Electoral college, should it be eliminated? Options

[sadolakced acid]

Should the electoral college be eliminated?

with it, a person could loose every state by 1 vote except california, and win california by a landslide and then loose the race.

with it, democrats in red states feel thier vote doesn't count, and republicans in blue states feel thier vote doesn't count.

if the electoral college were to be eliminated, then everyone's vote would count.

[pandamonium]

hmm thats a good thought .. there were a lot of people that voted this election. i think if everybody was heard precisely the election would be much better. so i think it would help if it was eliminated cause then everybody wouldnt have thought that bush cheated or anything (not that he did cheat). but like it would really clear somethings up.. then not as many people wouldnt question bush's re-election.. lol so probably it would help.

[*kryogenix*]

hmm thats a good thought .. there were a lot of people that voted this election. i think if everybody was heard precisely the election would be much better. so i think it would help if it was eliminated cause then everybody wouldnt have thought that bush cheated or anything (not that he did cheat). but like it would really clear somethings up.. then not as many people wouldnt question bush's re-election.. lol so probably it would help.

You realize Bush won a majority in both the electoral college AND the popular vote? So it wouldn't make a difference in this past election. Maybe it would have made a difference in election 2000, but not in this election.

[ComradeRed]

The point of the electoral vote is to protect the rights of minorities, which is something that is very important in a Constitutional Republic.

Without the electoral college, the only places a politician would campaign would be New York City and maybe Los Angeles. It ensures that a politician has to appeal to EVERYBODY, and not just to a specific group in order to get elected.

Example: In the late 1800s, it was VERY common for the Democrats to win the Popular Vote and the Republicans to win the Electoral Vote. Why? Because the Democrats would win 95% of hte vote in the South and 40% everywhere else. That helped preserve democracy, because the democrats had no little outside the minority South.

[*kryogenix*]

The point of the electoral vote is to protect the rights of minorities, which is something that is very important in a Constitutional Republic.

Without the electoral college, the only places a politician would campaign would be New York City and maybe Los Angeles. It ensures that a politician has to appeal to EVERYBODY, and not just to a specific group in order to get elected.

Example: In the late 1800s, it was VERY common for the Democrats to win the Popular Vote and the Republicans to win the Electoral Vote. Why? Because the Democrats would win 95% of hte vote in the South and 40% everywhere else. That helped preserve democracy, because the democrats had no little outside the minority South.

This was pre-name switch right?

[ComradeRed]

This was pre-name switch right?

What name switch?

There was never a name switch. The Republican Party was founded by John C. Fremont in 1856, and the Democratic Party has been founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1800. They are still the same parties they used to be.

Many of their bases have, but they never swtiched their names, nor many of their core ideals. Republicans have traditionally been the pro-big business party, and the Democrats were always the anti-big business party.

However, the distinction is, the Democrats used to be anti-big government AND anti-big business, while the Republicans used to be pro-big government AND pro-big business, but now the Democrats are pro-big government and the Republicans are against (at least in theory), which IMHO is kinda screwed up.

[sadolakced acid]

how would they campain only in big cities? they'd have to campaign everywhere.

for instance: in pure red states wthere are no kerry commercials. one bush commercial is all i've seen.

i had no idea what the issues were untill i looked them up.

pure red and pure blue states are basically ignored.

[sikdragon]

There wasnt a name switch but a support switch. The values changed. The democrats supported the small towns and values of their fathers. The republicans wanted change like abolition and other such things while having the support of big cities where all the "different" people congregated. The name switch was when republicans stopped moving forward and became conservative preserving the small towns and middle america.

[pandamonium]

You realize Bush won a majority in both the electoral college AND the popular vote? So it wouldn't make a difference in this past election. Maybe it would have made a difference in election 2000, but not in this election.

i was just saying... then more people woundnt talk trash about bush if they know how many people voted for him.... i dont care if he won.. he already won whats done is done the election is over.

[ComradeRed]

how would they campain only in big cities? they'd have to campaign everywhere.

for instance: in pure red states wthere are no kerry commercials. one bush commercial is all i've seen.

i had no idea what the issues were untill i looked them up.

pure red and pure blue states are basically ignored.

Without the electoral college, it would be a turnout game. If a candidate got every registered voter in New York City to vote for him, he would win the election without appleaing anywhere. There would be NO reason to run ads where there are few people, because it would become expensive.

[anger_is_my_frie...]

well i still think it's unfair for a republican voter to vote for the republican candidate in an obvious democratic state(like california or new york) cuz your vote doesn't really count like you think it would, but i think the electoral college has its reasons, but hey it can't please everyone

[*kryogenix*]

I wonder what minimum GPA you need to get into electoral college?

[gerundio]

Thank God for the electoral college.

Like the Daily Mirror said, how are 59,054,087 Americans so dumb? It still escapes my mind.

Anyway, there is an electoral college for the good of those 59,054,087 Americans. Unfortunately, the positives of having a representative democracy didn't help much this time.

[sadolakced acid]

do you know why the founding fathers created the electoral college?

because they though the average american was too dumb to choose thier own president... they may be right.

you voted for someone in your community who you could trust to make a good decision to go vote for your area at the electoral college.

but with the advent of politcal parties, pledged electors came about

and now look where it's got us? people don't even know the issues and they scream vote for ____.

[ComradeRed]

The electoral college was created to protect interests of all Americans and don't like a single candidate win just by winning big in one region.

[waccoon]

do you know why the founding fathers created the electoral college?

because they though the average american was too dumb to choose thier own president... they may be right.

you voted for someone in your community who you could trust to make a good decision to go vote for your area at the electoral college.

but with the advent of politcal parties, pledged electors came about

and now look where it's got us? people don't even know the issues and they scream vote for ____.

Electoral college was created to protect minorities.

Your logic here is flawed, because they only have to campaign in the big cities. Think about it - you're running for president, would you visit a small town in Alabama or campaign in New York, where millions of people are?

[sadolakced acid]

APUSH, people.

the electoral college was created because the founding fathers thought the average voting american was too stupid to pick thier president directly.

that's the truth.

[ComradeRed]

So why, then, did they proportionally give MORE votes to people from smaller states such as fronteir states, who were MORE likely to be stupid? If they only wanted smart people to vote, it seems that they would have given all the electoral votes to New England, Virginia, and the Mid-Atlantic, wouldn't it?

[sadolakced acid]

because they didn't think it out clearly.

it still remains, the original reason for it's creation was that the founding fathers though the average american was too stupid to vote directly for thier president so they made it you choose someone to vote for you.

[gerundio]

it still remains, the original reason for it's creation was that the founding fathers though the average american was too stupid to vote directly for thier president so they made it you choose someone to vote for you.

Very true. Also the main reason behind limiting freedoms and having a representative democracy instead of a true democracy.

[picaso_smile]

If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

[ComradeRed]

Very true. Also the main reason behind limiting freedoms and having a representative democracy instead of a true democracy.

Freedom cannot exist in a true democracy.

A true democracy would have no safeguards for minority rights. Without self-restricting laws, a true democracy would turn into two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

[Kriegsgefangene]

Man.. our 'Democracy' rocks my socks.

WE TRUE DEMOCRACY THROUGH AND THROUGH, BABEH! We need to go out east and show them what VOTING IS FOR!

[Kriegsgefangene]

APUSH, people.

the electoral college was created because the founding fathers thought the average voting american was too stupid to pick thier president directly.

that's the truth.

Well, isn't it true, as well?

[Sumiaki]

Electoral college is fine. It gives all states equal representation. If we had a popular vote then the only states that would matter is New York, California, and Florida.