PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
My pal, Weatherman, posted an interesting thread about the electoral college:
Do You Understand the Electoral College?
Let me provide an entirely different analysis....an argument against retaining the electoral college.
Know what a 'chimera' is?
"a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail."
Google
Quite an interesting mix, huh?
Well, there is a certain constitutional scholar, Akhil Reed Amar, who is just such an interesting mix in his chosen field. The guy is a rare public intellectual whose favorite is Abraham Lincoln, and he's takes a liberal “originalist” view of the Constitution, with similarities to the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s emphasis on the original meaning of the text, ...but he's also a big fan of KKKer, former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black!
Weird, huh?
Kind of makes him one of my favorite Liberals.
Recently, due to the Trump election, Professor Amar gave an interview about the electoral college, and how it favored the institution of slavery.
1. "....state governors in all 50 states are elected by popular vote; why not do the same for the governor of all states, a.k.a. the president?"
"One Founding-era argument for the Electoral College stemmed from the fact that ordinary Americans across a vast continent would lack sufficient information to choose directly and intelligently among leading presidential candidates."
Well, perhaps this made sense early on....but once there were national parties, this was answered " by linking presidential candidates to slates of local candidates and national platforms, which explained to voters who stood for what."
Once there were national parties, the Constitution was amended.... "Twelfth Amendment. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1804, providing for election of the president and vice president by the electoral college: should there be no majority vote for one person, the House of Representatives (one vote per state) chooses the president and the Senate the vice president."
the definition of Twelfth Amendment
The 12th was ratified in 1804, as a result of the Samuel Adams-Thomas Jefferson election, 1800-1801.
2. Wasn't the reason for the electoral college to balance the big states and the small ones?
Not at all! "...the deepest political divisions in America have always run not between big and small states, but between the north and the south, and between the coasts and the interior.
Soooo....what was the real issue behind the elections of 1787 and 1801?
Slavery.
Akhil Reed Amar explains how, and why.....next.
Do You Understand the Electoral College?
Let me provide an entirely different analysis....an argument against retaining the electoral college.
Know what a 'chimera' is?
"a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail."
Quite an interesting mix, huh?
Well, there is a certain constitutional scholar, Akhil Reed Amar, who is just such an interesting mix in his chosen field. The guy is a rare public intellectual whose favorite is Abraham Lincoln, and he's takes a liberal “originalist” view of the Constitution, with similarities to the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s emphasis on the original meaning of the text, ...but he's also a big fan of KKKer, former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black!
Weird, huh?
Kind of makes him one of my favorite Liberals.
Recently, due to the Trump election, Professor Amar gave an interview about the electoral college, and how it favored the institution of slavery.
1. "....state governors in all 50 states are elected by popular vote; why not do the same for the governor of all states, a.k.a. the president?"
"One Founding-era argument for the Electoral College stemmed from the fact that ordinary Americans across a vast continent would lack sufficient information to choose directly and intelligently among leading presidential candidates."
Well, perhaps this made sense early on....but once there were national parties, this was answered " by linking presidential candidates to slates of local candidates and national platforms, which explained to voters who stood for what."
Once there were national parties, the Constitution was amended.... "Twelfth Amendment. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1804, providing for election of the president and vice president by the electoral college: should there be no majority vote for one person, the House of Representatives (one vote per state) chooses the president and the Senate the vice president."
the definition of Twelfth Amendment
The 12th was ratified in 1804, as a result of the Samuel Adams-Thomas Jefferson election, 1800-1801.
2. Wasn't the reason for the electoral college to balance the big states and the small ones?
Not at all! "...the deepest political divisions in America have always run not between big and small states, but between the north and the south, and between the coasts and the interior.
Soooo....what was the real issue behind the elections of 1787 and 1801?
Slavery.
Akhil Reed Amar explains how, and why.....next.