"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." Samuel Adams

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Saved by the Electoral College


It seems as though Hillary Clinton may win the popular vote, even though Donald Trump will end up with a substantial majority of electoral votes. The founders created the Electoral College to prevent the large states from dominating the small ones, and this is exactly what has happened. As of 7:30 am on November 9, Clinton is ahead of Trump by about 134,000. But if we subtract New York and California from each candidates' totals, Trump is ahead by about 4 million votes. The Electoral College has prevented NY and CA from dominating the election and forcing a president on us that the rest of the country didn't want. Thank you, James Madison, et al.  

4 comments:

Tom said...

have you heard about this movement?

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com

Dave said...

Yep. I'm okay with each state deciding how they will select the electors. That's what the Constitution calls for.

Tom said...

That's not what this is about. This is about a states electors being allowed to choose the candidate with the most popular votes throughout the country regardless of how their state voted. Actually, they can do that now if they so choose. The punishment is pretty minor if they go against their states vote.

Dave said...

If there is a punishment for going against your state's vote, then no one should expect an elector to go against it. And in really it happens very rarely. I thought this movement was an effort to change state laws so that electors would vote for whoever wins the popular vote nationally. Of course, this would effectively obviate the Electoral College, but the Constitution gives states the right to appoint their electors any way they want, even if it thwarts the whole benefit of having an Electoral College. But, alas, I'm for state's rights.