Posted on 07/28/2018 6:35:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
It's not what you don't know that can hurt you; it's what you think you know that just ain’t so that will kill you. Time has taught me that this piece of “country” wisdom is as important as any in the pursuit of public policy. Ignorance based on false facts is deadly in public policy.
Take the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as an example. The National Popular Vote plan is an interstate compact in which the compacting states agree to award their electoral votes to the person who gets the most votes in all 50 states. It is based on Art. I, Sec. 2 of the Constitution which grants state legislatures the plenary (and exclusive) power to award electors, and the founders’ expectation that states would use that power to maximize their influence in the selection of the president.
The first thing I hear, when the proposal is presented, is that “California is so big, it will run the country” (mainly because I am from California) if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact takes effect. My conservative friends use California as an example of “what not to do” when it comes to public policy, and so, if California is going to run the country under the state statutes implementing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, then, they say, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is dangerous.
It is true, California is large but even as big as it is, it is still only about 12% of the entire US population. In elections, 88% beats 12% every time. CARTOONS | Michael Ramirez View Cartoon
As important, there are 5 million Republicans in California. That is a arger number of Republicans than 47 other states. In 2016, Donald Trump received 4,685,047 votes in Texas. He received 4,605,515 votes in Florida. He received 4,483,810 votes in California. What does this mean? Given the winner take all rule in effect in each of these states, the Republican votes in Texas and California didn’t mean a thing. Only the Republican votes in Florida mattered.
I get it. I am a Californian. We think we are the most significant state in the Union. If things don't go the way the leftists in California believe they ought to go, these leftists throw a temper tantrum. But the truth is, as a California conservative, I am the most irrelevant voter in the country. Presidential candidates come to California, collect $130 million from the wealthiest Californians, and disappear. My neighbors and I, who cannot afford to donate to campaigns, never see or hear from those candidates again. The candidates don't care what we think.
If we move to a National Popular Vote system, at least I can join up with Republicans in Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, and 46 other states, to cancel out the Democrats here in California. In the days when California was a battleground state, Republicans would get at least 25% more votes than Republican registrations. In 2016, Trump’s vote was 20% below Republican registration in California. That is a swing of almost 2 million votes. Ask Californians for their vote, and they vote Republican. Ignore them, and the Democrats win big.
Under the National Popular Vote plan, California’s left would not take over the country. There are a lot of conservatives in California. We are the birthplace of Reaganism. We would fight for every vote. With help, we can beat the left.
I want my vote to count. I want Donald Trump to come to California and inspire the conservative movement in California, just like he has in the battleground states across the country. Conservatives here in California need reinforcements. Instead of having our votes restricted to our borders, we need to join with our brothers in arms in other states to defeat the left throughout the country, including here in California. That is why I support the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, and that is why America needs the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
You are tied for that with us NY Conservative voters.
Our presidential and Senate vote are throwaway votes each and every time.
But I vote anyways.
Under his plan, the Hilldabeast would have won.
NO THANKS.
Any plan that would have allowed Satan’s handmaiden to win the previous election is evil.
Looks brown with all their Global Warming
Too many in Sacramento want to allow convicted felons and illegal aliens to vote. They think we don’t know what they are up to, but if those groups tended to vote Republican, Cali would have already built the wall and would leave the felons under the jail. The terms “popular vote” and “democracy” are tools of the left. We cannot allow them to control the language.
Under popular vote states can increase their influence by counting votes wrong. State legislatures that are suspicious that other states do this will be tempted to arms races. California already counts illegal alien votes in due to lax enforcement of voter id...so the arms race is primed to begin.
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If I read this correctly, the author wants to join the National Suicide Pact so President Trump will come to California and say “hi.”
I don't think that the claim here is quite as constitutional as one thinks. While the legislature may award its electors in the manner that the legislature of that state chooses, that legislature is bound to represent the interests of THAT state, e.g. CA. I think a strong constitutional argument could be made that the legislature lacks the power to abdicate their duty to the citizens of California and instead make the voters in all the other states the arbiter of what California would choose to do.
It makes a mockery of representative government.
In any event there are clear grounds to challenge this and the power of the state legislature to do this is not a slam-dunk.
California may not be as big as Californians think, but it is still as big as the rest of us think—which is pretty large.
Where’s that Tracy Morgan gif shaking his head no.
This guy is delusional. The NPV circumvents the electoral college. The Dems have won the popular vote in six out of the last seven elections. And they will continue to do so.
The Dems won CA by 4.3 million votes. Hillary won nationally by 3 million votes.
The author should consider this proposal county by county. If this compact goes into force, the urban counties (where vote fraud is often rampant) will be able to overrule all other counties. In the last election, the county by county map shows Hillary won big in the cities, but lost almost all of the suburban and rural areas.
California Republicans cannot be saved by inflicting the rule of cities across the whole country.
But the country could well be doomed by turning away from its roots as a republic toward a “purer” democracy.
“Art. I, Sec. 2 of the Constitution which grants state legislatures the plenary (and exclusive) power to award electors”
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This is a thing.... I feel that soon, states are going to allow illegals to vote in federal elections. I know, may people say that is illegal, but there was a time when the Governors or the State Legislature would toss all of it’s electors to whomever they wanted.
I do wonder about the legality and how it would be challenged. I’m not a lawyer, but the SCOTUS is KEY in this, thank god Trump is my POTUS.
Quoting myself (yes I am that important):
If there is a silver lining in all this, it is the knowledge that the Lefties believe that they have to cheat in order to win.
YUP!
Just another failed professional politician seeking validation for his presence on the planet.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Explanation It has been enacted into law in 12 states with 172 electoral votes (CA, CT, DC, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, RI, VT, WA). Map showing status in states. The bill will take effect when enacted by states with 98 more electoral votes. It has passed at least one house in 11 additional states with 89 electoral votes (AR, AZ, CO, DE, ME, MI, NC, NM, NV, OK, OR) and has been approved unanimously by committee votes in two additional states with 26 electoral votes (GA, MO). The bill has recently been passed by a 40–16 vote in the Republican-controlled Arizona House, 28–18 in Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate, 57–4 in Republican-controlled New York Senate, 34-23 in Democratic-controlled Oregon House, and 26-16 in the New Mexico Senate.
The Constitution indicates that states choose electors.
But this doesn’t mean that the state can make the electors vote a certain way.
I have doubts that it is legal for states to band together, and decide they will give their electoral votes to the same candidate, regardless of whether states voters voted for that candidate.
As a Californian, let me just say this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read on Free Republic, and makes me think that the author is not sincere. We should actually be going in the opposite direction, and repeal the 17th Amendment. The National Popular Vote would not just allow California to dominate national elections, it would allow fraud to do so.
Liberals tend to concentrate themselves in liberal enclaves, which is why the lost the last election. In our current system, it does not matter if you win with 51% or 91%, the same number of electors are awarded. Trump states are more politically diverse, so he won the electoral college without the popular vote. The same thing goes on in the Senate. It reflects the individual states and their (partial) sovereignty. I am fine with this system.
Not only is changing the constitution of eliminate the Electoral College an incredibly stupid idea and against the entire framework of the Constitution, but we really need to eliminate the popular vote of Senators.
Electing Senators by popular vote completely perverts the design of the Constitution and we have suffered from that perversion ever since.
No way should we further destroy the Constitution by eliminating the Electoral College. There will be no way back from that, just as there is no way back from the short sided perversion of the 17th Amendment.
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