https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0065
I paste this everywhere because the narrative of lies has been ubiquitous:
There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to fewest objections.
This was James Madison, ie the guy who came up with it. It exists to launder slave votes through their owners, nothing more. It’s not about land, it’s just about the south using the votes of people they don’t let vote.
I never really understood the Rick and Morty joke until your comment: https://youtu.be/-ck-NLG_vIA.
It worked out better till England ended the slave trade, the South could just buy more votes whenever there was a concern.
After that they started going crazy and doing weird shit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_(U.S._Constitution) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(filibuster) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostend_Manifesto
Yes indeed.
All votes should count as one. Just the idea that the votes of some people values more than others is undemocratic by principle. It’s not the winner of the state that should decide as one state may have more people than others. What is democratic and must be placed is the TOTAL of votes is what must count.
We can count can’t you?so why do any other way? The only reason one may want otherwise is because he or she thinks he or she may have something to gain with this crooked system
As a non American from what I understand about the electoral collage is the land has more say.
Kind of?
The electoral college is no longer functioning as designed, and so voters in certain less populated areas have slightly more weight per vote than those in heavily populated areas. Only because the number of districts was artificially capped. So some districts have more people than several states do.
States also get two bonus votes for some reason.
The argument was that if someone posed a genuine threat to democracy and had a chance at winning the popular vote, the delegates could step in and vote for someone else.
A consequence of that, is that exactly the opposite can happen too.
slightly more weight per vote
Wyoming citizens count three times as much as California citizens
It is ABSOLUTELY functioning as designed. But you have to understand - Tyranny of the Majority; the threat of Religious Despots: Those two things were VERY MUCH in the minds of the founding fathers.
The argument is sometimes said as “they can step in” but in reality, that is up to the rules regulating how votes are cast based on state rules.
But you must first understand: The Founding fathers understood that Tyranny of the Majority could be a serious threat (see religious Tyranny and conflict that has lead to all kinds of problems and persecutions throughout history). It’s complicated.
Now: If you want to argue that election reform is needed in the modern day: I ABSOLUTELY 100% AGREE. I would LOVE to see an abolishoning of first past the post, and party centric electoral voting - in favour of Ranked Choice Ballots where it all pans out through one single vote. But who benefits? Well: It’s not the DNC, and it’s not the GOP: SO good luck getting the constitutional amendment needed to make that a reality.
Thing is: We COULD start - at municipal elections, elections for small positions. That is the BEST place to start but odds are, even there, you are going to have the DNC, and GOP fighting it at every step of the way, because that is a DISASTER for party control over elected officials: After all, in a world of Mass to Mass communication, you don’t need a big party to organize campaign drives - you can set up your social media posts, you can do a tonne of efforts and coordination remotely which means you can be out and talking to people basically anywhere in the country, and still be able to work to coordinate efforts directly.
Yeah, this meme is backwards if it’s supposed to be explaining the electoral college.
Electoral College: your vote’s power = (People / Arbitrarily Defined Land Area) because fuck you, that’s why.
Land owners were the original voters.
The rest of us plebes didn’t know what to do with such capital, so we had to yield to their “superior” vote.
This is why the right to vote has been such a constant fight across the centuries.
Yup the majority rules.
