Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Oh, the Whining

They are still whining.  The New York Times had an editorial yesterday about the Electoral College.  The liberals in big cities are truly butt-hurt that Hillary won the popular vote, but lost the election.
By overwhelming majorities, Americans would prefer to elect the president by direct popular vote, not filtered through the antiquated mechanism of the Electoral College. They understand, on a gut level, the basic fairness of awarding the nation’s highest office on the same basis as every other elected office — to the person who gets the most votes.
It's like high school civics comes as a surprise to them.  So, let's go over this onne more time.  We are not a democracy.  We are a constitutional republic, and although many of the elected officials are chosen through the popular vote, the president is elected by the states.  And, every state matters.  Even Montana and Delaware gets a vote.

If they want to change that, if they want the president elected by a popular mojority, there is a mechanism for that.  Simply get two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states to agree.  The procedure is spelled out in the same Constitution that talks about the Electoral College.  Simply amend the Constitution.  Really, that's all there is to it.

But, be forewarned.  We shouldn't change the Constitution for light, or transient reasons.  In this case, changing the Constitution just because you're butt-hurt is exactly the wrong reason.

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

If it ever becomes the popular vote, flyover country is dead...

Old Grafton said...

A serious risk of a Constitutional Convention is that the WHOLE FABRIC of the Constitution is open to alteration....Imagine what that might do to the WHOLE Bill of Rights, not even just the Second Amendment. In the event of a "progressive"-controlled government the end results would be the establishment of a virtual "Soviet States of America". The history of the now-dead "Equal Rights" Amendment effort and the continuous drumbeat to give away the nation's wealth and economic strength since the 1970's show exactly why the protections of the Constitution should remain inviolate.