Political outrage.
In Iowa’s Gazette, one John Hendrickson has an editorial on the importance of preserving the Electoral College, as opposed to electing the president by popular vote. So let’s see what his reasons are. He starts out with a few paragraphs that use words like “attack”, “elimination”, “undermine” to create a vague feeling that something bad… Continue reading Hard to Argue With Vagueness
The Cato Institute has an article arguing against the NPVIC. What I find interesting is that they use arguments that I haven’t seen a million times elsewhere: Direct election of Electors: they argue that one reason the 1960 election was so close is that in Alabama, voters explicitly elected Electors, not presidential candidates. And that… Continue reading Cato Institute argues against NPVIC
The Citizens United decision has proven quite controversial, with advocates both for and against it. So why not have a debate? For those who don’t remember, Citizens United was an organization that made a movie critical of then-candidate Hillary Clinton. The Federal Elections Commission deemed this to be a form of illegal campaign contribution, and… Continue reading Debate: Citizens United: Good or Bad?
The usual argument for the filibuster is that it prevents the majority from simply steamrolling its agenda: if every piece of legislation only needed a simple majority to pass, then in the current Senate, 51 Democrats (including VP Harris) can, if they’re united, do anything they want, and ignore the 50 Republicans. Clearly, that’s not… Continue reading On the Filibuster
Like most people, I hate changing the clocks twice a year, to say nothing of having to get up an hour early for Daylight Saving Time. So naturally my ears perked up when I heard about Senate bill 623, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent. We’re still switching to DST tomorrow, but if this… Continue reading Ending the Tyranny of Biannual Time Changes
Joe Manchin appeared on Fox News Sunday and said he supports the filibuster, but it should come at a cost: “The filibuster should be painful, it really should be painful and we’ve made it more comfortable over the years,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Maybe it has to be more painful.” … “If you… Continue reading “The Filibuster Should Be Painful”
While researching arguments for and against the National Popular Vote, I ran across the site Keep Our 50 States, which tries to argue for keeping the Electoral College, and, um, it doesn’t do a very good job of it. For instance, the “The Issue” page shows this Mike Lester cartoon: I’m not sure what this… Continue reading When Your Debate Opponents Argue Your Point
Law & Crime is reporting that the North Dakota Senate has passed SB 2271, which would block the release of presidential vote totals in the state until after the Electoral College votes. It’s ironic that Republicans, who were crying for election transparency in the 2020 election, are pushing this kind of anti-transparency bill. But it… Continue reading Republicans Voting Against Their Interests Again
One of the nightmare scenarios sometimes brought up when arguing for the Electoral College and against the popular vote is, what happens in case of a really close election? There would have to be a nationwide recount. Think Florida 2000, times 50. For instance, take the 1960 election, where Kennedy beat Nixon by 0.17% of… Continue reading National Public Vote: Close Elections
Here’s a rather breathless letter to the editor of the Brattleboro (VT) Reformer, promising dire consequences if we start electing presidents the same way we elect governors, senators, mayors, and school board members: The Los Angeles Times editorial (Feb. 17 in the Reformer) would like to disenfranchise more than half our nation by ending the… Continue reading Popular Vote: Majority Rule Is Disenfranchisement
