The tarnish of the electoral college
The Electoral College remains a deeply defective political mechanism no matter whom it benefits, and it needs to be abolished. …
There should be no structural bias in the presidential election system, even if population swings might oscillate over a long period of decades. If Democrats win a string of elections, it should be because their policies and their candidates appeal to a majority of the country’s voters, not because supporters are clustered in enough states to get to 270 electoral votes. Republicans should broaden their base beyond a shrinking proportion of white voters not simply to win back Colorado, but because a more centrist outlook would be good for the country. …
But 76 years later, the system continues to calcify American politics. As Adam Liptak of The Times recently wrote, this year’s candidates campaigned in only 10 states after the conventions, ignoring the Democratic states on the West Coast and Northeast and the Republican ones in the South and the Plains. The number of battleground states is shrinking, and turnout in the other states is lower. The undemocratic prospect of a president who loses the popular vote is always present (it’s happened three times), as is the potential horror show of a tie vote that is decided in Congress.
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So this is the real fear. They don’t care about the people. They fear that a tie would not be in their favor.
Frank Enstine on November 16, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Sure, lets abolish the Electoral College and the campaign will consist of the Democrat going to California and New York 100 times, and the Republican going to Texas and Florida 100 times. That will certainly be an improvement.
None of these good-government types even wants to ask the question, why are 40 of the 50 states now considered a lock for one party or the other, with the Blue states getting Bluer and the Red states getting Redder? Why can Democrats still elect a Governor in Kentucky but no Democrat for President has cracked 40% of the vote there since 1992?
Is it time to break up the USA?
rockmom on November 16, 2012 at 4:07 PM
They know they are not going to win in 2016 with Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton because the minorities will not come out to vote.
rockmom on November 16, 2012 at 4:08 PM
No, it was not in appeasement to the slave states. The slave states wanted electors apportioned by population alone and blacks counted toward that even though they could not vote. It was just the opposite. And who cares how many electoral votes the loser gets. If you lost, you lost. Would Landon feel better if he got 80 instead of 8?
Rocks on November 16, 2012 at 4:10 PM
I think the NYT — along with the rest of the legacy media/Hollywood — needs to be shuttered. They are a tarnish on our republic and sow the seeds of hate, resentment, envy, and division.
Punchenko on November 16, 2012 at 4:16 PM
As a consolation prize to the rest of America, Iowa would no longer have an overinflated role in picking presidential nominees. Actually, Iowa would probably never see another presidential candidate again.
dczombie on November 16, 2012 at 4:20 PM
But that’s their job. Who’s going to do it if they don’t.
Frank Enstine on November 16, 2012 at 4:28 PM
No one will do it if they go under and the $$$ dries up. There is no reason why the right shouldn’t organize and start targeting the legacy media and the advertisers who keep them alive. It’s time to get even and pull the plug on these shameless propagandists.
Punchenko on November 16, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Those who don’t understand the concept are too stupid to vote. This should be a prerequisite to voting eligibility.
CycloneCDB on November 16, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Haha, absolutely no mention by the NY Times about how their very own Golden Boy, Bill Clinton (along with his capos like James Carville) perfected what Carville in late 1992 called “Picking the lock of the Electoral College.”
Don’t fear the Reaper.
Del Dolemonte on November 16, 2012 at 4:53 PM
Fixed it.
platypus on November 16, 2012 at 4:56 PM
Ahh the NYT: Always eager to further the erosion of the institutions of our Constitutional Republic.
Valkyriepundit on November 16, 2012 at 4:56 PM
The Electoral College is a vital part of the structure which protects us from mob rule. It is built upon the same philosophy that gave us two houses of Congress.
It is necessary in order to protect competing interests, and to preserve the sovereignty of states. Without it, our country would degenerate into one big New York City…complete with twinky cops and soda police…and government would continue to grow unchecked. Citizens would be prisoners with no alternative, as there would be just a huge and dysfunctional “one size fits all” government. Montana and Wyoming would never get a fair hearing for their interests on any subject. The country would be run by mobs of the ignorant, herded from place to place by promises of “Obamaphones” or something equally silly.
Let’s fight to keep the Electoral College and, with it, our Union of Sovereign States.
landlines on November 16, 2012 at 6:45 PM