Mark, the W problem was even worse than the Electoral College. W's cousin was in charge of elections in Florida, his brother was governor, they wanted to stop counting votes when Gore was catching up, and a sympathetic SCOTUS approved stopping the vote count. Had Florida not been stolen from Gore, he would have won in the Electoral College.
I don’t believe they are right. She has much more room to expand her numbers than he does. He tops out 47% at the most, perhaps 45%. By getting more voters out for her, she can cut his percentage further. My prediction: Harris 52%, Trump 44% and third parties 4%. If he embarrasses himself tonight you can take those numbers to the bank. I really believe this.
It's feeling increasingly creepy. We could have no country (republic, democracy) left in 6-8 years. I just keep telling myself these polls can't possibly be right. If Trump and Project 2025 get installed, we're done.
A tough task, Steve. We will have to win some state legislatures that are presently red. It won’t happen overnight. I would hope in 6-8 years. And we need to win the next two elections to get there. There are groups lobbying vigorously for the compact.
I fear we don’t have that time, as a nation or as a world. I think in an ideal system, each party with enough members whose candidate got enough votes would have a position within the new administration.
Unfortunately, with how partisan our politics are (with republicans voting against their own bills just to spite democrats), it would only lead to subversion.
But we should still recognize that a tyranny by the majority is little better than a tyranny by the minority.
A more permanent fix would be to amend that section with an act: switch away from the "winner take all" system and make all state ECs proportional (like Nebraska). That would effectively gut the EC and put the vote actually, finally in the hands of the people.
More importantly, it would sweep away a final vestige of chattel slavery with its 3/5 apportionment insult.
The compact is certainly one solution, but another is to make the Electoral College more proportional. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that award electoral votes by congressional district, and though it still leaves much to be desired, I wish more states did the same. A state can decide anytime to switch to the Maine/Nebraska model, though of course many states have little incentive to do so on their own. One thing to consider is having states switch to proportional allocation in pairs, so that neither party benefits in the aggregate. We'd end up with more battleground districts as a result, which is something, at least.
So is the GOP. We need to erase cultural affiliation with the losing side of civil war. We continue to tolerate the hate, racism and governance of a losing philosophy. We are the melting pot of the world. Let’s finally embrace it. It’s not “heritage” to hate. We are equal. Stop giving away our freedoms to the highest bidders. Freedom to vote, to love, to believe in ourselves and others. Freedom to reach for the goals of economic prosperity and comfort for everyone.
Elizabeth, please reconsider. We have been working hard no longer to be a melting pot.
It is in fact our heritage to hate. It was easy to hate the British. We just moved away. Then, we hated the Native Americans. Then, the Africans. I read an excerpt of a book that talked about how we hate all immigrants, and start out calling them all dirty, lazy, criminals, etc. If you've never seen Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," you should. He focuses more on fear, but it's a very short step from fear to hate. Too many of us are unspeakably greedy, seem to revel in diminishing others, are deeply offended at the idea of sharing or providing for the poor and disadvantaged, and are far more prone than the people of any other country to want to shoot each other.
It is a good idea and I’m glad you pointed it out.
Fred, absolutely the case. I was going to go into that but it would have lengthened the piece considerably. It was theft to the core.
Yes we can. I’m optimistic.
Mark, the W problem was even worse than the Electoral College. W's cousin was in charge of elections in Florida, his brother was governor, they wanted to stop counting votes when Gore was catching up, and a sympathetic SCOTUS approved stopping the vote count. Had Florida not been stolen from Gore, he would have won in the Electoral College.
It is a valid concern. I think for I either plan to work we would need to flip some legislatures over the next 6-8 years.
I don’t believe they are right. She has much more room to expand her numbers than he does. He tops out 47% at the most, perhaps 45%. By getting more voters out for her, she can cut his percentage further. My prediction: Harris 52%, Trump 44% and third parties 4%. If he embarrasses himself tonight you can take those numbers to the bank. I really believe this.
It's feeling increasingly creepy. We could have no country (republic, democracy) left in 6-8 years. I just keep telling myself these polls can't possibly be right. If Trump and Project 2025 get installed, we're done.
Amen to that.
A tough task, Steve. We will have to win some state legislatures that are presently red. It won’t happen overnight. I would hope in 6-8 years. And we need to win the next two elections to get there. There are groups lobbying vigorously for the compact.
I fear we don’t have that time, as a nation or as a world. I think in an ideal system, each party with enough members whose candidate got enough votes would have a position within the new administration.
Unfortunately, with how partisan our politics are (with republicans voting against their own bills just to spite democrats), it would only lead to subversion.
But we should still recognize that a tyranny by the majority is little better than a tyranny by the minority.
Tyranny from either end is unacceptable. And I think Harris would have a couple of Republicans in her cabinet.
She has said she would be open to it, but I don’t think it’s the politician that most of the party would want…
If maga just screams “RINO” then we are right back to where we were. Well, maybe with a few more sane moderates on board.
A more permanent fix would be to amend that section with an act: switch away from the "winner take all" system and make all state ECs proportional (like Nebraska). That would effectively gut the EC and put the vote actually, finally in the hands of the people.
More importantly, it would sweep away a final vestige of chattel slavery with its 3/5 apportionment insult.
I don’t think it would be half-assed.
That irony never escapes me Sam.
With any luck given the new commitment to down ballot races that may change in 6-8 years.
That is exactly right.
It needs to be gotten rid of any way we can.
There was an overlap between small states and the slave states.
The compact is certainly one solution, but another is to make the Electoral College more proportional. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that award electoral votes by congressional district, and though it still leaves much to be desired, I wish more states did the same. A state can decide anytime to switch to the Maine/Nebraska model, though of course many states have little incentive to do so on their own. One thing to consider is having states switch to proportional allocation in pairs, so that neither party benefits in the aggregate. We'd end up with more battleground districts as a result, which is something, at least.
Another great idea.
So is the GOP. We need to erase cultural affiliation with the losing side of civil war. We continue to tolerate the hate, racism and governance of a losing philosophy. We are the melting pot of the world. Let’s finally embrace it. It’s not “heritage” to hate. We are equal. Stop giving away our freedoms to the highest bidders. Freedom to vote, to love, to believe in ourselves and others. Freedom to reach for the goals of economic prosperity and comfort for everyone.
Elizabeth, please reconsider. We have been working hard no longer to be a melting pot.
It is in fact our heritage to hate. It was easy to hate the British. We just moved away. Then, we hated the Native Americans. Then, the Africans. I read an excerpt of a book that talked about how we hate all immigrants, and start out calling them all dirty, lazy, criminals, etc. If you've never seen Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," you should. He focuses more on fear, but it's a very short step from fear to hate. Too many of us are unspeakably greedy, seem to revel in diminishing others, are deeply offended at the idea of sharing or providing for the poor and disadvantaged, and are far more prone than the people of any other country to want to shoot each other.
You do not walk in my size 5 shoes…