Posted on 04/24/2014 11:00:50 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The fondest dream of the modern Democrat is to neutralize the votes of the yokels in Peoria and put important decisions in the hands of sophisticates in places like San Francisco and Manhattan. The modern Democrats took a step closer to realizing their ambition last week when New York joined nine other liberal states with laws to undermine the Electoral College.
Blue states have been rushing to sign up for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. So far, the list includes — in addition to New York — California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. All have agreed to allocate electoral votes according to the popular vote.
Upon leaving Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman what form of government had the Founders bequeathed, “a republic or a monarchy?” The wise old Ben Franklin replied, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
This effort is being undertaken to destroy the last vestiges of republican governance, ensuring there is no longer a republic to keep.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The wise old Ben Franklin replied, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
Not much longer, Ben, if the Liberals get their way.
This can only serve to hurt the blue states. It could end up costing them an election.
Exactly. Also, it’s pointless if no red states or important swing states sign on.
Wouldn’t dropping the electoral college require a Constitutional amendment? I see this as another attempt by liberals to circumvent the Constitution.
Serve’em right to wake up on Wednesday morning and realize their vaunted compact left them holding their own puds....
That would be sweet.
Once again the Progressives will push and push until they get what they want and most here on Free Republic will whine and complain, moan and groan, but let the “blue” states have their way because it might interrupt their afternoon smoke.
Most people don’t understand the electoral college and feel this is a great idea.
In short, you will allow the largest of states with the most population dictate who your president will be. Most likely a Democrat . A Progressives wet dream.
They aren’t dropping the electoral college, states can decide to allocate them however they want. I don’t see this lasting beyond an election where a Republican wins the popular vote and Massachusetts has to give all its electoral votes to the Republicans.
Why not? It's not as if anything's stopping them. Nearly all power has apparently been ceded to the President and his "czars." Armed bureaucracies like BLM and EPA enforce their unconstitutional autocratic "laws." The IRS is being morphed into an Obama-style gestapo. Who cares? Facebook and the Kardashians is what Americans are really focused on.
“Also, it’s pointless if no red states or important swing states sign on.”
Unfortunately that isn’t necessarily the case, especially in the long term. As soon as the electoral vote total of the states agreeing to this reaches 270 the intent of the constitution will have been subverted and America’s chief executive will be elected by popular vote. It’s worth noting that this is happening concurrently with the push for amnesty, which could add millions of immigrant (ie. Democrat) voters to the roles of blue states.
While it’s interesting to speculate on what might happen if a Republican were to win the popular vote and not the Electoral College there really is no chance of that ever happening, especially given the changing demographics of America’s population.
Guess its time to let each state have two votes, period, in the Presidential election.
The problem is that I haven't seen an exit clause in the compact. There is no provision for dropping out once the compact is fulfilled.
What happens if one state were to drop out, and then that reduces the compact to less than 270 votes? Is the compact now nullified? Do the other states (compacting or not) go to the Supreme Court to force the dropping state to remain?
-PJ
It’s not eliminating the electoral college. The electoral college will still be in place. The states involved will simply name electors that are pledged to the candidate who wins the national popular vote.
Unfortunately, this whole scheme is perfectly constitutional. The Constitution allows states to choose their electors in any manner determined by the legislature of that state. Citizens of the states do not have any Constitutional right to even vote in a Presidential election. Theoretically, a state legislature could just vote to select electors that are pledged to a given candidate.
The best way around this is to recognize that there really is no such thing as a national popular vote. What is tallied and reported as such is simply the total of all the official, certified state election results. I would be interested if one of these popular vote laws were challenged in court on the basis that the law is invalid because there is no actual national popular vote. I’m not an expert, but it seems that this is a valid reason for a challenge to such laws.
Honestly, I don’t see how you could stop a state from dropping out of such an arrangement if they so choose. The Constitution is quite clear that states can select members of the Electoral College using any method that they choose. Further, interstate compacts without the permission of Congress are unconstitutional. Therefore, the only way to make the national popular vote laws constitutional would be to characterize them as being implemented solely on a state-by-state basis, voluntarily by individual states. IOW, each state would pass a law stating that their electoral votes would go to the national popular vote winner and that this change would only be implemented upon passage of similar laws in enough states to yield a total of 270 or more electoral votes. There would be no legal basis to compel a state that passed such a law to actually adhere to it.
We do truly have two Americas. It will not end until "a crisis shall have been reached and passed."
The Elector Hunt Begins [Election 2000]
"One battle-tested Democratic consultant has even begun a quiet intelligence-gathering operation that could aid a last-ditch Gore strategy in the Electoral College. Bob Beckel, who managed Walter Mondale's 1984 Democratic presidential campaign and has close ties to [Warren] Christopher, has been checking into the background of Republican electors, with an eye toward persuading a handful of them to vote for Mr. Gore. If Mr. Bush eventually prevails in Florida but wins none other of the most closely contested states, he would have 271 electoral votes. Three GOP defections could make Mr. Gore president . . . The Gore camp itself has disavowed any intention of seeking to sway GOP electors."
Even Slate published stories about it. At least it made it that far into the MSM.
And if the spoiled brats can't win that way there's always race war..
Race war? Al Gore himself stopped the effort by the Democrats to start one in 2000 during the election dispute. That's the way I read the quote from his daughter Karenna.
A quote from one column (November 19, 2002) of Frum's I post often contains this (the quote is by Karenna Gore) and it's about the 2000 post-election day turmoil. It sure seemed to me that the Dems were ready to spark race riots -- which IMO the MSM would have demanded that Bush concede and bow to the "will of the people" (a phrase often included in MSM reports on the turmoil).
"He [Al Gore] said, 'We have to do what's best for the country, and it is not good for the country to have this kind of divisiveness.' And he was on the phone, really calling off the dogs. There were people who wanted to fan the … the flames of the racial issue and have real unrest. And he was on the phone asking them not to, because of what was best for the country not because of what was best for him politically. And that's really who he is."
Looks like the link to the Frum article was 404ed and most of the others are expunged also except for FR and a couple of others. The original source was an ABC 20/20 Nov. 15, 2002 B. Waters interview. This part was deleted from the air but Frum had it in (National Review?) now also disappeared. google in quotes, "the flames of the racial issue and have real unrest"
History being "adjusted"? American Stalinism at work? Stalin was a kind of spoiled brat who managed to kill 60 million fellow citizens, I believe.
My prediction is this: If it appears that it will cost them an election, they will renege on the compact.
In 2000, I believe that G.W. Bush would have won handily if they had followed this rule. I think Nixon would have won over Kennedy, Obama might even have lost in 2012.
I bet there is some fine print, such as, “The compact only goes into effect once all states sign on” or some such.
That change would, unlike the national popular vote laws, actually require an amendment. The Constitution quite clearly states that each state will have a number of electors equal to the number of Representatives and Senators representing that state in Congress. (Plus, via amendment that DC will have three electors).
I should read before commenting. The rule is clearly there, as they award the votes to the person getting the popular vote *nationally*, not by state.
Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and Obama won the popular vote in 2012. How would a law requiring states whose EV’s totaled at least 270 to vote for the popular vote winner throw an election to the loser of that popular vote?
Yes, I've written about this issue before.
However, the way to make it Constitutional is simply to get Congress to approve it.
That said, states today can implement this on their own without needing a compact. They just have to, on their own without other states, start awarding their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote right now. They don't have to wait for all the other compacting states to join before doing so, if they are true believers in this as the method of awarding their votes.
Lead by example on this issue. Don't wait for a critical mass to form first.
-PJ
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