There's even a petition online to get Electors to certify the election to change their votes to Clinton---which has no chance whatsoever of happening.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California furiously scribbled off a Senate Bill this week to abolish the Electoral College System---apparently unaware that this would require a Constitutional Amendment. That means that the proposal would have to be ratified by at least 34 states. Senator Boxer's proposal has about as much chance of success as the online petition has.
"The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society and it needs to change immediately!" Senator Boxer fumed to a sympathetic press. It's very typical of the American Left to support the US Constitution up to the point that it obstructs their political goals. The Electoral College System is neither undemocratic, nor outdated. Soros and Podesta-backed protestors are spinning the 2016 Election as though Trump took advantage of some legal technicality to win; just as they did in the 2000 Election.
Under our Constitution, individuals, sovereign states, and the Federal Government are guaranteed and assigned certain jurisdictional rights and responsibilities. This issue was addressed by our Founding Fathers long ago. Some populous states favored direct democracy both in representation and in national elections. Some smaller states favored each state to be represented equally. The Founders created a two-tiered compromise. This is why we have a bicameral Legislative Branch today: where the House is directly democratic and the Senate representative equally of each State. Up until 1914, when the 17th Amendment was passed, Senators were not even directly elected by the people but appointed by State governments. The purpose of the bicameral legislature is to have one house representing the interests of the people-at-large; the other to represent the interests of the States-at-large.
The Electoral College System is based on the same principle. Without it, a few heavily-populated urban centers could or would dominate national politics. Our Founders feared this kind of loss of local control. The Left is always complaining about diversity; but there is no other way to represent the diverse cultures and economies that comprise our Republic unless it be apportioned by State. Systems like the Electoral College and the US Senate actually do work.
We don't need to change the Constitution because a few sore losers didn't get their way. It's bad enough already that the Left continually tries to (and sometimes succeeds at) using the Judicial Branch to impose their agendas when legislative means don't go their way. Hopefully that will be a reform that the new Administration will attempt to resolve. But for now, the Electoral College System works fine.
We really need the electoral college. Due to population densities, in theory voters in Los Angeles and New York City could select every president for us, effectively silencing and shutting out 48 other states.
ReplyDeleteThe system our founding father set up worked in this election. Surprised the heck out of me, but it worked just as it was designed to do.
I read about the effort to toss out the electoral college, or to attempt to flip the elections results on facebook. Quite a few people are very excited about it.
I'm too polite to say it, but I was thinking, "okay, but if such a thing were possible, it is guaranteed to end in bloodshed and the people you are opposed to have fought diligently to protect their second amendment rights. Might want to rethink that "peace and tolerance" thing you're shrieking so loudly about."
It will never happen but it's disturbing knowing there are people walking among us that are that bloody stupid.
That already happens even at the State level in some places. Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and California are actually fairly Conservative states but their politics are dominated by Chicago, NYC, Boston and the Bay Area. Without the Electoral College, the Boston-Baltimore and Seattle-Sacramento Corridors would run national policy.
DeleteOur Founding Fathers saw what happened in Europe where a few Elites in major cities ran entire countries---completely out of touch with the regular people. The French Revolution was how that system ended up. The events in France started the same year our Constitution was ratified; so people then really saw firsthand the wisdom of these kinds of checks-and-balances.
Hypocrites. Does anyone believe that if Trump had won the popular vote and Clinton had won the electoral vote, they would be agitating to abolish the electoral college and give the presidency to Trump?
ReplyDeleteNo...Liberals only believe in the Constitution and the Rule of Law when it favors them. Do you remember all of the anti-war protests against President Bush? There was never a peep out of these people over Obama's military adventurism---even when Obama had pushed us to the very razor's edge of war with China.
DeleteRight before the Hague Decision on the South China Sea was issued, China had its military on high alert; had moved missiles and air bases into position, and their media was clearly preparing the Chinese people for armed conflict with the US. Fortunately, Obama chickened-out; but were THAT close; and nothing from the Left-Wing protestors.