Abolish Electoral College? Sure, and Why Not Let 'Majority Rule' on the Bill of Rights?

Townhall,com ^ | November 19, 2020 | John Kass

[Kaslin]

When we were kids on the playground and there was an angry dispute, someone would always shout "majority rules." And we'd vote.

If the losers didn't like the outcome, there were two options: punch the winners in the stomach or take the ball and go home.

It worked on our playgrounds because a punch in the stomach isn't the end of the world, exactly. You could punch a kid, or he could punch you, and half an hour later you could both ride your bikes to a convenience store for a Slurpee. You could always find a ball somewhere. There was always the next afternoon to get out there and play.

But is majority rule any way to run a country -- of 50 separate but united states -- if what you're interested in is protecting the rights and the liberty of all?

When it was weak, the American political left was keenly interested in liberty and the rights of the minority. But now with power just exceeding its grasp, on the verge of flipping the Senate, the left wants to change the rules we've lived by since the early 1800s and abolish the Electoral College.

There are two reasons they want to abolish the Electoral College:

One, of course, is Trump. And the other is power after Trump.

President Donald Trump won the election in 2016 through the Electoral College, not the popular vote. And now he's stubbornly holding on to the dream that his court challenges of elections in key swing states will flip reality on its head and give him another term at the expense of Joe Biden and the Democrats. I don't see that happening.

Yet he persists. This enrages his opponents, though wasn't Hillary Clinton applauded for telling Biden before the election not to concede under any circumstance? That a close race would come down to absentee votes and the counting would drag out? That was her advice.

Unofficial totals show Trump received about 73 million votes this year, more than he got in 2016. But Biden received about 79 million votes, almost 6 million more than Trump. Yet if Trump had picked up just a few thousand more votes in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia, and took those states' electoral votes, he would have won the White House in 2020.

So now The Washington Post Editorial Board, news pundits and Democratic Party politicians want to do away with the Electoral College and have presidents elected by simple majority, which would give power to elect presidents to the population-rich coasts and make most states obsolete.

"Americans are not going to be satisfied with leaders who have been rejected by a majority of voters, and they're right not to be," says the Post. "It's time to let the majority rule."

At least the Post had the decency to admit their scenario wouldn't likely happen, and that if it did, there may be "unintended consequences." You can drive a whole fleet of Amazon delivery trucks through "unintended consequences" and think of your good intentions, and pretend you bear no responsibility for what happens down that road to hell.

Hundreds of years have passed since the framers established the Electoral College. And the genius of America is that it worked and still works.

Now, politicians seeking the presidency have to stop in Iowa and stand by the hay bales and wear jeans. But without the Electoral College, they won't come near an Iowa hog. They wouldn't think about Minnesota or Maine or Missouri or Mississippi.

They'd fly to the coasts where the population is centered, spend all their money and time catering to New York and California and large urban areas and ignore many of those flyover states. And what would happen?

Those "flyover states" would be diminished. The people in those states would be diminished. When people are diminished, they grow sullen and their anger builds.

If the answer is "majority rules," why stop with the White House?

Why not put the Bill of Rights up for popular vote?

Then we could decide those "freedom of religion" and "freedom of speech" issues once and for all.

You don't like what somebody says or writes, or how they worship? You won't have to wait for Twitter and cancel culture. Why not just put it all to a vote and let majority rule on the First Amendment?

You don't want somebody you don't know in another state to have a gun? The very thought of some grandmother owning a gun to protect herself in a city where the police have been defunded triggers you?

With majority rule, all you have to do is get your side together and vote and get government to take that grandma's gun.

Same for unreasonable search and seizures by the government. Perhaps you might not mind government searching and seizing what it thought best from those you despise on the other side of the political divide.

That's majority rule for you, without much concern for liberty.

Of course, someday, you might be in the minority. You might remember that someone mentioned "unintended consequences."

You might think about the tyranny of the majority. But it'll be too late.

And America won't look like a playground.

[cmj328]

Nominate every American citizen to the Supreme Court.

We can run the Constitution like American Idol, with phone-in voting. I’m sure the votes will be counted correctly.

[basalt]

would they just please stop bringing this up....it would take a constitutional amendment which is never gonna happen....

[Brookhaven]

States have majority rule.

In states like Oregon you literally have part of the state attempting to break off and join another state, because state politics is dominated by one large city.

Majority rule would eventually result in the dissolution of the United States.

Multiple states would not allow the large urban centers (NYC, Chicago, LA, SF) to dictate how they run their state.

Does anyone think Tennessee, Wyoming, Arkansas, or South Carolina would live under that system?

[ConservativeInPA]

It ain’t happening. It will require a constitutional amendment. Talking about the electoral college serves only too purposes. 1.) Educating minds full of mush that we are a representative republic, and 2.) Using it a scare tactic to drive voter turn out. The latter is anemic. There are other more important issues. Anyways, the election is over.

[Little Ray]

“When we were kids on the playground and there was an angry dispute, someone would always shout “majority rules.” And we’d vote.”

Huh?

That’s a weird playground he went to.

[ImpBill]

Isn’t it amazing pundits who opine on the subject never mention passing a Constitutional Amendment ratified by 2/3’s of the 50 states.

Of course, even though I can’t think of a way, but rest assured the Democrats are tirelessly planning a way to get around the Constitution they abhor anyway.

But I agree odds of it ever happening are slim and none and slim is at the city limits.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You want to bury your head in the sand about their expanding SCOTUS, adding two states, eliminating the filibuster and ending the EC? They are already close to ending the EC by their stupid “National Vote Compact” where they all vote lockstep in the EC according to the national popular vote.

[Truthoverpower]

Here is the situation that we’re actually in

a leftist insurgency has clearly taken over the Democratic Party in the United States of America

There is no question about this they’re more than happy to tell you about all of their Szelest communist plot to take over all of American business economy and force everybody to bend to their will

Fortunately for those of us Americans did like the constitution and like America the way that it is thank you we have something called laws and something called the constitution to protect us from these evil doers

Right now we’re in the trenches in a flat out open war with the Democratic Party fighting to preserve the constitution of the United States As founded

The electoral college is part of the constitution and cannot be changed except through constitutional amendment so all of this discussion about it and the vote compact the liberals have tried to come up with are nonsense

Even as it comes to the “popular vote” we can see with this dominion software nonsense and other liberal cheating methods that we have no idea what the actual vote was in the United States of America

For all we know Trump could’ve gotten 90 million votes and Biden 60 million votes we will never know

The point right now is to fight to the death if need be to prevent this leftist insurgency from taking over this country

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

If we abolish the Electoral College then the States with a smaller population will have no voice in whom is selected for President.

All campaigning will be done only in the most populous states such as California, Texas, Florida, NY, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. They will be tails that wag the US dog. All of the other States can go pound sand.