re: This Modern World Cartoon

You just keep telling yourself that

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Walt, I'm not going to put this lightly, you seem like you're taking the election like a bitch.

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You totally misread the cartoon and you miss me by a mile.

I am totally happy Trump won. The worst thing I can possibly imagine would be Hillary Clinton as president.



Still on my car.

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What’s funny about the cartoon is that the Electoral College DIDN’T keep him from winning the White House. It HELPED him win the White House

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And THAT my friends....... Is called IRONY.

Point to WhiskeyPapa.

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Okay, see how that works? The Framers -didn’t- want the common people deciding anything important. The humor in the Tom Tomorrow cartoon is that IF the framers had any predilection to expanding the responsibility for choosing the president, a visit by time traveling Donald Trump would cure them of it.

What’s funny about the cartoon is that the Electoral College DIDN’T keep him from winning the White House. It HELPED him win the White House

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No, it's still off the mark. While the structure of the electoral college suggests that it is antithetical to the popular vote, it is not. It is still pretty much based on the popular vote, but by state.

It has less to do with not wanting "the common people deciding anything important" than it has to do with ensuring each state has a fair say. The whole thing about only white land-owning males being able to vote is a separate issue from the rationale for the electoral college. You are correct about the elitism of the founding fathers, but that's not why the electoral college was primarily concocted.

In other words, the electoral college is not about who the electorate is. It's about how the power of the electorate is distributed.

That's why the cartoon is not that funny. Because it's based on an incorrect premise.

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It has less to do with not wanting "the common people deciding anything important" than it has to do with ensuring each state has a fair say. The whole thing about only white land-owning males being able to vote is a separate issue from the rationale for the electoral college. You are correct about the elitism of the founding fathers, but that's not why the electoral college was primarily concocted.

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Hmmmm....... okay. A fair say for each state? Can you source that? From someone involved?

What gives each state its fair say is the Senate where each state has the same number of votes. The EC would do nothing to make Rhode island as powerful as Pennsylvania, New York or Massachusetts. So I don't see your point, but what the Framers thought is what matters for the sake of this discussion.

Who selects the Electors?

"Choosing each state's Electors is a two-part process. First, the political parties in each state choose slates of potential Electors sometime before the general election. Second, on Election Day, the voters in each state select their state's Electors by casting their ballots for President.

The first part of the process is controlled by the political parties in each state and varies from state to state. Generally, the parties either nominate slates of potential Electors at their state party conventions or they chose them by a vote of the party's central committee. This happens in each state for each party by whatever rules the state party and (sometimes) the national party have for the process. This first part of the process results in each Presidential candidate having their own unique slate of potential Electors.

Political parties often choose Electors for the slate to recognize their service and dedication to that political party. They may be state elected officials, state party leaders, or people in the state who have a personal or political affiliation with their party's Presidential candidate. (For specific information about how slates of potential Electors are chosen, contact the political parties in each state.)"

So they are no longer likely to be cobblers from Connecticut.

LINK

Don't forget too, that Senators were not chosen by popular vote until 1916 or so.

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WhiskeyPapa

Melt Day.....

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This is a much better discussion than you often see here.

And I am right. I am not right about everything, only everything I have an opinion on, which is almost everything.

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What's sad is you probably don't even realize that our founding fathers would be shocked and disappointed to find that a government establishment had been created by professional politicians on both sides of the isle.

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I heard Lord Acton quoted the other day.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Read more at: LINK

There has been no power on Earth ever to match the United States of America.