Our Coming Electoral Train Wrecks

Tech Central Station ^ | 10/22/2004 | William J. Stuntz

[JoJo Gunn]

Here's my little retort to those cockroaches who still say we "stole" the election:

[Graybeard58]

America was lucky to escape Presidents Bryan, Hughes, and Dewey.

AND GORE.

[truth_seeker]

It has worked each time the EV determined the outcome.

Most recently in 2000. Only impact is upsettedness, by losers, and contant whining.

The country is governed, has military, conducts war and foreign affairs, collects and spends taxes, has judiciary.

It ain't broke. The sole benefit should Kerry win only EV, like Bush did: It would shut them up on that issue for awhile.

Something tells me there is a "Silent Majority" phenomenum for next week. Sept. 11, 2001 is seared into many minds, including people that shun politics for the most part.

I predict Cheney is right, for about a five point victory, no Electoral College hassles.

[farmfriend]

it's www.realclearpolitics.com.

Thanks, I was just going buy what was in the article. Oddly enough, in the original article the web address was blue and underlined but not a link. Go figure.

[kingattax]

mob rule would be just fine for the democRATS...

they are the 21st century barbarians.

[Graybeard58]

America was lucky to escape Presidents Bryan, Hughes, and Dewey

AND GORE.

[Alberta's Child]

We've always known that the Electoral College allows minority presidents. But today, it virtually guarantees them.

So what? The U.S. Constitution was written in such a way that "minority presidents" were assumed to be fairly common. The only thing that has kept this scenario from occurring more frequently is that we now have a two-party system where we used to have multiple regional parties.

If I remember my history correctly, the winner of the 1820 or 1824 presidential election only got around 33% of the popular vote.

[farmfriend]

From the article:

Based on the polls reported at www.realpolitics.com

I was going buy what was in the article. I suspect that you are correct though. The web address in the article was blue and underlined but not a link. I cut and pasted the web address in to the bar and it took me to bad places.

[Cold Heat]

they are the 21st century barbarians.

New Age Zealots, or the U.S. Taliban.

[Iam1ru1-2]

Bush will win by over 60% of the popular and Electoral votes. No repeat of 2000.

[dufekin]

Two other changes in the political landscape make that scenario likely. As recently as 1960, forty-five percent of the voters cast their ballots in states decided by three points or less. In 2000, the number was fourteen percent. In 1960, Kennedy and Nixon won nine states by fifteen points or more. In 2000, Bush and Gore won twenty-two states (plus the District of Columbia) by margins that large. Safe states, once the exception, are now the rule. Swing states, once common, are few.

And here's exactly why geographic divisions in Congress now merely reinforce, rather than trump, partisan divisions. The "Two Americas," to borrow a misused phrase from a certain vice-presidential candidate, entertain extremely different worldviews, use different media, and indeed have very different and highly contradictory versions of reality. Southern/Mountain/Plains Democrats and Northeast/Left-coast Republicans are a dying breed. Even Schwarzenegger, Pataki, Chafee, Jeffords, Specter, and Bloomburg are considered in the conservative heartland with the same disdain that Left-coast Liberals reserve for Zell Miller and other serial "moderates."

And in this vitriolic political background, which I anticipate will cool only slightly in the next several years, we must fight and win the War.

This schism enforces a deep, lasting, and predictable divide in American politics that will prevail (I predict) for the next 36 years. There will be Liberal America and Conservative America, the latter of which will prevail increasingly for demographic reasons. A rare Democrat triumph might occur whenever Republican conservatives engage in a civil war of their own. What happens as we approach 2040? I have no idea.

[farmfriend]

I love these people who think they know better than the founders how the constitution should be today.

This year at the California State Grange convention, I got the current policy of supporting election of the President by popular vote changed to keeping the electoral college. It was an overwhelming vote too.

[omniscient]

I say scrap this concept of elections entirely. What is needed is a Republican monarchy, until it is determined that the national average IQ has risen to the level where the election of a Democrat is not possible.

[StAnDeliver]

Thank you for interjecting that bit of sanity, bubba. There are several more current threads that need that simple but powerful factoid.

[farmfriend]

Snicker!

[o_zarkman44]

How can socialism become the status quo? Change the rules so it is impossible to comply without legal challenge. The electoral system works but only when it works to the advantage of the left. Otherwise the system is flawed. The left are the biggest complainers when they lose. And how great they gloat when they can win.

I hope to see a landslide win for Bush. Then all the leftists equations for disenfranchisement and fraud fall apart.

[StAnDeliver]

I would only add a brief excoriation of dunce's sophistry...

"First, get rid of the electors: human electors are a disaster waiting to happen, an invitation to bribery, fraud, or simple stupidity."

When and where has this ever happened, dunce?

"Just give each candidate the number of electoral votes he earns on election day. Second, make each state do what Nebraska and Maine do: give one vote to the winning candidate in each congressional district, and two votes to the candidate who wins the state."

Translation: You won't get back from California what we will take from the Midwestern urban centers.

Hey dunce -- rather than screwing with the electoral college, how about you go have intercourse with yourself instead?

[farmfriend]

I think the victory will be decisive enough to ensure the outcome is not questioned.

[Peelod]

From the archive of Discover magazine: Math Against Tyranny

http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives/math-against-tyranny/

[Peelod]

From the archive of Discover magazine: Math Against Tyranny

http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives/math-against-tyranny/