I’ve read/watched her on the tube, looking forward to another excellent podcast Greg!
Admittedly, that beyond hearing anything further than an orange jumpsuit and the miasma of his oubliette, are about all I can stomach regarding this venal chode! Let alone his desire to refashion this republic into a tinpot dictatorship!
For all the coverage of Trump and his criminality, alleged or actual, what we should be focused on is why we continue to let 6 states containing only 15.2% of Americans elect the president (AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, WI — 48 million out of 336 million)? Yet another reason to get rid of the Electoral College, that paean to aristocratic rule and slavery, that you so rightly point out was and remains a constitutional poison pill. No electoral college, no 5 unelected Supreme Court justices handing the election to George W. Bush in 2000, or Trump from 2016 to now. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is 65 EC votes away from 270. If the states that have ratification pending complete the task, going forward, presidents will be elected by whomever wins the national popular vote. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
Excellent point about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. At this point in time, it is our best bet to have a free and fair election, where the candidate who gets the most votes, nationwide, wins. It is doable and needs to get done!
It’s an agreement among states that if enough states are in the compact to equal or surpass the 270 EC vote threshold by July 20 then assuming the compact has made through all the not insignificant legal challenges, those states would award their electors to the presidential candidate team that won the popular vote. So you could have a situation where a state, for the sake of argument, Georgia (not in the compact today) voted Republican but was in the compact when the Democratic team won the national popular vote. In that case Georgia’s electors would go to the Democratic team. By this mechanism it’s a way of eliminating the what’s happened in 2000, 2016 and all the BS of the “Big Lie” when it was clear who the people choice was. Ranked choice, would open the door to more other party candidates. However, on a national level, I think it would get us more chaos than we have now. Nationally it would have some, and I repeat only some similarities to a parliamentary system like in Canada or the UK without the rest of the Constitution being modified. In Canada, there are 6 national parties. You do not vote directly for Prime Minister but for each member of parliament (MP) in your riding (= our Congressional District). Whichever party has the most MPs in the House of Commons (= our House of Representatives) is asked to form a government, and the leader of the party that’s asked, who is also an MP, becomes Prime Minister, sometimes with a clear majority, sometimes with a coalition of one or more other parties. So you could like both the Liberal and Green Party candidates in your riding but would have to make a choice on Election Day. In my opinion, the compact is a better choice than ranked voting because it’s more clearcut. Obviously the best choice is to amend the Constitution to get rid of the Electoral College altogether.
I have of course known that the Founding Fathers didn’t mean for “We the People” to include everybody, but even so I was completely taken aback by your statement that “the Founders’ idea of a paradigmatic citizen was someone like Donald Trump.” The MAGA phenomenon makes a little more sense in light of your description of a “heroic demagogue.”
I’ve read/watched her on the tube, looking forward to another excellent podcast Greg!
Admittedly, that beyond hearing anything further than an orange jumpsuit and the miasma of his oubliette, are about all I can stomach regarding this venal chode! Let alone his desire to refashion this republic into a tinpot dictatorship!
ensorcelled--I had to look that one up.
Ditto:
Synonyms of ensorcelled (adj. charmed) captivated. enamored. enchanted.
For all the coverage of Trump and his criminality, alleged or actual, what we should be focused on is why we continue to let 6 states containing only 15.2% of Americans elect the president (AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, WI — 48 million out of 336 million)? Yet another reason to get rid of the Electoral College, that paean to aristocratic rule and slavery, that you so rightly point out was and remains a constitutional poison pill. No electoral college, no 5 unelected Supreme Court justices handing the election to George W. Bush in 2000, or Trump from 2016 to now. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is 65 EC votes away from 270. If the states that have ratification pending complete the task, going forward, presidents will be elected by whomever wins the national popular vote. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
Excellent point about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. At this point in time, it is our best bet to have a free and fair election, where the candidate who gets the most votes, nationwide, wins. It is doable and needs to get done!
Been involved with NPV for years, thanks for another mention of the failed electoral college system and it’s ties to racism John!
Is National Popular Vote better thank ranked choice voting? Thanks for anybody who can answer.
It’s an agreement among states that if enough states are in the compact to equal or surpass the 270 EC vote threshold by July 20 then assuming the compact has made through all the not insignificant legal challenges, those states would award their electors to the presidential candidate team that won the popular vote. So you could have a situation where a state, for the sake of argument, Georgia (not in the compact today) voted Republican but was in the compact when the Democratic team won the national popular vote. In that case Georgia’s electors would go to the Democratic team. By this mechanism it’s a way of eliminating the what’s happened in 2000, 2016 and all the BS of the “Big Lie” when it was clear who the people choice was. Ranked choice, would open the door to more other party candidates. However, on a national level, I think it would get us more chaos than we have now. Nationally it would have some, and I repeat only some similarities to a parliamentary system like in Canada or the UK without the rest of the Constitution being modified. In Canada, there are 6 national parties. You do not vote directly for Prime Minister but for each member of parliament (MP) in your riding (= our Congressional District). Whichever party has the most MPs in the House of Commons (= our House of Representatives) is asked to form a government, and the leader of the party that’s asked, who is also an MP, becomes Prime Minister, sometimes with a clear majority, sometimes with a coalition of one or more other parties. So you could like both the Liberal and Green Party candidates in your riding but would have to make a choice on Election Day. In my opinion, the compact is a better choice than ranked voting because it’s more clearcut. Obviously the best choice is to amend the Constitution to get rid of the Electoral College altogether.
Thanks for this great explanation, John.
I have of course known that the Founding Fathers didn’t mean for “We the People” to include everybody, but even so I was completely taken aback by your statement that “the Founders’ idea of a paradigmatic citizen was someone like Donald Trump.” The MAGA phenomenon makes a little more sense in light of your description of a “heroic demagogue.”
Great podcast with Jennifer Mercieca; thanks, Greg!