Washington would have concluded that the Electoral College did its job, as designed by the Constitution’s writers to empower the lower population states against the high population states.Railing against it is dumb. You aren’t going to get a constitutional amendment to change it, because there is no advantage for the lower population states, so they are unlikely to vote for it. Stop blaming the Electoral College!
The blame is on the Democratic Party for not working to get more voters out in Red States and for underestimating the appeal of people like Trump. (The GOP underestimated him, so they get some blame, too.) And blaming the sulkers who didn’t vote because the DP candidate wasn’t Bernie will not help. It’s important to realize that the Clintons’ ability to raise money did not translate into getting votes. She couldn’t beat Obama in her own party in 2008. It doesn’t look like lessons were learned from that.
Wow! I must be seeing things! Your post, Baslim the Beggar, is right on the money. Otherwise the country would be run by three states: California, New York and Illinois. Got no time for mob rule!
@JCole998 – um, no, got that quite wrong. The top states in order of population are:
1. California (which has a substantial conservative population, too)
2. Texas
3. New York
4. Florida
5. Illinois
6. Pennsylvania
7. Ohio
8. Georgia
So…out of the top eight, I count three leaning liberal, three leaning conservative and two in the middle, more or less.
The Electoral College was indeed based on certain assumptions that many people question today, and rightly. If we believe in “one man, one vote” — established as Constitutional intent by the Supreme Court in the early 1960s — then clearly the College is not doing what it was intended to do.
First of all, the density of city populations particularly has increased enormously since 1789, so there are far more urban dwellers, which are not as well represented, because obviously their states are different sizes, too. There have been studies done of relative power of voters — that is, how much does one vote count. The most powerful voters are in (https://wallethub.com/edu/how-much-is-your-vote-worth/7932/):
1. Arizona
2. Iowa
3. Alaska
4. South Dakota
5. Ohio
6. Nevada
7. New Hampshire
8. North Carolina
By your own logic, this is way tilted to the right, and to tiny states. In fact, Illinois, New York, and California are ranked 44, 48, and 51 respectively, so truthfully too much of this country’s presidential elections are determined by a very small percentage of the US population, heavily weighted towards the conservative – since unlike the list above, seven out of the top eight are definitely conservative, and none are liberal. (Ohio is almost always in the middle somewhere.)
To continue…Using 2013 Census numbers, the US has a total population of 316,128,839. Those top eight happen to have a population among them of 36,829,512. That means the eight most powerful states, which account for a little less than 12% of the population, have a collective Vote Power of 1278, whereas the eight least powerful states, which includes California, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, but also DC, Hawaii, and Alabama, account for nearly 29% of the population, but have a collective vote power of 13.6.
To put it simply, the voters in a few tiny states get two and a half times the votes of people in more populated states in presidential elections. I don’t think this is what the Founders had in mind.
If we went to a straight one-person-one-vote for presidential elections, we’d actually have a much better representation of the will of the people than the Electoral College currently provides. A number of states have taken initiative to change the game and lock in electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote, which requires no changes to the Constitution but adds a lot more of the voice of the people.
QED.
Oh, and by the way — referring to more populated states that may lean leftwards as “mob rule” has a nasty little assumption built into it. Mobs are just as likely — or perhaps more so — in smaller right-wing states, as any cursory examination of the history of lynchings will tell you…see the article below, for example.
@JCole998: If you want to see another example of what mob rule actually looks like, we’ve just passed the anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Spoiler alert: Oklahoma isn’t a left-leaning state.
As a passing thought on the on-going and there-is-no-answer debate on the Electoral College — has there been any commentary about the fact that when the Electoral College was established the franchise was very limited — white males over 21 only. Does this change the ‘power’ of the low-population states in today’s reality?
superposition about 6 years ago
Sometimes the implementation tells us nothing about what the original plan was.
Masterskrain about 6 years ago
Yes, Trump DID lose by a large margin, and he DOES continue to cry “Foul”!
Teto85 Premium Member about 6 years ago
Well said, George. Well said.
kaffekup about 6 years ago
He forgot to say, just call the media “FAKE NEWS”. It’s what George would do, right?
By the way, if they were really “hostile”, they could tell us what he’s doing to dismantle the nation, rather than obsessing on his tweets 24/7.
Baslim the Beggar Premium Member about 6 years ago
Washington would have concluded that the Electoral College did its job, as designed by the Constitution’s writers to empower the lower population states against the high population states.Railing against it is dumb. You aren’t going to get a constitutional amendment to change it, because there is no advantage for the lower population states, so they are unlikely to vote for it. Stop blaming the Electoral College!
The blame is on the Democratic Party for not working to get more voters out in Red States and for underestimating the appeal of people like Trump. (The GOP underestimated him, so they get some blame, too.) And blaming the sulkers who didn’t vote because the DP candidate wasn’t Bernie will not help. It’s important to realize that the Clintons’ ability to raise money did not translate into getting votes. She couldn’t beat Obama in her own party in 2008. It doesn’t look like lessons were learned from that.
jcole998 about 6 years ago
Wow! I must be seeing things! Your post, Baslim the Beggar, is right on the money. Otherwise the country would be run by three states: California, New York and Illinois. Got no time for mob rule!
Strawberry Hellcat: Gair I gall, ffon I’r anghall about 6 years ago
Wait, what? We can ask George Washington modern era questions? Nuts…and I did history research for mine…
…and enjoyed it thoroughly.
George Gadsby about 6 years ago
Mr President,How could you have prevented the party system. What would it look like if you had?
Motivemagus about 6 years ago
@JCole998 – um, no, got that quite wrong. The top states in order of population are:
1. California (which has a substantial conservative population, too)
2. Texas
3. New York
4. Florida
5. Illinois
6. Pennsylvania
7. Ohio
8. Georgia
So…out of the top eight, I count three leaning liberal, three leaning conservative and two in the middle, more or less.
The Electoral College was indeed based on certain assumptions that many people question today, and rightly. If we believe in “one man, one vote” — established as Constitutional intent by the Supreme Court in the early 1960s — then clearly the College is not doing what it was intended to do.
First of all, the density of city populations particularly has increased enormously since 1789, so there are far more urban dwellers, which are not as well represented, because obviously their states are different sizes, too. There have been studies done of relative power of voters — that is, how much does one vote count. The most powerful voters are in (https://wallethub.com/edu/how-much-is-your-vote-worth/7932/):
1. Arizona
2. Iowa
3. Alaska
4. South Dakota
5. Ohio
6. Nevada
7. New Hampshire
8. North Carolina
By your own logic, this is way tilted to the right, and to tiny states. In fact, Illinois, New York, and California are ranked 44, 48, and 51 respectively, so truthfully too much of this country’s presidential elections are determined by a very small percentage of the US population, heavily weighted towards the conservative – since unlike the list above, seven out of the top eight are definitely conservative, and none are liberal. (Ohio is almost always in the middle somewhere.)
Motivemagus about 6 years ago
To continue…Using 2013 Census numbers, the US has a total population of 316,128,839. Those top eight happen to have a population among them of 36,829,512. That means the eight most powerful states, which account for a little less than 12% of the population, have a collective Vote Power of 1278, whereas the eight least powerful states, which includes California, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, but also DC, Hawaii, and Alabama, account for nearly 29% of the population, but have a collective vote power of 13.6.
To put it simply, the voters in a few tiny states get two and a half times the votes of people in more populated states in presidential elections. I don’t think this is what the Founders had in mind.
If we went to a straight one-person-one-vote for presidential elections, we’d actually have a much better representation of the will of the people than the Electoral College currently provides. A number of states have taken initiative to change the game and lock in electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote, which requires no changes to the Constitution but adds a lot more of the voice of the people.
QED.
Oh, and by the way — referring to more populated states that may lean leftwards as “mob rule” has a nasty little assumption built into it. Mobs are just as likely — or perhaps more so — in smaller right-wing states, as any cursory examination of the history of lynchings will tell you…see the article below, for example.
http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/24/10-american-states-with-the-most-lynchings-of-black-people-from-1882-1968/
Strawberry Hellcat: Gair I gall, ffon I’r anghall about 6 years ago
@JCole998: If you want to see another example of what mob rule actually looks like, we’ve just passed the anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Spoiler alert: Oklahoma isn’t a left-leaning state.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tulsa-race-riots_us_574fc3aae4b0ed593f134a92
Fido (aka Felix Rex) Premium Member about 6 years ago
As a passing thought on the on-going and there-is-no-answer debate on the Electoral College — has there been any commentary about the fact that when the Electoral College was established the franchise was very limited — white males over 21 only. Does this change the ‘power’ of the low-population states in today’s reality?