Posted on 06/23/2010 9:12:23 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
You won’t hear about it in the mainstream media, but the Electoral College is on the verge of being eliminated. One important legislative vote could occur Thursday. Two others could occur in the upcoming days and weeks.
A California-based group, National Popular Vote, is lobbying hard for a dangerous piece of anti-Electoral College legislation. My NRO article on the mechanics of the legislation is here. Five states have already approved NPV, but now three additional states are dangerously close to joining them: Delaware, Massachusetts, and New York. Another trio of state legislatures approved the scheme, but their governors vetoed the plan. These latter states remain important; a reasonable argument can be made that the gubernatorial vetoes are irrelevant.
If each of these states is counted, NPV could have as many as 169 electoral votes in favor of its plan. It needs 270. NPV has come startlingly close to success even as most Americans remain completely unaware that the presidential-election process is so close to being turned on its head.
The American presidential-election system is a unique blend of federalism and democracy, combining purely democratic state-level elections with a national election among the states. The practical effect of this system is that a candidate can’t win unless he appeals to a wide variety of voters around the nation. NPV’s plan tries to keep the democratic portions of the election, even as it strips the system of its federalist aspects. It fails, instead managing to lose both.
(Excerpt) Read more at corner.nationalreview.com ...
It's some disturbing stuff, and even more worrisome is no one in the MSM is covering it.
So, if zerO wins the Electoral College, but loses the popular vote, will this still be a major movement?
If they ditch the Electoral College, they may as well lock me up because I would take to the streets raising some major L.
It works until the food producing states (and California’s Central Valley) decide that it is no longer useful to to give their production to leeches.
Every time the dems get scared, they attack the Electoral College.
They are at it 24/7.
Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution should be in play, here....
“Every time the dems get scared, they attack the Electoral College.”
We’re on the precipice where the parasites outnumber the producers. Nothing would please the left more than to have everything decided only by popular vote.
I don’t know about you, but I’m making my “going Galt” plans. Just in case.
There is no honest way to pretend that changes in the Electoral College should not require a constitutional amendment. Any attempts to do it otherwise will be some form of power grab.
This would be a disaster to go to the popular vote, instead of the electoral college. If that was the case, you could just get the vote in the ten largest cities in the country and win the election ... hoo-boy!
bookmark.
Obama will just nullify the Electoral College with an executive order. That seems to be his style.
This is how it's described by the organization that is putting this farce together..
Under the U.S. Constitution, the states have exclusive and plenary (complete) power to allocate their electoral votes, and may change their state laws concerning the awarding of their electoral votes at any time. Under the National Popular Vote bill, all of the state's electoral votes would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538).
I don't know how this could be described as anything other than subversion. The states (in this instance, the leftist elements of the state legislatures) are getting together to create extra-constitutional agreements to specifically undermine a constitutional provision.
There is no honest way to pretend that changes in the Electoral College should not require a constitutional amendment. Any attempts to do it otherwise will be some form of power grab.
The Electoral College would still work the same way as far as their votes for the President and the Electoral College votes being turned in at a certain time and certified by Congress. That wouldn't change. That's the part that would require some kind of Contsitutional Amendment in order to change it. It's not being changed.
BUT, the part that would change, which would make the Electoral College useless, and simply "going through the motions" and nothing more than that -- is when the individual states divide their Electoral College votes up between the candidates and give each candidate a "share" of the vote instead of just one candidate taking the entire state.
NOW... that part -- does not take a Constitutional Amendment -- so they're doing an "end-run" around the guts of the issue by doing what doesn't require an Amendment and makes it "useless" ...
0bama must be in trouble if they are bringing this crap up again. You never hear about “problems” wit the Electoral College as long as Democrats win.
I would add, this additionally subverts the Constitution because it’s not even requiring that 3/4ths of the States (as prescribed by the Constitution) ratify changes to these de facto changes to the Constitution. It’s just requiring that they get 270 of 538 electoral votes.
Yup, Article 1 Section 10’s Compact clause clearly applies. Even before considering this as an extra-constitutional bypass of the amendment process this is clearly null and void absent congressional approval even if all 50 states individually passed such.
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