Howard Dean Wants to Scrap The Electoral College

The National Review ^ | May 22, 2008 | Jim Geraghty

[kalee]

.today teens are mindless idiots who can barely read the back of a box of cereal.

I just came home from presenting an award at the local high school. The award I gave was to am academically outstanding student and is sponsored by a community service organization. One of the awards given, not ours, but an award within the school itself was to students who had grades of all C’s and above. C’s !!!!! Who gives awards for C’s???

Another organization I belong to gives a scholarship to a local senior graduate. For years, I have been appalled by the writing skills the applicants possess or rather lack.

[Rebelbase]

"Facinating. this Dean character reminds me of the the Capitan's story about reprogramming the Academy computer to beat the Kobayashi Maru scenario" .

[exhaustguy]

“Maybe we can just change the Constitution such that the Democrats can choose whether we use the Electoral College on an election by election basis.”

But of course only after the election. We will let the Democrats choose any metric that allows them to win.

It is hilarious hearing the announcers talking about Obama winning under the current set of rules. How can anybody listen to this with a straight face. Talk about your situational ethics. There is absolutely no rule of law when these people talk.

[Onelifetogive]

Because he hasn't picked up the needed 18 Electoral College votes.

If he doesn't get 18 EVs, it's going to be a blowout...

[exhaustguy]

Exactly right. The Electoral college serves as a firewall to contain recounts (for example since New Mexico did not mean anything in the final election in 2000 it was not subject to the scrutiny of Florida even though it was nearly as close). I can’t imagine what a national recount would be like. It would be a zoo. I can’t think of a single major republic that has a direct election for its chief executive. The other major system is Parliamentary which is even more indirect than our system.

I think possibly awarding the electors by county with a bonus 2 for winning the state might work a little better. The states have the option of doing this anytime that they want to (ie Maine and Nebraska). Dems in Colorado were pushing to do this in 2004 - I wonder why they are silent now?

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Why not scrap the Constitution as well? Oh yeah, Democrats want to do that as well. We really need a national “bitch slap a Democrat” day.

[word_warrior_bob]

Not being a rabble rouser here but I sincerely believe Democrats are only concerned with what they want to get done with no regard for the Constitution. Can you imagine a democrat writing a law saying, oh, we can’t do that, no they don’t think that way at all. The Constitution is only viewed as a small stumbling block. Hence their arguments, that it’s outdated, fluid, living and breathing, etc.

Living and breathing until the day they set it on fire.

[srmorton]

My thoughts exactly. It is more proof of the DIVINELY inspired intelligence of our Founding Fathers. IMO, they could not have come up with such a simple, yet brilliant document without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

[NTHockey]

If we scrap the electoral college, there is ZERO justification for a House of Representatives. The whole idea was to give all states a voice in how government is (mis)run. Large populated states would not be able to run rampant over everybody else.

Anyway, that was the idea. Socialists don’t know, much less care about history, law, ethics, morals and a whole bunch of other messy stuff.

[Hoodlum91]

He sees the writing on the wall. National polls show B.O. with a double digit lead, yet even Dean knows that B.O. will lose Ohio and Pennsylvania and thus the Electoral College. He also knows that the margin in those states won’t be as close as Florida in 2000, so there will be no argument to recount.

Me thinks the shine is beginning to come off of the rockstar for the DNC bigwigs.

[Chuckster]

Got into a discussion on this subject recently with someone who insisted that the only reason the electoral college was created was to appease the southern states and protect slavery. Therefore, he said, it should now be abolished as an anachronism and an obstacle to democracy. I don’t remember that from my reading but I didn’t have any strong cites to rebut his position so I had to retreat on that point.

[Centurion2000]

I want no part of becoming part of the Washington DC Empire which is what the result of scrapping it would make the USA. Hell, we’re already most of the way there with respect to states rights.

[ctdonath2]

Value of an individual vote under the Electoral College relative to a vote using Direct Election:
State | ECV/DEV

Alabama 103%
Alaska 228%
Arizona 102%
Arkansas 116%
California 85%
Colorado 107%
Connecticut 112%
Delaware 199%
D.C. 301%
Florida 88%
Georgia 95%
Hawaii 158%
Idaho 144%
Illinois 91%
Indiana 94%
Iowa 127%
Kansas 116%
Kentucky 104%
Louisiana 105%
Maine 165%
Maryland 97%
Massachusetts 101%
Michigan 93%
Minnesota 106%
Mississippi 110%
Missouri 102%
Montana 159%
Nebraska 151%
Nevada 128%
New Hampshire 166%
New Jersey 95%
New Mexico 132%
New York 90%
North Carolina 97%
North Dakota 236%
Ohio 93%
Oklahoma 107%
Oregon 103%
Pennsylvania 91%
Rhode Island 210%
South Carolina 105%
South Dakota 197%
Tennessee 98%
Texas 84%
Utah 110%
Vermont 250%
Virginia 94%
Washington 93%
West Virginia 144%
Wisconsin 97%
Wyoming 281%

Example: a vote in Wyoming is worth 3.3x that of one in Texas ... reducing Texas’ overwhelming 45-to-1 voter advantage over Wyoming to 14-to-1.

[Theodore R.]

No, it was Hamilton’s idea to have the electoral college to have, originally, thirteen separate elections, not one national election. I don’t know if slave states favored it or not.

[Night Hides Not]

I became politically aware in the mid, to late 50s and since then I have seen this subject rear its ugly head during every national election (usually by the side that perceives a possible loss). It has become standard fare. However, as the general populace becomes less and less aware of the need for the Electoral College, the more it becomes a possibility it could win in a national amendment vote. ;-(

Just my opinion, but you can rest easy Doc. Given the requirements for an amendment to the Constitution, it's just not going to happen. BTW, there's no such thing as a "national amendment vote". :^)

Out of the 500 major issues in the US today, the Electoral College probably comes in at 499.