Court rules Electoral College members aren't bound by popular vote

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by ModCon, Aug 21, 2019.

  1. HB Surfer

    HB Surfer Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    As it should be and for a damn good reason. Otherwise, 51% could vote for to seize the livelihood of the other 49%. Being a Republic is a safeguard against having the American Dream, Incentive, and Ability to Rise up destroyed. We can just go Communist, which is really the goal of Leftists.
     
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  2. Bluesguy

    Bluesguy Well-Known Member Donor

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    How many times does it have to be repeated that tallying up the results of the 51 unique and separate elections that take place and declaring that as the same as if we had a national popular vote, a reflection of the actual national sentiment is folly both politically and statistically. I didn't vote for Trump, does that mean I liked Clinton more? Of course not.
     
  3. Egoboy

    Egoboy Well-Known Member Donor

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    With the caveat that I round and then assigned extra EC votes based on who won the state, I come up with Clinton 272 - Trump 266....

    In 2000, I have Gore 273 - Bush 265

    I can only attach JPG files or else I'd attach my spreadsheet and we could discuss methodologies...
     
  4. PARTIZAN1

    PARTIZAN1 Well-Known Member

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    I did not say that the states electing the POTUS changed. I said the real world conditions such as the number of states the population increase and commmunications and such has changed. The EC does not balance anything but it causes the minority of low population states to have extreme influence over the ones with larger populations hence the vote of someone in Montana et al is artificially more powerful than someone in New York. You do realize that each state gets two senators regardless of population. That counts in EC so an Alaska gets a multiplier defect and gets more say out of proportion in the Senate. Yes larger states get more reps but that still does not take care of the inequity in overall representation.
     
  5. Fangbeer

    Fangbeer Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    What's more, politicians are more likely to buy votes using the resources of the minority. California needs water? No problem. Arizona Utah and Idaho don't vote for me anyway. You can have theirs.

    Corn costs too much? I guess it's time for Iowa to experience a little holodomor.
     
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  6. Doofenshmirtz

    Doofenshmirtz Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I remember that desperate commercial. "We know better than the public because we know who to act like people we are not." They did say "We're not asking you to vote for Hillary" but any vote against Trump would be in her favor.
     
  7. struth

    struth Well-Known Member

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    The EC is a bria
    NY has 29 votes and Montana only 3...NY has a much greater influence and in fact gets a ton more visits from those running
     
  8. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    The EC is still mob rule, it’s just a different mob.
     
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  9. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    I do understand, but still think it’s stupid.
    Why would it be bad for trump to campaign in California and for the dem to campaign in the south?
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2019
  10. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    Yes, it doesn’t prevent mob rule and doesn’t get smaller states more attention....unless it’s a battleground state. Why not make them ALL battlegrounds?
     
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  11. XploreR

    XploreR Well-Known Member

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    I disagree with the principle & support eliminating the Electoral College. What the Electoral College is basically saying is, your vote doesn't really count. Only the Elector's votes count, & the courts have agreed that the elector's votes don't have to reflect the outcome of the American voters themselves. It's just an affirmation of the system's design that intentionally restricts American democracy.
     
  12. XploreR

    XploreR Well-Known Member

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    The founding fathers were the wealthiest elite of their time & designed the Electoral College to assure they & their class retained power into the future. The EC has caused four Presidential candidates who lost the popular election to ascend to the Oval Office in spite of that loss. It is a system designed to protect the special rights of a small, wealthy aristocracy, & doesn't represent the average American. It should be discarded ASAP.
     
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  13. struth

    struth Well-Known Member

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    The EC is a bria
    NY has 29 votes and Montana only 3...NY has a much greater influence and in fact gets a ton more visits from those running
     
  14. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    A U.S. appeals court in Denver said Electoral College members can vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and aren’t bound by the popular vote in their states.

    I don’t think you’re right unless the article got it wrong
     
  15. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    So instead it’s better to have 49% vote to seize the livelihood for 51%?
    The electoral college doesn’t prevent that at all.
    A popular vote for president doesn’t change us from being a republic.
     
  16. struth

    struth Well-Known Member

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    Could be wrong. I’ll need to reread the opinion
     
  17. Fangbeer

    Fangbeer Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    My question still stands.

    I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt that you described the EC as stupid because you had thought of some better way to handle the problem it attempts to address. Should I instead have understood that you find it stupid because it hinders your political agenda?
     
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  18. PARTIZAN1

    PARTIZAN1 Well-Known Member

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    Montana has two Senators as does NY. There are a group of states that even Seth combined populations do not have the population of NY yet they have multiple amounts of Senators as compared to NY. Therefore they can block legislation. That means a minority of population can rule over a majority.
     
  19. Paul7

    Paul7 Well-Known Member

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    The funny thing is the Dem primary system isn't based on a purely popular vote either.
     
  20. bx4

    bx4 Well-Known Member

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    How do you figure that? I’ll bet that if Electirs had known this in 2016, a lot of them would have defected from Trump to Clinton.
     
  21. struth

    struth Well-Known Member

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    Well yeah every state has two senators. The Senate represents the States as a whole, equally, not the people. The House represents the people and is thus based on population. We have a bicameral legislature for that very reason.
     
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  22. struth

    struth Well-Known Member

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    It will kill the legislative push by dems in purple states to force their electors to vote for whomever had the national popular vote.
     
  23. PARTIZAN1

    PARTIZAN1 Well-Known Member

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    I know all of that bug still it gives the smaller states extraordinary power in the Senate over the larger states.
     
  24. struth

    struth Well-Known Member

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    No, it gives them the same power in the Senate....where they were all suppose to be equal. California is part of the Union just like Montana and Virginia are. The States are all equal in the Senate. Not sure why you think one state is better then another State

    In the lower chamber, the states with the larger populations have more power then the smaller states.
     
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  25. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    Yea, my agenda is to elect a president that the voters prefer.
     

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