Vote may sway future of electoral college

Yahoo News ^ | 10/30/04 | Mark Sherman

[CThomasFan]

The Electoral College (along with the way the Senate/House were elected in the US Constitution as it was originally written) were strokes of absolute geniuse by the founding fathers. To abandon it would be the height of idiocy and would bring us under mob rule (otherwise known as McCauliffe politics).

[Perdogg]

Yawn!

[mombrown1]

Unless you change it to give each county in the US one vote regardless of population. (The red/blue county map shows 90% are red) It really makes the election local and eliminates the power of the big cities.

[jocon307]

I don't see much likelihood of Kerry winning the popular vote but losing the EC. If (GOD FORBID!, please God, do NOT let this happen!) Bush should win the popular vote but lose the EC, then it will be the exact reverse, party wise, of 2000 and I doubt there will be any movement to get rid of the EC, because everyone will see the (dis)advantage cuts both ways.

And anyway, it would require amending the Constitution, and the little states will NEVER go for it, liberal or conservative though their populations may be, in this they will be 100% united. And who can blame them? Who wants NY, CALI, TX bossing around the whole country?

[conservative in nyc]

Despite the difficulty of changing it, Leach said the argument against the Electoral College is plain.

"We're advocating democracy around the world," he said. "Are we suggesting to anyone they have an electoral college?"

I hope we are. An electoral college would tend to mitigate extremism in fractionalized countries by forcing candidates to campaign in marginal areas instead of only in their base.

[Moconservative]

We had very good founders of our country and they did the best they could to protect "states rights." Although a lot of that has vanished in the last 40 years we need to hang on to this as one way that states make a difference.

[reVan]

I live in Wisconsin and I do not want to be ruled by Liberal New York and California. Hell it is hard enough to be ruled by the People's Republic of Madison and it's satelite state the City of Milwaukee. If people abandoned the electoral college, then I want my state to leave the union or else I am moving to a state that would.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Exactly. And, I'm not so sure the argument about Algore winning the "popular" vote is accurate anyway. if you back out all the dead people and their dogs who voted Democrat in 2000, then add in the military and other absentees that Algore & Co blocked, you would see a different picture.

[risk]

the Electoral College has endured despite four elections in which candidates have become president despite finishing second in the popular vote.

That's exactly what it is for.

[w1andsodidwe]

"We're advocating democracy around the world," he said. "Are we suggesting to anyone they have an electoral college?"

Regardless of this argument, we are representative republic, not a democracy. This fact seems to be lost ignored.

[machman]

The argument for getting rid of the EC is based on a flawed assumption, that the person who gets the majority of the popular vote "should" be president. The system was set up the way it was for so many reasons, but at the heart of it is that we are a republic, not a democracy. If we want to get rid of all state and local governments and everything is centrally run, then well a true decomcracy would be a better fit. But that's not what we have, or want. (well, maybe the rats want it)

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Because of mass stupidty in the United States, many in the mass forget that . . .

a popular vote is a democracy. America is a representative republic.

Democracy = Mob Rule.

Popular vote = Mob Rule.

Will this happen? At some time. As mass ignorance spreads, and as demographics make America more and more stupid as the birth rate among the least educated nontaxpayers soar, and as the birth rate among the educated taxpayers stays very low, we will eventually see a democracy in America and have mob rule.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Dork Leach RINO alert!

[flair2000]

The Electoral College is one of the perks of statehood. Of course, many people these days hardly care that states even exist. They love the almighty Federal Government, the source of all life on earth.

If the Electoral College was abolished, I guess the US Senate would have to be abolished as well, as Wyoming and California both have two senators.

[Caipirabob]

Vote may sway future of electoral college

Over a bloody revolution, perhaps. We'll just change it back the way it was after we win.

[flair2000]

"and as demographics make America more and more stupid as the birth rate among the least educated nontaxpayers soar"

I call it federally subsidized mass breeding. Give them government checks and government cheese and they will do the rest.

[auntdot]

Thanks CThomasFan, the smaller states would never commit political and economic suicide by agreeing to end the Electoral College.

The founding fathers did not want the most populated states to dominate the smaller states. If that were not the case, the needs of the smaller states would be ignored.

[The Toad]

Talk about disenfranchising voters! Getting rid of the electoral college would transfer all of the voting power and thus representation to the urban areas and left the less populated area of the nation with little say in the election process.

Only someone, like my Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who doesn't understand why the current electoral system works would support such a foolish change.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

No. Not 'mob rule' but revolution and anarchy. I suffer 'democracy' (the rule of fools by fools) grudgingly. To change the rules to give the ignorant advantage is anathema. If there is to be war then let it begin here!

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Some of the 'problem' has been brought on by the election of Senators mitigating the balance of powers among the States. Before we change a syustem inculcated in our Constitution, we must rigidly work within the system. Otherwise we are all mere 'progressives' blowing the political winds.