Active Users:1356 Time:29/10/2025 11:58:32 AM
Sure, that's how it has always been - doesn't mean it's fair or that the popular vote is irrelevant. Legolas Send a noteboard - 08/07/2024 08:06:01 PM

View original postIn the US presidential election, the score is kept via electoral votes, and always has been. This is not a 'God-given' right, but a negotiated right that went into the Constitution at its inception in order to convince the small states that they would have sufficient power in the new nation to not be dominated by the larger states.

There's a whole lot of things that went into the Constitution (or failed to get into it, in other cases) at its inception for reasons that made sense at the time. Doesn't mean those reasons still make sense today. And in theory you could amend the Constitution where that makes sense, like in the 1860s to correct one of the most blatant problems of the original version, but in practice in such a hyperpolarized country as it is today, no amendment that'd make a difference is ever going to pass again, so you can't anymore.

Presumably you figure that still today small states need to have sufficient power - and as I mentioned, in the electoral college itself, the disproportionality is modest enough that that might still just about make sense (other than for Puerto Rico or other territories that are just disenfranchised completely), unlike the Senate.

But even if you're happy with the system as it is, your snide comment about 'the Dems care about running up the score' was still pretty bizarre. I've no idea what facts it's even supposed to be based on - for obvious reasons, both parties spend the bulk of their money and campaigning resources in swing states rather than in states that they'll almost certainly win anyway. So how are they 'running up the score' in Massachusetts?

Reply to message
When the NYT Editorial Board calls for the incumbent President to step down... - 29/06/2024 02:51:38 PM 564 Views
Yeah, pretty crazy stuff... - 30/06/2024 12:53:46 AM 223 Views
Not competent to run for president - 30/06/2024 03:46:13 AM 194 Views
Was Biden ever really competent, though? - 30/06/2024 01:33:00 PM 236 Views
Re: Was Biden ever really competent, though? - 01/07/2024 04:48:04 PM 207 Views
the slip - 30/06/2024 11:06:40 PM 209 Views
Now the Biden campaign is calling the people who are sounding these alarms 'bedwetters' - 01/07/2024 05:16:12 PM 191 Views
That term has been used for months if not years, they didn't just make it up... - 01/07/2024 11:52:54 PM 195 Views
How can you say this with a straight face? - 04/07/2024 03:24:48 PM 267 Views
Very easily, I assure you - though there's a difference between 'did' (past) and 'would' (future) - 04/07/2024 07:23:44 PM 218 Views
Re: Very easily, I assure you - 08/07/2024 05:35:19 PM 203 Views
I'm not fool enough to think I can go toe to toe with you on the Russian-American relationship. - 08/07/2024 09:33:57 PM 164 Views
Security doesn't exist in a vacuum - 09/07/2024 02:42:36 AM 208 Views
Sure, but Russia is a threat to others far more than others threaten it. - 10/07/2024 09:45:58 PM 207 Views
That's actually empirically not true - 11/07/2024 02:35:23 PM 198 Views
You're right that I was thinking of Eastern Europe re: NATO, not Central Asia or the Caucasus. - 12/07/2024 04:07:43 PM 202 Views
Let's not fool ourselves about Montenegro and Macedonia - 15/07/2024 03:41:14 PM 193 Views
A smarter NATO - 16/07/2024 11:35:46 AM 195 Views
I agree with most of this. - 16/07/2024 06:14:07 PM 194 Views
I don't think there's any issue to Ukraine joining the EU - 16/07/2024 06:42:27 PM 184 Views
I agree with this 100% - 16/07/2024 06:41:20 PM 194 Views
Sure, for those two it was clearly more the political factors. For others not, it varied. - 16/07/2024 06:02:47 PM 267 Views
You sound so naive there - 16/07/2024 06:57:38 PM 191 Views
It was a bad debate, but I can't imagine a lot of people are actually swayed by it. - 07/07/2024 01:56:44 AM 189 Views
I'm centrist enough to consider voting Red over voting Blue this year due to - 08/07/2024 10:51:46 AM 185 Views
I've voted Libertarian for President the last two times - 08/07/2024 02:55:35 PM 189 Views
You make a good point about the popular vote. - 08/07/2024 03:01:42 PM 184 Views
Re: You make a good point about the popular vote. - 08/07/2024 03:26:20 PM 220 Views
This is the part that bothers me as well. - 08/07/2024 03:46:15 PM 201 Views
Re: This is the part that bothers me as well. - 08/07/2024 04:00:14 PM 189 Views
Re: I've voted Libertarian for President the last two times - 08/07/2024 03:23:12 PM 173 Views
Your analogy is pretty poor honestly. - 08/07/2024 04:54:45 PM 191 Views
You also are trying to redefine how the score is kept - 08/07/2024 05:44:02 PM 198 Views
Sure, that's how it has always been - doesn't mean it's fair or that the popular vote is irrelevant. - 08/07/2024 08:06:01 PM 188 Views
If popular votes were paramount then Rassemblement National - 08/07/2024 08:29:13 PM 180 Views
FPTP sucks in general, yes, whether in the US, in France, or elsewhere. - 08/07/2024 09:53:57 PM 187 Views
Re: FPTP sucks in general, yes, whether in the US, in France, or elsewhere. - 08/07/2024 10:34:12 PM 189 Views
To be clear I didn't say it should be eliminated entirely, but as for what would happen if it was... - 08/07/2024 10:50:57 PM 199 Views
You're wrong. - 09/07/2024 01:19:30 AM 193 Views
You're still looking at it from the current two-party system framework. - 09/07/2024 07:17:39 AM 187 Views
Re: You're still looking at it from the current two-party system framework. - 09/07/2024 01:45:33 PM 181 Views
It doesn't necessarily require amending the constitution. - 10/07/2024 03:03:19 AM 188 Views
Re: It doesn't necessarily require amending the constitution. - 10/07/2024 04:13:02 PM 184 Views
I meant California - 08/07/2024 08:43:35 PM 190 Views
I'm concerned about a lot of things. - 09/07/2024 04:41:03 AM 182 Views
From a left of center/liberalish substack author about the Republican national platform - 09/07/2024 11:15:00 AM 235 Views
It's an interesting read. - 09/07/2024 09:46:47 PM 212 Views
Trump is a Trumpist. Republicans are Republicans. - 10/07/2024 11:09:05 AM 188 Views
I think a significant wing of the party has become Trumpist. - 10/07/2024 02:23:45 PM 205 Views
The most interesting thing to me, so far, about this debate - 08/07/2024 10:54:50 AM 176 Views
Re: The most interesting thing to me, so far, about this debate - 08/07/2024 02:58:44 PM 199 Views
Re: The most interesting thing to me, so far, about this debate - 08/07/2024 03:20:14 PM 188 Views

Reply to Message