How is This Democracy?

[damonhynes]

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

Yep, to forestall the advancement of the tyranny of the majority.

[Garrett]

The unicam was made nonpartisan to get the political support of Sen George Norris who was a brilliant political leader in the 1920s and 30s. He insisted on this to limit the party control over the voting members.

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

The electoral college currently turns most states into second class citizens, by your own logic, as 12 states received 97% of all general election campaign events in 2020. Pennsylvania and Florida earned almost half alone. How is it fair to voters across the country that they can just be ignored because basically just 5 states pick the president? Parties have entire regional blind spots because of the systems we have now.

[damonhynes]

Well, part of the problem is that the Ricketts invested millions of dollars in pushing out any Republican that didn’t vote along their beliefs. Yeah the legislature may be non partisan, but extremely partisan forces have invested in making it into a partisan institution that makes all of that BS.

And that's coming back to bite Pete--the Nebr republican party has taken a populist swing since the 2022 election. Bacon's been kicked out of the Sarpy County party, for example.

[bigredmed1]

The unicam was made nonpartisan to get the political support of Sen George Norris who was a brilliant political leader in the 1920s and 30s. He insisted on this to limit the party control over the voting members.

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

The electoral college currently turns most states into second class citizens, by your own logic, as 12 states received 97% of all general election campaign events in 2020. Pennsylvania and Florida earned almost half alone. How is it fair to voters across the country that they can just be ignored because basically just 5 states pick the president? Parties have entire regional blind spots because of the systems we have now.

The fund flow is a weak statistic in this argument t as local factors influence this. PA got a lot of money due to the Senate race. Others got more because the parties were close and a state could be flipped. Omaha gets more dem money than the rest of the state as they want to get our electoral vote.

The Electoral College is about the only thing we have between us having any influence at all and nome.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

No state would outvote another state if there isn’t an electoral college. That’s the point of getting rid of it.

[Garrett]

The unicam was made nonpartisan to get the political support of Sen George Norris who was a brilliant political leader in the 1920s and 30s. He insisted on this to limit the party control over the voting members.

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

The electoral college currently turns most states into second class citizens, by your own logic, as 12 states received 97% of all general election campaign events in 2020. Pennsylvania and Florida earned almost half alone. How is it fair to voters across the country that they can just be ignored because basically just 5 states pick the president? Parties have entire regional blind spots because of the systems we have now.

The fund flow is a weak statistic in this argument t as local factors influence this. PA got a lot of money due to the Senate race. Others got more because the parties were close and a state could be flipped. Omaha gets more dem money than the rest of the state as they want to get our electoral vote.

The Electoral College is about the only thing we have between us having any influence at all and nome.

This is the map of campaign events from 2020, not a fund flow, just flat out where presidential candidates spent time during the main part of the general election. Similar maps exist for every election going back years. How is it fair that our politics have made it that only a couple states get the vast majority of attention?

[Big E]

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

This statement is idiotic.

In 2020 more people voted for Trump in California than in Texas. This is an actual true science fact, should one care to believe in things like math.

Not a single one of those votes matter right now. The same can be said for the millions of people that voted for Biden in Florida or Texas.

The Constitution needs to be amended to create direct election of the POTUS. This would make EVERY voter in EVERY state matter, as candidates would stop pandering to the extemists on each fringe of a couple of swing states.

And before someone say the equally idiotic thing about not messing with the Constitution or what the Founding Fathers envisioned, remember when we started only land owning white males could vote, and there were less than 5 million Americans total, including the ones that only counted as 3/5ths - and most of the FF owned some of those people. Let's stop acting like these people are infallible.

Oh, and the majority of Constituional Amendments not part of the Bill of Rights have been messing with how federal positions were elected. Whether it was granting suffrage to women, blacks, 18 yr olds, creating direct election of Senators, eliminating poll taxes, etc, we have been messing with the intentions of the Founding Fathers since Day 1.

[bigredmed1]

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

No state would outvote another state if there isn’t an electoral college. That’s the point of getting rid of it.

Really? Stop and think about that.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

No state would outvote another state if there isn’t an electoral college. That’s the point of getting rid of it.

Really? Stop and think about that.

When someone is elected vis popular vote, it does not matter what state the voters live in. With the electoral college, people who live in highly populated states are the second class citizens. Their vote means less than someone voting in Wyoming, for example. Without the electoral college everyone’s vote counts the same.

[Big E]

There's only one reason to defend the elctoral college in 2023, and that's if your party hasn't had a non-incumbent candidate win a popular vote election since 1988.

All of the concerns about the tyranny of the majority (which, coincidentally, no one talks about at all ever unless its when defending the electoral college) are addressed - and addressed quite well, at that - by the split branches of government, and, in particular, the US Senate (two senators per state, regardless of population).

[Uffda]

When someone is elected vis popular vote, it does not matter what state the voters live in. With the electoral college, people who live in highly populated states are the second class citizens. Their vote means less than someone voting in Wyoming, for example. Without the electoral college everyone’s vote counts the same.

Yes in Wyoming their voters are represented by 3 EC which comes out to about 194,000 per EC vote and California has 54 EC votes to represent their voters that’s approximately 732,000 per EC voter. Doesn’t seem like a very fair representation for CA voters.

Also the winner in all but a couple states takes all EC votes. If you want to keep EC then all states should distribute EC votes by percentage each client receives- that would definitely get candidates cover more states

[bigredmed1]

Elimination of the Electoral College instantly turns 35 of the states into second class citizens as NY, FL, TX, and CA can easily outvote entire states.

No state would outvote another state if there isn’t an electoral college. That’s the point of getting rid of it.

Really? Stop and think about that.

When someone is elected vis popular vote, it does not matter what state the voters live in. With the electoral college, people who live in highly populated states are the second class citizens. Their vote means less than someone voting in Wyoming, for example. Without the electoral college everyone’s vote counts the same.

Advertising costs money. If you have $X in your budget and you can buy an ad in Wyoming or in NYC, it is reasonable to buy it in NYC as the market is bigger. As that goes on, the ads in NYC and the focus on this city exclude thought about less populous areas and the people living there get less and less attention. Now, want to decentralize government and go back to a weak fed? Then the problem is still there, but is smaller. With a strong fed, this is a huge problem in the great plains where actions of the fed are controlled by easterners and an even greater problem west of us where the fed ends up owning or otherwise controlling vast amounts of those states.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Advertising costs money. If you have $X in your budget and you can buy an ad in Wyoming or in NYC, it is reasonable to buy it in NYC as the market is bigger. As that goes on, the ads in NYC and the focus on this city exclude thought about less populous areas and the people living there get less and less attention. Now, want to decentralize government and go back to a weak fed? Then the problem is still there, but is smaller. With a strong fed, this is a huge problem in the great plains where actions of the fed are controlled by easterners and an even greater problem west of us where the fed ends up owning or otherwise controlling vast amounts of those states.

I'd imagine advertising costs less in Wyoming than in NYC because it is less populous. Also, if your issue is regarding something more interesting to Wyoming residents, like agricultural runoff or coal, it's probably not worth your time advertising in NYC.

What are the feds doing in the plains that they shouldn't be? Or is it simply that Washington is so far away?

For western states, do you not believe our places of natural beauty should be preserved and treasured? Do you visit national parks and wish someone could capitalize on them more with billboards and Walmarts? Or charge more for them like a for-profit business would? Not everything needs to be a business. Asking corporate America to do the right thing is like setting a cookie in front of a toddler, asking it not to eat the cookie, and walking away.