SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Senator Boxer Introduces Bill to Eliminate Electoral College
"This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency," Boxer said in a statement. "The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts."
[...] "When all the ballots are counted, Hillary Clinton will have won the popular vote by a margin that could exceed two million votes, and she is on track to have received more votes than any other presidential candidate in history except Barack Obama," Boxer said.
Trump will be the fifth president in U.S. history to win the election despite losing the popular vote. George W. Bush won the most recent such election, in 2000.
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3wLQz-LgrM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by calzone on Thursday November 17 2016, @09:45PM
It's basically a states-rights situation.
You never get to vote for president.
Your state votes for president.
You vote to tell your state how you want it to vote.
Don't like how your state interprets your desires? Then vote to change you state or move to a different state.
Abolishing the electoral college would be an end-run around this and the first real step toward making the US less of a collection of states and more a collection of people.
I personally do opine that the US SHOULD be more a collection of people than a collection of states, but I know that's not necessarily a popular opinion. So, abolishing the EC should be the last step in any such process, not the first — just to ensure we do it correctly and that a solid majority is aware of the transformation taking place and on board with it.
Time to leave Soylent News [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by edIII on Thursday November 17 2016, @10:09PM
I very much appreciate your insight into this, but I respectfully disagree. Moving to another state is an unreasonable request at this point. Maybe back in the 50's or 60's when union membership was near 35% this would have been possible, because people had the resources.
How do you move like that? There are no jobs. Only shit service jobs for teenagers with no benefits, and no living wages. Costs have skyrocketed everywhere. So, yeah, maybe you could move.... by abandoning property to expensive to take with you? I see that happen a lot. Abandoned properties full of stuff simply because all they could afford is what could be taken in their vehicles.
So, no. Getting rid of the EC isn't the first step. Getting rid of the U.S.A is the first step, and that begins with a revolution.
If we can't have a reasonable voting process, then you simply cannot change the system from within. It's too entrenched, and Americans have been ground into the pavement under the Elite's boot heels for too long. We're essentially too weak to do what you're asking.
Change must come from the way we currently exist, and we cannot shift the populations around the country to create this equal collection you speak of. The EC would be made meaningless in this way and would match the popular vote exactly. It's a matter of calibration, and the manner in which you calibrate is precisely what you advocated: Move to another state. That will make the EC more aligned with the popular vote.
The system is wholly broken because it evolved to service only a few, while creating serious obstructions for the many to change the conditions of their existence. The EC is one those designs, along with the practice of gerrymandering. Not to mention that our elected officials can simply ignore the will of people at their convenience.
Now the whole system is set to become far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far worse in every regard for the American worker, the environment, and their civil rights.
When a national stop-and-frisk is being implemented, along with Muslim registries and internment camps, and an entire fucking wall to keep Americans from escaping? REVOLUTION.
It's time, and objectively we are not traitors, or terrorists, but PATRIOTS reforming America into what it was always intended to be:
Those in power, those who have created our current institutions have abjectly failed in their duties. Moreover, they've not just failed, but been traitors themselves in between frenzied acts of corruption solely designed to funnel the wealth of our people into the hands of the few, the hands of the people that get to enjoy America by themselves at our great expense, our intense suffering, and conditional freedom. Those conditions being how well we behave as cogs in the great meat grinder they've created.
It's TIME. Revolution is the next logical step.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @05:31PM
So, your eloquent words aside, whom will you kill first in your attempt at revolution?
Wonderful to talk about, in theory. A lot less wonderful when you have to blow someone's head off or stick a knife in their innards to bring your idealism home.
Are you really prepared for that, sir? Again, whom will you kill first?