Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Neat and simple. Vintage Reich. To link a few

"END RUN AROUND ELECTORAL COLLEGE: ROBERT REICH"

2012 - The Future of Republican Support for the Electoral College
[...]
So maybe they'll reassess this antique. Democrats got all the convincing they needed in 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote to no avail. Republicans shouldn't wait till it happens to them.
P - If they look closely, they will find the arguments for the status quo don't stand up. Such as:
P - "We should respect the wisdom of the framers." When it came to devising a way to elect the president, they weren't so wise. Their system led, in 1800, to an election in which Thomas Jefferson and his own running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in the Electoral College. That flaw had to be fixed with a constitutional amendment, in 1804.
P - Stanford historian Jack Rakove, an authority on the Constitutional Convention, has written that "the framers did not reject popular election because of a fear that the people might fall prey to a demagogue. They worried instead that in a provincial society, citizens would never be well enough informed to make an effective choice without multiple and expensive rounds of elections."
P - They expected most presidents to be chosen by the House of Representatives because no one would get a majority in the Electoral College. So much for their infallibility.
P - "The Electoral College is a pillar of federalism and state sovereignty." False. The strength of federalism is the existence of states and their control over many spheres of government. The Electoral College allocates votes among states but doesn't confer any power on them. Canada lacks the Electoral College, and its provinces enjoy more power than our states.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=82329658

2013 - Electing our President with National Popular Vote
Take action! Sign our petition for National Popular Vote.
http://www.commoncause.org/Petition4NPV
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=83783160

2013 - President Obama Speaks on the Economic Impact of the Government Shutdown
.. about half down in an F6 big one ..
House Republicans and the Betrayal of Democracy
[...]
Of course, the House Republicans have every right to try to get their preferred policies enacted into law through the democratic process. They have tried to do this politically, electorally and judicially. They have failed at every turn. The have lost every time they have tried to repeal Obamacare through the legislative process. They have lost in the Supreme Court when they challenged the constitutionality of the law. They have failed politically with the electorate when they were soundly defeated in the 2012 election. Indeed, the only reason House Republicans can play this cruel and criminal game at all is because they gerrymandered congressional districts to enable them to control the House even though they were defeated by the Democrats in the national popular vote for Congress. Nonetheless, they are free to keep trying to achieve their goals in every legal manner. But what they cannot morally do is to attempt to get their preferred policies enacted into law by threatening to inflict harm on the nation and its public servants.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/house-republicans-and-the_b_4027251.html [with comments]
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92710614

2014 - Column: 4 ways to fix our broken election system .. further to DD's and Soxfan's ..
[...]
2. Implement a "top two" primary. Washington state has no GOP .. http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Political+Bodies/Republican+Party .. and Democratic primaries for most political offices. Instead, there is just one primary, and all candidates are on a single ballot. After the votes are tallied, the two with the most votes qualify for the general election. There is no fear of a third party or fringe candidate interfering with the general election. Also, the system tends to favor moderates on both sides of the aisle because more extreme candidates have a difficult time winning the primary. Imagine the beauty of this on a national scale.
P - 3. Eliminate the Electoral College. This antiquated system has outlived its usefulness. It is time for a constitutional amendment that provides for the direct election of the president of the United States .. http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Places,+Geography/Countries/United+States — a difficult, but not impossible, task. A popular vote would simplify the process by largely eliminating the complex political calculus that gives disproportionate influence to "swing states." Currently, in our winner-take-all system, votes cast for a candidate in a state where that candidate loses are wasted. However, with a national popular vote, all votes count toward the total. Presidential candidates would be forced to rally supporters in all 50 states, as opposed to just a dozen purple states. Finally, this method would help us avoid tragicomedies such as the 2000 election recount in Florida, and never again could a candidate be elected without receiving the most votes.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=104832161

2016 - Trump opponents try to beat him at the Electoral College
[...]
Trump has won 290 electoral votes to Clinton's 232, with Michigan undecided, but Clinton is on pace to win the popular vote by at least 1 million ballots. Trump's opponents are motivated by the outcome of the popular vote and by their contention that the businessman and reality TV star is unfit to serve as commander in chief.
P - Just one elector so far has wavered publicly on supporting Trump.
P - Texas Republican Art Sisneros says he has reservations about the president-elect, but not because of the national popular vote. He told The Associated Press he won't vote for Clinton under any circumstance.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=126694908

2016 - Trump called the EC “a disaster for a democracy”
Mr. Trump himself has been critical of the Electoral College in the past. On the eve of the 2012 election, he called it “a disaster for
a democracy” in a Twitter post. Now, after months of railing against what he called a “rigged” election, he has become the
unlikely beneficiary of an electoral system that enables a candidate to win the race without winning over the most voters.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127049065

2017 - Yale Historian Timothy Snyder on How the U.S. Can Avoid Sliding into Authoritarianism

Top feature of another F6 biggie - https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=131892638

2017 - Donald Trump, Middle-School President
"Carl Bernstein: 'There Is Open Discussion' Among
GOP Officials That Trump Is Mentally Unstable"
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=128589208

2018 - Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=143126427

2019 - After Stinging Presidential Loss, Popular Vote Movement Gains Momentum In States
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=147076110

2019 - Maine Governor Defends Electoral College, Saying It Protects White People
[...]
Colorado was an obvious candidate for the NPV bandwagon because Democrats gained a governing trifecta there last November. If you wonder why Democrats would be more likely to support a popular vote system, consider the recent alternative history of a country with presidents Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. Another state that “flipped” to total Democratic control last year was Maine. So naturally, there’s an effort there as well to join the NPV compact. This aroused the hostile attention of Maine’s unfortunate gift to right-wing politics, former two-term governor Paul LePage, as Ronn Blitzer reports:
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=147201825

2020 - Yours from the resourceful and totally responsible Robert Reich will do.