Feinstein wants end to Electoral College Senator says she'll seek constitutional amendment

San Francisco Chronicle (Online) ^ | 12/23/2004 | Edward Epstein

[1066AD]

Feinstein wants end to Electoral College Senator says she'll seek constitutional amendment

- Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau Thursday, December 23, 2004

Washington -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that when Congress returns in January, she will propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a one-person, one-vote system for electing the nation's president and vice president.

.....

"The Electoral College is an anachronism, and the time has come to bring our democracy into the 21st century," Feinstein said in a statement.

[mysto]

Ummmm . . .doncha need 36 states to ratify any Amendment to the Constitution?
Actually you need 38. 3/4 of the states have to ratify an amendment. But I can name 13 states that won't ratify it... they're the 13 least populous ones.

[Grampa Dave]

Below is the reason that the ChiCom Manchurian Senator, DiFi wants the electoral college eliminate. If we went to a popular vote, the Rat cities like LA, Gay Frisco, Chicago, and NY City would vote the dead and illegal aliens until the Rats would win. Just like Seattle/King county has done to win the governor election in Washington.

ChiFi DiFi do us a favor! Retire and leave us alone.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Abolishing the Electoral College. Of course. This is the only way to prevent future DemonRat gaffes such as...

[doc30]

That's the problem with liberals. They believe a fair system is one where everyone is equal. The current system favors rural and small states at the expense of large population centers. For a so-called fair system, the needs of the large population centers outway the needs of the few who live in small or rural states.

Personally, I like the EC system becasue of this balance. Otherwise you would have a situation like Canada or the UK where all the political power is concentrated in a few, densly populated areas. All the laws and poplicies would be favoring those areas and totaly neglecting the oulying areas.

[Redbob]

"the time has come to bring our democracy into the 21st century," Feinstein said "

I've seen how 21st Century democracy works, Senator: in Florida in 2000, in Washington State right now.

I don't want any part of it.

[misharu]

I KNEW I was close!!!!

At least I know we live in a representative Republic! Do I get brownie points for that?

[TomGuy]

I have a suggestion for Diane.....

Maybe we should be allowed to elect ALL Senators by National vote.


hehehe

[kimber]

Senator! You are out of your mind. In this current climate today, the states nor congress will never pass your purposed amendment. No state, is going to cut their own throat, except for those in the blue.

[Dick Vomer]

This woman is a United States senator and is SO F@cking Stupid to not even have a clue that we are a Representative Democracy and not a "true" Democracy.... in order for stupid, insipid cows like her to not have their rights decimated by a majority.

Will somebody send her a sock and instructions on how to stuff it in her cake-hole.

maybe she should worry about really really really important stuff like.... global warming or maybe ..... population control in California.. with so many people on the San Andreas Fault the shear weight is causing California to slip into the ocean... thereby endangering the delicate ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean...

What a corpulent, bovine, ignorant user of oxygen... aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!! (I'm all better now)

[CougarGA7]

I had a semi-liberal (Democrat, but drifts towards the middle) make the suggestion of eliminating the electoral college to me about a month ago.

By the time I explained to him the damage it would do to a state like New Mexico. (We would likely lose the Labs and bases to more populous states) I am proud to say he is now dead set against losing the electoral college.

These suggestions always disappear once you enable the person to think things through to a conclusion.

[b4its2late]

I disagree. With the concentration of liberals in the big cities and without the Electoral College, NYC, Chicago, LA et al would be electing our President. I sure as hell wouldn't want that to happen. IMHO, the Founders foresight on this matter is truly amazing....

[mysto]

A single voter in Utah should not have so much more power than a single person in California; it is disciminatory and it must go.
But that's the exact reason why the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College in the first place, as a compromise for the small states. They didn't want a election decided by popular vote because they didn't want the big states to decide all federal elections without the small states having any say. If CA, TX, FL, IL, MI, PA, and OH decide all the elections, why should someone in Utah or Wyoming bother to vote? A single voter in California should not have so much more power than a single person in Utah either.

[CougarGA7]

I like it.

[RinaseaofDs]

You think the EC is about commmunication, and not about ensuring that the diverse interests of each state are addressed?

Presidential politics would boil down to serving the interests of large metropolitan and urban areas. Farming and rural communities would be like children in Presidential politics, present but conveniently silent.

Back to civics class with Mrs Feinstein on Saturdays.

[gitmo]

The two California lawmakers say the current system makes most Americans election bystanders, pointing toward the recent campaign in which President Bush and his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, focused almost all their time, energy and campaign funds on a handful of undecided states in search of their electoral votes.

If it weren't for the EC, candidates would campaign in 2-3 cities (NY City, LA, Chicago) and ignore the rest of the nation. Taxes would flow exclusively to those few cities. The EC gives the rest of the nation a voice.

[A. Pole]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that when Congress returns in January, she will propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a one-person, one-vote system for electing the nation's president and vice president.

There is one key problem. In my opinion the Electoral College is an expression of the federal structure of the USA. USA is an UNION of distinct states. And so the US presidency is a FEDERAL office to be apointed by the STATES. States do it by apointing the electors in the way they see it fit - right now it appears to be acceptable by conducting the statewide vote.

Taking away this states right, would change the office of President into unitary national office in pattern of France. USA would stop to be the Union to this extent.

[Paulus Invictus]

She is another reason why Calipornia needs to drop into the ocean (after all the Pubbies leave, that is).

[WayneH]

If indeed she thinks that the electoral college is out of date, so are senators! Senators do not represent individual districts, like the representatives, but represent the entire state.

[TomGuy]

In case you missed it, this is an important thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1307284/posts?page=1

It is about the Captain who being court martialled for the mercy killing in Iraq. He mercy killed a driver whose vehicle was on fire and rescue was not possible.

Check the online petition at the link on that thread.