The time has come boys and girls ...

[woodman]

... for us to demand that the stupid and inane Electoral College be abolished. If it ever had a useful purpose (which I've yet to be convinced that it ever did), that time was at least 10,000 years ago - and not applicable today.

What it has become in this modern day and age, is simply a "tool" for the manipulation of a presidential election, and is thus un-democratic and un-American and un-sound and un-reasonable. It serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Let's get rid of it.

[JSE]

Oh man, this could get ugly.

The way I see it is this...........

The electoral college gives a voice to less populated states. If there was no college, the candidate would simply need to win California, NY and Texas and the would pretty much have it wrapped up. I know my numbers are probably off a bit, but you get the picture. Is that fair?

I probably have more to say but the brain is fried right now. Crunchin numbers all night and day for two weeks.

JSE

[piece-it pete]

... for us to demand that the stupid and inane Electoral College be abolished. If it ever had a useful purpose (which I've yet to be convinced that it ever did), that time was at least 10,000 years ago - and not applicable today.

What it has become in this modern day and age, is simply a "tool" for the manipulation of a presidential election, and is thus un-democratic and un-American and un-sound and un-reasonable. It serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Let's get rid of it.

Right now it helps the GOP. Eventually it'll help the Dems - tick-tock-tick-tock.

But since it takes 2/3 of the states to pass an Amendment it'll never be scrapped anyway(as long as we're free). Those sparsely populated states will NEVER hand over their authority to the cities. I'm not sure having the cities run things is a good idea anyway - look at the mess most of them are in. A little rub: Most are Democrat machine run.

Maybe we can have the current Supreme Court declare the Constitution unconstitutional?? (They might do it - and that's not funny!)

How is one of the defining sub-systems in the Constitution un-American :)?

Pete

[trollgirl]

... for us to demand that the stupid and inane Electoral College be abolished. If it ever had a useful purpose (which I've yet to be convinced that it ever did), that time was at least 10,000 years ago - and not applicable today.

What it has become in this modern day and age, is simply a "tool" for the manipulation of a presidential election, and is thus un-democratic and un-American and un-sound and un-reasonable. It serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Let's get rid of it.

I'm reminded of that geezer in Star Wars, episode 4, who said "The last vestiges of the old Republic have been swept away!" In spite of Dubya constantly prattling that our country is a democracy (democrazy), our country is a REPUBLIC, even though some are trying to transition it into an empire. The Electoral College is one of those vestiges.

Laz

[tugmcmartin]

Boy, didn't we already beat this horse about a year ago? Maybe more?

For a long time i was against the electoral college, basically because i didn't understand what its purpose was. I remember last time we discussed this i posted a link to a rather lengthy article outlining the pros and cons of the system. Was a very good and very educational read for me and basically pushed me to the pro-college camp. A couple of folks have already pointed out some of the reasons we have it. The foremost is that despite what most people believe, we are not a democracy... the US is a Republic, made up of states that all need to have their interests taken into account. That is the reason for the electoral college. Remember, we are the United STATES of America... not the United PEOPLE of America.

T-

[piece-it pete]

Boy, didn't we already beat this horse about a year ago? Maybe more?

For a long time i was against the electoral college, basically because i didn't understand what its purpose was. I remember last time we discussed this i posted a link to a rather lengthy article outlining the pros and cons of the system. Was a very good and very educational read for me and basically pushed me to the pro-college camp. A couple of folks have already pointed out some of the reasons we have it. The foremost is that despite what most people believe, we are not a democracy... the US is a Republic, made up of states that all need to have their interests taken into account. That is the reason for the electoral college. Remember, we are the United STATES of America... not the United PEOPLE of America.

T-

Dang, our collective memory's in the dumpster.

And wow you're right about one thing: we are definitely NOT united people - just ask NPR about Bush voters lol!

Laz, when you say the college is a vestige, do you mean the Republic is dead?

Pete

[Justlisten2]

I've got an idea, let the people vote for President!!! Voter turnout may even go up if people knew their vote actually counted. What a concept!

[JSE]

The people do and their vote does matter. Look at Florida.

JSE

[trollgirl]

Dang, our collective memory's in the dumpster.

And wow you're right about one thing: we are definitely NOT united people - just ask NPR about Bush voters lol!

Laz, when you say the college is a vestige, do you mean the Republic is dead?

Pete

No, the Republic is not dead, but it may be like the old fellow on "Monty Python & the Holy Grail" who did not want to get on the cart because he was not quite dead yet. For some people, the Republic of Texas, as opposed to the State of Texas, is a going thing. That Republic even has its official/unofficlal President. There are different levels of understanding here, but with our liberties being restricted more and more, and with American sovreignty being compromised more and more by such things as UN membership and NAFTA, who the hell says anymore: "America first, without apology!"??
The trend seems clear to me...

Laz