Tag: Electoral College

That Damn Electoral College

As I have another round of medical meetings today I needed something easy to write about and what better subject than the EC?

We are mere days away from out trip to the polls and this year the focus, as always, will be on the Electoral College.

Most readers of IST know that I am not a big fan of the EC….I think it has outlived any usefulness.

But in case someone is still not aware of my feelings I can help out….

That Antiquated Electoral College Con

As long as I am going on about the EC let’s look at a little history….

The United States is the only democracy in the world where a presidential candidate can get the most popular votes and still lose the election. Thanks to the Electoral College, that has happened five times in the country’s history. The most recent examples are from 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush won the Electoral College after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and 2016, when Hillary Clinton got more votes nationwide than Donald Trump but lost in the Electoral College.

The Founding Fathers did not invent the idea of an electoral college. Rather, they borrowed the concept from Europe, where it had been used to pick emperors for hundreds of years.

As a scholar of presidential democracies around the world, I have studied how countries have used electoral colleges. None have been satisfied with the results. And except for the U.S., all have found other ways to choose their leaders.

The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation of territories that existed in central Europe from 962 to 1806. The emperor was not chosen by heredity, like most other monarchies. Instead, emperors were chosen by electors, who represented both secular and religious interests.

https://theconversation.com/no-country-still-uses-an-electoral-college-except-the-us-240281

That is right most countries that have tried this system have found it was a waste of time that is with the exception of the US and it fits well with the dominance of the two parties.

Then there was the debate on the system….

At the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in 1787, discussions about how to choose the President were contentious. Because of the winding road the delegates took to reach the solution, the origins of the Electoral College are usually described as being either about the delegates’ distrust of the people or as a means to perpetuate slavery.

Actually, the Electoral College was about both and more. Examining the perspective of John Dickinson, a delegate from Delaware and an architect of the Electoral College who neither distrusted the people nor supported slavery, sheds light on the Framers’ intentions and how we might proceed at this moment in American politics.

Dickinson had extensive political experience before attending the Constitutional Convention. He had served as a legislator, member of Congress, and governor for Pennsylvania and Delaware. He wrote more for the Founding than any other figure, including the first draft of America’s first constitution, the Articles of Confederation (1776). He also advocated women’s rights and was an abolitionist. By 1787, he had freed all those he had enslaved and attempted to secure passage of an abolition bill in Delaware.

https://time.com/7028656/john-dickinson-electoral-college/

Then why can we not rid ourselves of this (expletive) system?

The electoral college is one of the most unusual parts of any democracy in the world. The bizarre system was invented as a compromise among the Founding Fathers more than two centuries ago – so why are we still stuck with it?

Electoral College started as a concession to small states that didn’t want to be overrun by the residents of more populous states.

“These states were really more concerned about being autonomous actors than they were about being one union,” she said. “So the electoral college was essentially a political deal, you know, to get them all together because otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten all those small states to join on.”

Kamarck said that throughout the 20th century, the winner of the popular vote always won the electoral college. But in the 21st century, the popular vote winner has lost the electoral college in two out of six elections so far.

What changed? As agriculture was automated, people gradually moved out of the middle of the country to urban areas on the coasts – but the distribution of electoral votes hasn’t been shifted to accurately reflect each state’s current population, leaving the biggest states in the union woefully underrepresented.

https://www.audacy.com/knxnews/news/local/can-we-ever-get-rid-of-the-electoral-college

Every four years I revisit my distaste for the EC and it still remains an unnecessary part of our election process.

I know it will never change but it feels good to vent once in awhile.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Antiquated Electoral College Con

It is that time of the season…..we have been through the caucuses and primaries the determining the electoral votes for candidates….and then in November the presidential candidates will be assigned votes by the EC to help determine who will win the presidential contest.

Personally this system is a bag of cons that stretches back for over 200 years. I have let my feelings known on several occasions during the many election cycles I have written about….

What Do You Know About The Electoral College?

I want to be fair so I include a post I wrote that is pro electoral college….

Electoral College: Reasons Not To Abolish

This is for those too lazy to read the previous posts…..

Established by Article II, Section I of the Constitution, the Electoral College calls for the creation every four years of a temporary group of electors equal to the total number of representatives in Congress.

Electors, often chosen for their service to and support of a political party, are typically nominated at state party conventions and then voted on by the delegates. After this initial phase of the process, each party’s presidential candidate emerges with their own slate of potential electors. When Americans cast their ballot for president and vice president on the first Tuesday in November, they are technically casting a ballot for the slate of electors who have pledged to cast their votes for that party.

It is this group of 538 people – the formula is the same that gives us 100 senators and 435 representatives (plus three electors representing Washington D.C.) who meet in their respective states and cast their official votes for president and vice president on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2024/06/28/america_101_why_the_electoral_college_1040859.html

Not that I am in favor of keeping this albatross…..

I agree that the system has outlived its usefulness and only strengthens the two party dictatorship…..

The Electoral College tie break has been the Achilles heel of America’s electoral process since the beginning. (And it’s one of the many reasons George Washington warned against the formation of political parties in the first place. C’est la vie.) Here’s how it works: In the event that no presidential candidate wins over the magical majority vote of 270 electors, the decision is sent to Congress where each state delegation gets one vote. Whoever receives a majority of the states is elected president. Simple enough? 

Here’s the catch: Even before there was a two-party system, the one-state-one-vote method quickly devolved into a duel. 

…

There’s one simple alternative to forcing people to pick between a nursing home resident-in-training and a spray-tanned cult leader: Pass a Constitutional amendment changing the Electoral College tie break from a congressional vote to a run-off election between the top two candidates. This would not only give independents a fighting chance, but it would also promote the emergence of third-party congressional candidates campaigning behind the element they currently lack: a realistic presidential hopeful.

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2024/02/02/reform_the_electoral_college_undo_the_two-party_system_1009005.html

Time to think about changing a lot of things in the government….like simplified tax code, a national primary, easier to actually vote and dumping the electoral college.

This is our country….time that those we send to Congress listen to the people and their concerns and wishes…..lobbyists have had their run….shut down “K” Street.

This idea is why I said what I said…..

Arizona bill recently introduced by a GOP state legislator.

State Sen. Anthony Kern (R-27) is spearheading Senate Concurrent Resolution 1014, which says that “the Legislature, and no other official, shall appoint presidential electors.” If it passes both chambers, the measure could appear on the November ballot.

As Arizona Republic columnist EJ Montini wrote earlier this month, “In other words, if such a law had existed when Biden beat Trump, the majority MAGA Legislature could have ignored the will of Arizona voters and appointed like-minded electors of their choosing who, in turn, could have installed Dear Leader as the victor.”

Someone other than the voter picks who gets the electoral votes…..now do you see why I say what I say?

The electoral college (to be redundant) has long out lived it’s usefulness….many times over….

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-electoral-college_n_66ba3471e4b0f1d23236c143

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

06Jan21–A Day In Infamy

We had one when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and now the next Day Of Infamy is upon us…..Pearl was an attack on the country from a foreign entity…..this time it will an attack on the very structure of our republic.

06 January is the date that the Congress meets to certify the electoral win for Joe Biden but there are some within our government, that will work to deny the win by Biden….

The latest traitor to the American system is Se. Ted Cruz….along with 11 other GOP Senators…..

Acknowledging that their effort to keep President-elect Joe Biden from assuming office is unlikely to succeed, 11 Republican senators committed anyway Saturday to voting to reject Electoral College votes on Wednesday. The group said in a joint statement that a commission should be appointed by Congresss “to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states,” the Hill reports. Once the states have the findings, their legislatures could hold a special session to consider changing their electoral votes. “Accordingly, we intend to vote on Jan. 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified'” until the audit is in. The statement was signed by Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana. Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also were listed.

This is what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was hoping to avoid, per Axios. Republicans facing reelection in two years now will have to go on record as opposing President Trump’s wishes to fight Biden’s victory or as endorsing the battle cry of election fraud. Many of them already have rejected that notion. “We are not naïve,” the statement issued Saturday said. “We fully expect most if not all Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote otherwise.” Individual Republicans have said as much. “In the end, I don’t think it changes anything,” Sen. John Thune said. Sen. Ben Sasse said it’s a stunt to help presidential hopefuls win over Trump’s supporters. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was the first senator to say he’d object; the 11 senators plan to cite more specific grounds for their votes. The announcement of the state-by-state election results will be made in a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

Then there are those representatives in the House that are part of this circus….like Gohmert (a d/bag from the word go)……

A federal appeals court has thrown out GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert’s last-ditch attempt to subvert President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, his second rejection in two days in the Texas lawmaker’s attempt to empower Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals gave very short shrift to Gohmert’s legal effort, dismissing it summarily in a one-paragraph opinion issued Saturday evening.

The unsigned decision noted the district court‘s ruling that Gohmert and 11 Arizona Republicans — who would have been electors for President Donald Trump — lacked legal standing to pursue the case.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2137193339126/judge-throws-out-gohmert-suit-aimed-at-empowering-pence-to-overturn-2020-election-results

And Gohmert is not alone in the House…..at least 140 GOP representatives will likely vote against the certification of the the Biden win……

At least 140 House Republicans are planning to vote against counting electoral votes that would certify the election for President-elect Joe Biden, two Republican congressmen told CNN. 

Biden won 306 electoral votes, well over the 270 needed to secure the US presidency, and flipped five states that in 2016 voted for Trump. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/140-house-republicans-to-vote-against-biden-electoral-college-confirmation-2020-12

Noe VP Pence has signed onto the silliness and the traitorous actions….

Vice President Mike Pence, who will be presiding over the joint session of Congress on Wednesday and is required to announce Biden as the winner, has endorsed the effort, the New York Times reports. Pence “shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election,” a statement by his chief of staff says, adding that he “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on Jan. 6th.” A dozen Republican senators have said they’ll object to the electoral results.

President Trump’s team welcomed GOP senators’ plans, per CNBC. “It’s encouraging to see so many patriots step up and demand an investigation into the rampant voter fraud and irregularities we saw on November 3rd,” said Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser to the campaign. “Our country will love them for it!” Trump tweeted. But the objections have “zero chance of succeeding,” an election law expert wrote on CNN, though they’re nonetheless dangerous. “American democracy cannot survive the losing party refusing to accept defeat,” Joshua A. Douglas said. It’s “an attempt to subvert the will of the voters,” Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said, pointing out that the votes of millions of Americans have been “counted, recounted, litigated, and state-certified.” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said, “I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world.”

Sorry Mitt but that label may not long apply to the US.

Here’s a thought…..as per the Constitution if Biden cannot be certified as the winner of the 2020 election then…Speaker Pelosi becomes acting president….is that really what the GOP truly wants.

All this is a silly political game to move the narrative forward that there was massive voter fraud….of which there has been NO proof….most any on the minor lapses were committed by GOP operatives not the people voting…..but that somehow is never the story being told.

As far as I am concerned these people are TRAITORS they are violating their oath of office and should suffer dire consequences for their betrayals.

This day too shall live in INFAMY…..the day when elected officials betrayed their country for some minor demagogue.

Hold these toads responsible for their ill-advised actions!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What About Those Electoral College Votes?

The finally tally was Biden with 302 votes and Trump with 232….but it will not be official until today and then on 06 January……let me explain….

Today the tally will be certified and prepared to go to the Congress in January…..

Monday is a significant day in the US on two fronts: Not only do COVID vaccinations begin but the electoral college meets. The latter is the next big step in the selection of the president, and one with added significance in 2020 because of President Trump’s continuing challenge of the results, notes the Wall Street Journal. However, when all is said and done on Monday, Joe Biden is expected to formally receive 306 votes and Trump 232. That sets the stage for the next important date: Jan 6., when the votes cast on Monday will be counted in a joint session of Congress over which Vice President Pence will preside, per the AP.

Electors will meet in their own states and in the District of Colombia to cast their paper ballots, with the first sessions beginning at 10 Eastern, reports USA Today. Biden is expected to address the nation in the evening when the process is complete. Some states allow “faithless” electors to cast ballots for a candidate not chosen by the voters, but the AP doesn’t expect any such defections this year.

What are the chances that some of these idiots will try something to prevent the tally from becoming official….sealing Biden’s election as law?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing In On The Election

Just mere weeks from all of us heading to the polls if we can still vote that is……some news sources are telling me that Biden has a huge lead….something I do not necessarily believe….they also said that Clinton had that lead in 2016….and look what we got for having that lead.

Then there are those Trump sucking sites that would have us believe that the race is closer than most of MSM would have us believe.

Then Gallup has a poll that thinks most Americans think Trump will win re-election…..

The good news for President Trump: His job approval has hit its highest point since May, Gallup reported on Thursday.

The bad news: His approval rating is 46%, while his disapproval rating is 52%. 

But the latest Gallup poll included one fascinating finding.

“Regardless of whom they personally support, 56% of Americans expect Trump to prevail over Biden in the November election, while 40% think Biden will win,” wrote Megan Brenan in an article released by the polling firm. “Although majorities of partisans think their party’s candidate will win, Republicans are more likely to believe Trump will win (90%) than Democrats are to think Biden will (73%). Fifty-six percent of independents predict that Trump will win.”

https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/gallup-majority-americans-think-trump-will-win-election

I personally like the analytics that the site FiveThirtyEight.com gives us when they look at the election…..so for all those hard supporters of Biden need to keep their eyes on the Electoral College…..why?

Even if you’re not following the polls super closely like those of us at FiveThirtyEight, you probably know that Joe Biden has both a sizable and fairly stable lead over President Trump.

However, you shouldn’t count Trump out just yet. Trump currently has a nearly 1 in 4 shot of winning the election,1 according to our presidential forecast, even though he only has a 1 in 10 chance of winning the national popular vote.

That’s, of course, due to the Electoral College, in which Trump has an edge this year.

Historically, which party enjoys an advantage in the Electoral College ebbs and flows; sometimes the Democrats benefit from it; at other times, the Republicans. But in 2020, the Electoral College is clearly boosting Trump’s odds of winning reelection.

That’s because the states that are most likely to decide the contest are somewhat more Republican-leaning than the country as a whole, as the table below shows.

Trump Is An Underdog, But The Electoral College’s Republican Tilt Improves His Chances

Do not take for granted the BS spread by the MSM…..to be certain of a Trump defeat you must vote……

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Picking That President

Paper #2 of 2

2020 and we are in the process of picking our next president……all of which does not in the least represent what the people actually want or need.

Is there a better way to pick the leader of the free world?

Of course there is…..the quickest way in my opinion is to eliminate the Electoral College…..

Americans are understandably disillusioned with how the Electoral College picks presidential winners. The system arguably functions contrary to expectations of how a democracy should work, and inconsistently with the purpose the founders intended.

There are some bold reform proposals on the table that deserve consideration in the long run—ideas that would solve the problem that presidents can be elected despite the majority of voters opposing them, an outcome unthinkable in any democracycommitted to majority rule. The problem is that most of these proposals either aren’t going to be feasible by 2020, if ever, or, on close inspection, would actually worsen the problems they’re intended to solve.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/04/electoral-college-reform-2020-226792

But are Americans truly wanting to eliminate the stupidity?

The Electoral College, which allowed the past two Republican presidents to win office with fewer votes than their opponents, has officially become a joke.

In a skit last week, Saturday Night Live lampooned how the US is picking its leaders by highlighting the fact that most voters have no say in who will become president. But the Electoral College is no laughing matter. 

As long as the same person won the popular vote and the Electoral College, this wasn’t a problem. But with the last two Republicans owing their election to an antiquated system and not the support of a majority of voters, it has dawned on many Americans that something is amiss — especially because things seem to be getting worse.

If recent history is any indication, this is not just a problem for the loser but also for the winner. The former will miss out on being president despite getting more votes, while the latter has to live with questions about their mandate — or even their legitimacy.

Are Americans Ready to Junk the Electoral College?

There is yet another possibility that needs discussion……on the Electoral College and their voting for president….

Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging state laws that bind Electoral College electors to vote for the presidential candidate they are selected to support. The case was brought in response to four 2016 electors — three from Washington and one from Colorado — who tried to vote against their state’s popular vote winner, and, in the case of the Washington electors, faced fines for having broken their pledges.

These so-called “faithless electors” have long been a feature of American presidential elections, but it’s possible that the Supreme Court could shake up the Electoral College system, striking down state laws that try to guarantee electors’ votes by replacing or punishing those who don’t vote as they promised to. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the overall lack of enforcement of electors’ pledge to vote for the winner of their state troubled her, saying, “I made a promise to do something, but that promise is unenforceable.” But Justice Samuel Alito said that overturning the state laws could “lead to chaos where the popular vote is close.”

If The Supreme Court Lets The Electoral College Vote However It Wants, Will Chaos Ensue?

There are a wealth of ideas to fix the stupidity of the picking of the president/nominee….personally I kinda like the national primary thing…….Let people nationwide cast their primary ballots all at once.

There are others as well…here are 6 ideas….

Every four years, Iowans are deluged with the talking points, the stump speeches, the polls and, of course, the ads.

They also hear that they shouldn’t be first. Iowans are too white, too old and too few to merit first-in-the-nation status, say the critics.

But if Iowa shouldn’t be first, who should be? For more than a century, reformers have been proposing ideas for how to change the primary system. And they’ve been failing. And they’ll probably continue to fail.

No one is going to persuade state and party machinery to change the current primary system anytime soon. However, these ideas can at least help show what works (and what doesn’t) about the way things are now.

Here are just a few of the ideas people have proposed over the years:

https://www.npr.org/2016/01/26/463870736/no-way-to-pick-a-president-here-are-6-other-ways-to-do-it

One last thought on the presidency……a little historic rambling…..

If the prospect of the Trump – Biden presidential election fills you with horror and despair, you might give some thought to not just replacing both candidates but the presidency as well, at least as we now conceive it.

For some time now, but maybe since the Kennedy administration (which ended in a hail of voter-suppressed gunfire), I have been thinking that one of the biggest problems with American democracy is the presidency itself, the idea that the chief magistrate of the country should be one person elected every four years by a few swing voters in Ohio, North Carolina, or Florida.

Get Rid of the Presidency

Any thoughts on this topic?

One closing cartoon…..

Image

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Surprise For 2020?

I have several Trump-ites that visit and I would like to from time to time throw them a bone and say something positive abut their choice of people to support.

Recently I read a post by a loyal reader of IST….my friend Doug and his post…..https://findingpoliticalsanity.com/its-pretty-early-but-what-could-happen-the-day-after-trump-leaves-office/ he has an unique way of looking at the situation with Trump……

Is it possible that in 2020 Trump could win again and with the help of the Electoral College…again?

The Republican Party is set to win a large majority of all future close presidential elections, even contests in which they lose the popular vote, according to a recent study.

GOP candidates for president can expect to be victorious in 65 percent of future presidential elections and University of Texas at Austin researchers analyzed why “inversions” — where the popular vote winner loses the overall election — has happened twice since 2000.

The study authors found that the Electoral College’s winner-take-all approach favors Republicans and has pushed them to victories in 2000 and 2016.

The researchers concluded that inversions will occur more and more in 2020 and beyond unless a policy change completely dissolves, rather than reforms, the Electoral College.

https://www.newsweek.com/abolish-electoral-college-favors-republicans-over-democrats-future-presidential-elections-study-1464834

Many of us think that it is time to put the EC in the “Dust Bin Of History”….I have been calling for the end for many years…..

https://lobotero.com/2016/12/09/its-time-to-end-the-electoral-college/

https://lobotero.com/2019/03/05/electoral-college-must-go/

As depressing as that info can be…there is other info that could be more depressing if accurate….

President Donald Trump looks likely to cruise to reelection next year under three different economic models Moody’s Analytics employed to gauge the 2020 race.

Barring anything unusual happening, the president’s Electoral College victory could easily surpass his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton, which came by a 304-227 count.

Moody’s based its projections on how consumers feel about their own financial situation, the gains the stock market has achieved during Trump’s tenure and the prospects for unemployment, which has fallen to a 50-year low. Should those variables hold up, the president looks set to get another four-year term.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/moodys-trump-on-his-way-to-an-easy-2020-win-if-economy-holds-up.html

Like I said depressing on so many levels.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Why Not Keep The Electoral College?

I have been calling for an end to the electoral college for decades….I have even wrote a few posts about the fact……https://lobotero.com/2019/03/05/electoral-college-must-go/

In keeping with my policy of trying to give both sides of a debate…I have read something the president said about the electoral college (he is in favor after all that is what gave him the presidency)…….

President Trump has changed his mind on the importance of the Electoral College versus the popular vote, for reasons that may be connected to his winning the Electoral College and losing the popular vote in 2016. “I used to like the idea of the Popular Vote, but now realize the Electoral College is far better for the USA,” Trump tweeted Wednesday, explaining that campaigning for the popular vote is “much easier & different” to campaigning for the Electoral College. He said it was “like training for the 100 yard dash vs. a marathon.” Trump won with 304 Electoral College votes in 2016, compared to 227 for Hillary Clinton, who had nearly 3 million more total votes. He once called the Electoral College “a disaster to a democracy,” notes the Washington Post; his reversal comes as Democrats including Elizabeth Warren call for the Electoral College to be dismantled.


To win the popular vote, Trump said, candidates only need to visit “the large States – the Cities would end up running the Country. Smaller States & the entire Midwest would end up losing all power.” Clinton’s 2016 defeat, which was the fifth such loss in US history, has led to Democratic efforts both to bypass the college and to pay more attention to states like Wisconsin, which Trump won after Clinton failed to campaign there, the Hill reports. According to National Popular Vote, 17 Democratic-leaning states plan to sign a pact to award their Electoral College votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote. (Read more electoral college stories.)

Instead of getting rid of this dinosaur….they will do what they always do…try to reform it…..that is the cowards way out of this debate.

Electoral College Must Go!

Seriously?

Most of us “pinkos” on the Left have been saying that for decades and no one was listening and now it is all the rage…..I have written many posts condemning the EC and calling for its abolishing…….

https://lobotero.com/2008/07/14/what-do-you-really-know-about-the-electoral-college/

https://lobotero.com/2016/11/28/what-do-you-know-about-the-electoral-college/

The reason that I re-visit my attempts to sway my readers is something that was published last week……

Earlier this week, former Attorney General Eric Holder called for the abolition of the electoral college because it is “undemocratic” and “forces candidates to ignore majority of the voters and campaign in a small number of states.” In a New York Times op-ed, columnist Jamelle Bouie echoes all of the above and hopes that Holder’s argument becomes a main topic among Democrats running for president. “The Electoral College routinely threatens or produces perverse outcomes, where the will of the voters is thwarted by an ill-considered 18th-century electoral device,” writes Bouie. “It has no place in a democracy that strives for a standard of ‘one person, one vote.'” It’s also the reason Donald Trump is president instead of Hillary Clinton, he writes, and the reason Trump might win again in 2020.

Bouie runs through the historical origins of the electoral college, along with the failed attempts to replace it over the years with a system based on popular vote. Opponents of the electoral college have nowhere near the support necessary to get an amendment ratified abolishing it, he notes. “The inertia behind the Electoral College is strong, which is why it needs vocal opponents making their case as loudly and often as possible.” However, he writes that the movement has, in fact, been gaining ground, with the governor of Colorado promising to join the National Popular Vote interstate compact, and Maine’s legislature considering the same move. Click to read the full column, in which Bouie argues that the current system is a “glaring flaw” in our democracy. (Read more electoral college stories.)

My question is…what took you people so long?

Maybe now someone will f*cking listen because some high paid pundit has written an op-ed stating what most of us on the Left have known for many decades……

As they say…..”better late than never”…….

And guess what? We may not have had a Trump as president if you a/holes had listened in the beginning.

Just Saying!

Closing Thought–22May18

I am posting this because there way too many people that think I hate everything that our president does….that is not accurate…..just as I did not agree with everything Obama did…..

I have been a staunch opponent of the Electoral College for many years….I really started bad mouth this archaic practice after the 2000 election.

Recently Trump has made a comment about the EC……a comment that I can agree with……

Pres, Trump argued that he’d rather see the presidential election be determined based on the popular vote than the current Electoral College system, claiming it would be “much easier to win.”

“They also like to always talk about [the] Electoral College. Well, it’s an election based on the Electoral College. I would rather have a popular election, but it’s a totally different campaign,” Trump said during an interview with “Fox & Friends.”

“It’s as though you’re running — if you’re a runner you’re practicing for the 100-yard dash as opposed to the one mile,” he continued. “The Electoral College is different. I would rather have the popular vote, because it’s — to me, it’s much easier to win.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/385022-trump-i-would-rather-have-presidential-election-based-on-the-popular

Given his track record lately he may change his tune next week….but for now I can agree with what he has said…

May your day be good and safe…..chuq