Comments on: Go Ahead. Abolish the Electoral College. https://ropersanchor.jamesjheaney.com/2012/10/03/go-ahead-abolish-the-electoral-college/ "And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?" Thu, 03 Nov 2016 05:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: BCSWowbagger https://ropersanchor.jamesjheaney.com/2012/10/03/go-ahead-abolish-the-electoral-college/#comment-151410 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 05:34:00 +0000 https://www.jamesjheaney.com/?p=501#comment-151410 In reply to Drew Hymer.

^ LISTEN TO THIS MAN, EVERYONE. –JJH

]]> By: Drew Hymer https://ropersanchor.jamesjheaney.com/2012/10/03/go-ahead-abolish-the-electoral-college/#comment-151409 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 02:36:00 +0000 https://www.jamesjheaney.com/?p=501#comment-151409 If we didn’t have the electoral college, a close election would mean a nation wide recount. Wouldn’t that be fun?

The electoral college would be improved if we got rid of the state-winner-take-all. Instead, each delegate should get awarded by congressional district, with the state-wide winner getting the bonus two.

]]> By: James J Heaney https://ropersanchor.jamesjheaney.com/2012/10/03/go-ahead-abolish-the-electoral-college/#comment-151212 Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:03:22 +0000 https://www.jamesjheaney.com/?p=501#comment-151212 Comments open.

]]> By: CZeke https://ropersanchor.jamesjheaney.com/2012/10/03/go-ahead-abolish-the-electoral-college/#comment-319 Sat, 03 Nov 2012 08:29:00 +0000 https://www.jamesjheaney.com/?p=501#comment-319 Pure popular-vote democracy, as Jonah Goldberg likes to point out, is the system where 51% of the voters can vote to pee in the Cheerios of the other 49%. (Cue some line about a well-armed bagel disputing the vote.) It’s not designed for a population of 300 million.

Unfortunately, neither is representative democracy. Neither is any system — because human beings aren’t. We can write a number like that down, compare it with other numbers, but we don’t really take it in, much less consider it meaningful to our own lives. It’s a Total Perspective Vortex that only God and madmen can look in the eye, and neither one could get elected in this economy.

So choosing leaders is something we just have to compromise on, accepting that lots of us will be frustrated at any given time, because the alternative (nuking everything outside, say, Ogdensburg) isn’t an option. We bred ourselves into this mess — we literally screwed ourselves over. The Electoral College, like Canada’s system of ridings, strikes a pretty good balance between local and global. Sometimes it’ll mess up, and we’ll be annoyed with it. Part of the deal.

The primary process, on the other hand, can go hang a salami. Do something about that. It’s embarrassing even from here — like living across the street from a mansion with a rusted Chevy in the yard.

(Okay, I have to say this. Hey popular-vote movement: if you’re a little more than halfway to your goal, how come that doesn’t mean you win?)

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