Posted on 10/11/2018 12:06:03 AM PDT by beaversmom
Now that the Senate has confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, some Democrats are turning their fire on the idea that each state should be equally represented in the upper chamber of Congress. "The idea that North Dakota and New York get the same representation in the Senate has to change," NBC national security reporter Ken Dilanian tweeted.
Others, like GQ correspondent Julia Ioffe, took issue with the Electoral College, which allowed Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump to place four justices on the Court, even though Bush and Trump lost the popular vote in 2000 and 2016, respectively.
One politician who endorsed Ioffe's argument is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist running to represent New York's 14th Congressional District:
It is well past time we eliminate the Electoral College, a shadow of slaverys power on America today that undermines our nation as a democratic republic.
Ocasio-Cortez isn't the only high-profile Democrat to embrace this view. "I passionately believe it's time to abolish the Electoral College," Hillary Clinton wrote in The Atlantic last month. Clinton's view isn't surprising. After all, she earned nearly 3 million more votes than Trump in 2016, but still lost.
In their criticisms of the Electoral College, Ocasio-Cortez and Clinton fail to grapple with the reason we have such a system in the first place. By preventing the majority from getting its way all the time, the Electoral College ensures that views from every part of the nation are represented. That way, those in high-population states with large cities aren't the only ones who have a say. Instead, as David Harsanyi wrote in a November 2016 piece for Reason, the Electoral College helps "create moderation and compromise":
To some extent, the Electoral College impels presidents and their political parties to consider all Americans in rhetoric and action. By allowing two senators for both Wyoming, with a population of less than 600,000, and California, with a population of more than 38 million, we create more national cohesion. We protect large swaths of the nation from being bullied. We incentivize Washington, D.C.both the president and the Senateto craft policy that meets the needs of Colorado as well as New York.
This is especially important when considering that small stateseven sparsely populated onesplay important industrial roles, particularly in agriculture. If those states "become marginalized and then coerced to embrace the policies favored by the people in urban areas, the nation loses valuable resourcefulness, imagination and brainpower," Harsanyi noted.
Abolishing the Electoral College in favor of a popular votebased system might also have some unexpected results. Clinton won the popular vote in large part due to her margins in New York and California, where Republicans knew their votes didn't matter. Changing the system might motivate some of those Republicans who stayed home on Election Day to come out of the woodworks. Texas Democrats might do the same. It's impossible to know who would have won in 2016 absent the Electoral College, as both partiesto say nothing of both campaignswould've likely had very different strategies.
It's easy to blame the system when you don't win. But that doesn't mean the system is actually broken, or that there's an objectively "better" one we should be using.
The number of representatives from each state is governed by Section 2 of the 14th Amendment of 1866 - that is, representatives are reduced if any adult male (citizen - for learning impaired like Alexandria) is denied the right to vote. The number of electoral votes is dependent on the number of state representatives. So the number of electoral votes a state has, is dependent on the 14th Amendment.
By arguing for elimination of the Electoral College, Comrade Ocasio-Cortez appears to be arguing for eliminating the 14th Amendment, and the Constitution which upholds the 14th. Or, she is voicing a plan to quash wytpepo vote if wytpepo ever became a minority in the USA by eliminating an Amendment that forever prevents voter discrimination.
I'll see your Collefe, and raise you a Covfefe.
eliminate Alexandria
The most polluted cities in the world are in Communist
/ Socialist countries.
ping
So CIA shill Ken Dilanian is against the electoral college now--is he following John Brennan's talking points on behalf of Hillary Clinton, who also wants to abolish the electoral college?
Democracy results in crazy people in charge.
A representative Republic.
She should go live in a democracy?
Hey Alexandria,
We do NOT want a democracy. We do not have a democracy.
A democracy is two wolves and one lamb deciding what to eat for lunch.
We want a Federal Republic with checks and balances.
You want every national election to be decided by big blue cites.
WE DO NOT WANT WHAT YOU ARE SELLING.
Che so Cwazzah!
The drumbeat of democracy. One of the all time great socialist tools.
Read the constitution. Its all in there.
People forget that the Senate does not represent the people. They represent the states. There IS a distinction.
Its not supposed to be proportionate. These people are so stupid.
Are you always this ignorant or did you have to study for it??
You state the case well, if the reader just looks past your ignorance. Big City life has been reduced to cats, bugs and rats. This is Democracy, called for by Communist Cortez.
The Republic properly represents all life, evens bears, tigers, horses and cows.
The Democracy kills all except short diminished dwellers in their closet high rise apartment. Cortez wants all to live in closets with bugs and rats.
Okay now, back to your prominant ignorance.
I have an article written by David Kopel back in 2000 when then Senator Elect Hillary Clinton publicly called for the abolition of the Electoral College (in the wake of Algore’s defeat). Kopel sums it all up with this: “If you want to live in a country where it’s against the law to protect your family from a violent home invader, and where you get ‘free’ health care of lower quality than what a pet receives in the United States (referencing the Canadian example in his article), and if you think the American Founders were fools for wanting to prevent the concentration of political power, then by all means try to get rid of the Electoral College”.
Newsflash to Occasional Cortex: We have a Republic, and our Republic needs the EC. If you want a full democracy, move to another country.
Who?
The computer will know every registered voter, once your vote is counted no more votes! =)
Looks like they are now renaming our Constitutional Republic to “Democratic Republic”...someone needs to straighten her out in a public forum....
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