Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is it time to scrap the Electoral College?
pMSNBC/MSN ^ | 10/21/08 | Tom Curry

Posted on 10/21/2008 11:14:49 AM PDT by AT7Saluki

...The system is a relic of the early days of the republic when electors were supposed to be independent agents exercising their judgment in choosing a presidential candidate from a list of several contenders.

Today, electors are party loyalists who almost always vote for their party’s nominee.

On Friday, a group of legal scholars, political scientists, and systems specialists gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a conference on the Electoral College. Their focus? How to better engineer the system...

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: election; electoral; voting
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-103 next last
To: AT7Saluki

No, it’s just time to split up California into three states: California Bay (D), Middle California (R), and Southern California, where SD and OC will try to drown out LA.


81 posted on 10/21/2008 12:04:00 PM PDT by Yaelle (One candidate fought America's enemies and one candidate owes all he has to America's enemies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Steely Tom
Wup. It's time for the first "is it time to scrap the electoral college" article.

First of many, I should say.

A McPalin victory will cause a veritable blizzard of similar articles, all noticeably absent any understanding of how a representative democracy, i.e. republic, works and how the EC is a significant cog in that machinery. The writers of such articles merely expose their woeful lack of education.

82 posted on 10/21/2008 12:08:06 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki
I am sure those legal scholars, political scientists, and systems specialists gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are smarter and wiser than our Founding Fathers. Not.

What hubris. They will be among the first to be sent to the re-education camps come the BO revolution?

83 posted on 10/21/2008 12:08:56 PM PDT by 3AngelaD (They screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, and now they're here screwing up ours.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

In 2004, one elector from MN voted for John Edwards, instead of Kerry.

I keep wondering if there are a handful of democrat electors who, like Lieberman, might vote for McCain (or even Hillary.)


84 posted on 10/21/2008 12:11:12 PM PDT by proudpapa (McCain - Palin'08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

The democrats would have a great advantage if there were no college.


85 posted on 10/21/2008 12:17:50 PM PDT by mountainlion (concerned conservative.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

NO


86 posted on 10/21/2008 12:29:54 PM PDT by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys--Reagan and Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

We can’t just “scrap” the electoral college. It would take a new Constitutional amendment, which is no easy task.


87 posted on 10/21/2008 12:43:08 PM PDT by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TommyDale

no, the largest number of voters would win the election. It would not matter what state they lived in. The are Republicans in blue states...heck there are Republicans in Washington DC


88 posted on 10/21/2008 12:43:15 PM PDT by ChurtleDawg (voting only encourages them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: CatOwner; Paleo Conservative
...but I have to admit that barely winning a state and getting all its Electoral Votes does seem disporportionate.

Sort of like how when a team barely wins a World Series game 11-10, they still get credit for one-quarter of the games needed to win the Series, just like if they win 10-0? That hardly seems fair.

Math Against Tyranny.

89 posted on 10/21/2008 12:44:34 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: DuncanWaring
Bad analogy. You are comparing the decision on who will be president of the greatest country on this planet (at least right now) versus a sporting event. Not even in the same ballpark.

Just so we're clear, I am in no way saying that I would want the president to be decided by a national popular vote.

90 posted on 10/21/2008 12:50:43 PM PDT by CatOwner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: ChurtleDawg

Since the largest numbers of Democrats reside in New York, California, Illinois, etc. they will dominate the elections.
That is why the founding fathers instituted the Electoral College.


91 posted on 10/21/2008 12:52:00 PM PDT by TommyDale (I) (Never forget the Republicans who voted for illegal immigrant amnesty in 2007!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

Yeah, just great, now in a close election, instead of recounting ballots in one state, we get to recount every single ballot in all 50 states. Whoopeee!


92 posted on 10/21/2008 12:52:13 PM PDT by dfwgator (I hate Illinois Marxists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

“we gave you a republic, if you can keep it” - Ben Franklin.

This is time to protect the Constitution - not make a new one.


93 posted on 10/21/2008 12:57:54 PM PDT by AmericanGirlRising (Joe the Plumber is a Lesson for Every American! -- www.protestthemedia.com - Oct. 21)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Yeah, just great, now in a close election, instead of recounting ballots in one state, we get to recount every single ballot in all 50 states. Whoopeee!

And rampant voter fraud in Philadelphia affects the entire election results, not just the 21 EVs that belong to Pennsylvania.

94 posted on 10/21/2008 1:02:06 PM PDT by So Cal Rocket (Joe the Plumber for President!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

The Drive-Bys want the president elected by a few large, very liberal, urban areas. The Electoral College prevents this and gives the rest of the country a say.


95 posted on 10/21/2008 1:08:34 PM PDT by Little Ray (Joe the Plumber. He's our only hope... God help him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TommyDale

We instituted the electoral college [and the Senate] because it was the only way the smaller states would agree to join the union. The states gave up part of their power and autonomy to form the United States of America. Federalism is the basis of this Republic.


96 posted on 10/21/2008 1:10:24 PM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: kabar

You said it much better.


97 posted on 10/21/2008 1:15:49 PM PDT by TommyDale (I) (Never forget the Republicans who voted for illegal immigrant amnesty in 2007!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: Obadiah

I mean like it was back around 1787. It took some hits during the War Between the States. Took some more hits during the progressive era. More hits during the Depression. Again during the LBJ days. Nixon. etc. It’s been under assault for a long time. Hell, even back to Marbury v Madison. The anti-federalists were probably right about a lot of things.


98 posted on 10/21/2008 1:28:04 PM PDT by Huck (Teddy Roosevelt vs. Che Guevera)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki

everytime it looks like the dem might lose, they trot this out.


99 posted on 10/21/2008 1:29:23 PM PDT by newnhdad (Naval Aviator or "community organizer", you make the call.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AT7Saluki
Somebody purchase Mr. Curry a copy of The Federalist Papers. He might be amazed at how much of this stuff was old in 1790.
100 posted on 10/21/2008 1:37:13 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-103 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson