame Gore on this one. With so many courts backing no photo id’s to vote,the RATS are free to import their votes from all over. The RATS, for years, have been involved in fraudulent voting.

[Absolutely Nobama]

“He called for presidential elections to be determined by the popular vote.”

I call for Al Snore to be deported back to North Korea, so there.

Another Useless Idiot.

[JohnG45]

The Electoral College is calling for an end to Al Gore.

[Road Glide]

“We need not concede that the Hispanic voters will always vote Democrat. I believe that many Hispanics who think they are Democrats can be converted to Republican. To wit, Gov. Martinez of New Mexico.”

They voted for Martinez because of her name. New Mexico is the second “Euro minority” state (after California). The legislature is democratic, and will probably remain so. Again, Martinez won because she got Republican votes from Euros who were voting for her because of her policies, and from Hispanics (mostly democrats), who voted for her because of her name and because of her ethnic heritage. Just as Obama won 96% or so of the black vote. If Ms. Martinez’ name had been Jones, she might well have lost

When do you believe that blacks will stop voting “by race/ethnicity”?
Obama will get at least 90% of the black vote again this time, perhaps even more.

To believe that the time will soon come when Hispanics will begin voting AS A MAJORITY (emphasis intentional) for conservatism — well, that’s wishful thinking.

Hispanics are now approaching majority status in California. How are THEY voting?

What the Republican party needs to do is win larger majorities of “the Euro vote”. 55% is not enough to keep winning the presidency in the face of changing demographics.

So long as we embrace the notion that “if we only educate folks properly, people will vote conservative no matter what ethnicity or religion they are”, we will witness our influence dissolve into the multicolored and multicultural sludge of the “Rainbow Nation”. This is egalitarian nonsense.

Sorry if I sound cynical about this, but I harbor no illusions about the future.

[SamAdams76]

Well I can speak to experience that one can be converted from a liberal to a conservative. Instead of writing these ethnic groups off, we need to win them over one at a time. It's not going to be easy and it can be frustrating but we must never give up.