Yes, I’m still angry about the leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that points to a decision by the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade with respect to legal abortions in the United States. That decision is likely to be supported by all of the conservative justices in either a 6-3 decision or, if Chief Justice John Roberts decides to vote against making abortions illegal, by a 5-4 decision.
As you think about the ramifications of this decision, it is worth remembering something. The office of the President of the United States is the only political office in the land that is not decided by the popular vote. The vehicle that determines who wins a presidential election is the Electoral College, an antiquated and antidemocratic part of the U.S. Constitution.
The Electoral College was created for two reasons. The first purpose was to create a buffer between the population and the selection of a president. The Founding Fathers were afraid of direct elections to the presidency. They feared a tyrant could manipulate public opinion and come to power. They believed that the electors would be able to ensure that only a qualified person becomes president. They thought that, with the Electoral College, no one would be able to manipulate the citizenry. I guess they weren’t prescient enough to envision Donald Trump.
The second reason for the Electoral College came from a compromises made at the constitutional convention to satisfy the small states. Under the system, each state had the same number of electoral votes as they have a representative in Congress, which is determined by each state’s populations. Thus no state could have less than three (aligned with two senators and one representative).
The result of this system in today’s real world is that state of Wyoming, for example, cast about 210,000 votes in the 2016 presidential election, and thus each elector represented 70,000 votes. In California, approximately 9,700,000 votes were cast for 54 votes, thus representing 179,000 votes per electorate. This creates an unfair advantage to voters in the small states whose votes count more than those people living in medium and large states. And this is good for Republicans, since many of the so-called red states are the smaller states.
The ramifications of this crazy system is that a presidential candidate can win the popular vote, but still lose the presidency by losing the Electoral College. And that has happened four times in American history and twice this century alone. In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote, but George W. Bush won the Electoral College. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but Donald Trump won the Electoral College.
So what does this have to do with the Supreme Court and overturning Roe v. Wade? Well, if the presidency was decided by the popular vote, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney-Barrett would not be justices on the Supreme Court. Alito and Roberts were appointed by Bush. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney-Barrett were appointed by Trump, neither of whom won the popular vote.
But abortion is just one of many areas where constitutional law appears ready to change dramatically. In the next few months, the Supreme Court is likely to decide cases expanding gun rights, lessening the restrictions on prayer in public schools, prohibiting affirmative action by colleges and universities, and enshrining the right of people to use religion as a basis for discriminating against gays and lesbians in business dealings and employment. And with its far right majority on the Court, thanks largely to two men who became president without winning the popular vote, the United States is rapidly being transformed into a gun-rotting, white conservative Christian theocracy.
This, That, and The Other 
Didn’t they already give the nod to coaches at public schools leading team prayers? It’s so ridiculous to imagine that if there is a God he gives a shit about sports, but here we are. Anyway, yes. The election of TFG proves that the Electoral College is a useless relic. It needs to go!
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Grrr. Don’t even get me started on the electoral college and redistricting.
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Grrr is right! 😠
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I agree F
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Fandango, it’s more than disturbing to me, it is frightening. It feels like the nation is poised for implosion. We get weaker with the changes, which makes us more appetizing targets to hungry giants who are already quietly buying up property and industry in our country. We could end up being slaves to those giants if we aren’t careful. We need to unite, not further divide. You give good reasoning for the abolition of the electoral college.
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Unfortunately it would take a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Electoral College and there’s no way two-thirds of the states would ratify that even if Congress passes it and sends it to the states. 😠
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We might need to amend the amendment process. Not likely that’s going to happen either. Some people are trying to get a constitutional convention to happen.
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I am still dumbfounded at the whole voting process and so called democracy in the US. With a Constitution that takes ages to change and amend, womens rights, stupid gun laws and who knows what else the country will be flushed so far down the sewer even the rats will get out as the human rats get in
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I’m afraid you’re right, Brian. America is no longer the beacon of light and enlightenment it once claimed to be. Things are pretty dark in this country right now.
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It is enough to make you puke.
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At the very least.
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Reblogged this on The Voice of the Voiceless and commented:
This post by Fandango is a must-read article about the Electoral College and its effects on the Roe draft that I have been talking about. He highlights some very important information. It’s very important that we, as citizens, try to begin fixing what our lack of participation in the countries biggest issues has caused.
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Thanks for passing this on, Amy/EM.
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You’re welcome!
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Fandango: another important aspect about the Electoral College is its racist origins. The North and South were roughly equally divided in terms of population, but about a third of the Southern populace were slaves who couldn’t vote. So a popular vote wouldn’t fly. The Electoral College incorporated the three-fifths compromise they’d agreed upon in apportioning Congressional seats–three-fifths of the slave population was counted for deciding taxation and members of the House.
But ever the hard-won optimist, I am choosing to believe this shocking truth about the Court
will stir the souls who have through apathy or disgust turned off from politics. The stakes for democracy have now been shown to be not abstract, but personal and immediate. If we can get a blue wave on every level of government, we can give Biden a better than 50-50 Senate. He has already said he’d support bypassing the filibuster for voting rights. I think he’d say the same about the decimation of a Constitutional right. And we can block the election of Big Lie advocates on state and local levels. Citizen action is essential. Despair means we’ve given in to the bad guys. NO!
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I hope you’re right, Annie, and that this will motivate the Democratic base to coalesce and to get even some moderate Republicans to vote for sanity and democracy over lunacy and fascism. Unfortunately, I don’t share your optimism. I’m afraid that we’re going to lose the House and the Senate in the midterms and that things are going to go from incredibly bad to unimaginably worse.
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I blame Mitch McConnell and his gang. They’re the ones who prevented the court from being balanced which is what the framers intended.
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Yes, and that is what McConnell calls his proudest moment.
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I imagine that changing the Constitution would be even harder than changing the justice system. In Australia I feel we have shifted to the right in this last decade. One of the major parties is much more conservative than it used to be and there are too many far right small parties and individual candidates but at least the system should allow us to move back the other way if enough people care.
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I hope enough people care in Australia. In the U.S. we are experiencing a wave of ignorance and apathy.
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The problems are obvious. I can’t see the solutions. Try as one might. Sadly…….
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I’m a bit nauseous. The real purpose of the Republican party is to favor big money (and that, historically, has been tied to race and gender as well); the abortion and anti-gay topics (only for political purposes) have been used to get unsuspecting ordinary folks on board for the votes. Now, our economic system is falling to bits (it won’t be blatantly obvious until it’s too late but is already obvious to those paying attention). As for abortion, the talk over the decades about details like pain and heartbeats and on and on has caused me to realize it’s best to let people get it over with early, if that’s what they’re going to do. But, now that the extremes [on the fringes of the party while they don’t realize it and at best don’t give a shit about the greedy people they serve] feel they have the upper hand, they’re talking about fertilized eggs (which fertilization I believe technically could happen on the literal sheets or on a woman’s leg before she goes to the shower). Oh… doesn’t matter if such a situation occurs outside the woman, the fun part is telling her what matters for her to do if it happens inside. Next, it’ll be lying on our backs with out feet up so as not to let any contents escape. How does it work, thirty minutes or so (such as during over-and-above fertility efforts to address experiences with infertility)? We are so backward, we don’t even have paid maternity leave. I’m so over these monsters.
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I didn’t know about this ‘til a few minutes ago.
Ana Kasparian Goes Viral & Makes Headlines …
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Corporate Media’s BRAINDEAD Advice
[for Democrats only hurts progressives more]
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https://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/full-kenyatta-unlike-fetterman-i-am-a-progressive-139791941709
… Kenyatta: ‘Unlike [Fetterman], I am a progressive’ – State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Pa.) sits down with Chuck in Pennsylvania to discuss his senate bid. Kenyatta says that he “is a progressive,” unlike his opponent, Lt. Gov. Fetterman.
May 11, 2022
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I don’t know enough about Kenyatta to be sure he’s a solid progressive. He might be, as several progressives I value question some stances of Fetterman. Nevertheless, Fetterman is more progressive than many. And my point, here, is that anyone can lie and put on a long-term facade. Also, we have to be responsible for ourselves and think through the issues (and our best options) rather than simply get on board and follow categories.
Nina Turner [was attacked by the ] Jimmy Dore Show
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I was mistaken to say that anyone “can” — maybe most people couldn’t pull that off.
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January of 2022 TYT: How Would Nina Turner Have
Handled Kamala Harris’ Charlamagne tha God Interview?
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Joe Manchin Caught Red-handed in NEW Corruption Scandal
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Too bad there won’t be any negative consequences.
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Yep
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https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/05/03/the-lead-4p-open-with-jake-tapper-live.cnn
Supreme Court prepares to overturn Roe v. Wade after years of pretense this wasn’t the plan CNN’s Jake Tapper reports. Source: CNN
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Nancy Pelosi Tries to Weasel Her Way
Out of Failing on Abortion Rights [ past
and presently in her own campaigning ]
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As an outsider, it’s a real life nightmare.
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Yes it is.
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Twitter Cancels TYT’s Rayyvana [for using free speech …]
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🙄
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This begins with conversation on May 6th,
then it goes to something from January 6th.
This is why right wing extremism is on the rise.
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The electoral college was ALSO another way to let the slave states and later, former slave states (but still Jim Crow states) “equalize” with non-slave states. Slavery was our original sin and we haven’t paid for it yet. If we don’t, we will NEVER get any better.
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True. It was a shameful time, and sadly, it still is.
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“I was raped by my father, abortion saved
my life” ~ Professor Michelle Goodwin …
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Roe News Outrages Trump-Voter Dave Portnoy…
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Republican DEFENDS [assaulting his pregnant wife]
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https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-prime/watch/colorado-republican-candidate-pushes-to-end-one-person-one-vote-140416069768
Colorado Republican candidate pushes to end one-person, one-vote
Colorado Republican candidate for governor, Greg Lopez, would like the state to do away with the popular vote in which all votes are equal and replace it with an electoral college that would give more voting power to rural counties where Republicans perform better.
May 19, 2022
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I’m losing all hope for the survival of democracy in America.
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Democrats who run for office have to get serious about educating the electorate and standing up for change rather than mostly being happy with their cushy jobs (and rather than wishing for a strong Republican Party). That is if enough of them are serious about democracy (which, admittedly, our country isn’t right now) as well as concerned for the well-being of the general public. It’s time to put up (a real fight instead of pleas for money), or I do think it’s going to be over.
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A steelworker, today, lamented that voting centers too much on “god, guns, and gynecology.”
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This wasn’t hour where I heard it, but this is the fella (union member):
https://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/-it-s-not-just-about-labor-issues-union-workers-in-western-pennsylvania-organize-before-primary-139706949976
‘It’s not just about labor issues’ [no pun intended]: Union workers in Western Pennsylvania organize before primary
Yamiche Alcindor reports from Western Pennsylvania where union workers are organizing ahead of the Senate primary. May 10, 2022
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Cool
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/10/biden-firm-starbucks-union-outcry-00031484
Top Biden-connected firm splits with Starbucks amid union outcry The firm, SKDK, said it was not working on labor specific issues for the coffee giant. Its relationship ended last month.
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Also cool
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/10/house-gives-green-light-to-staffer-unionization-00031543
House gives green light to staffer unionization
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How America’s Legacy of Racial Terror
Still Affects Black Wealth | Forbes
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Retired Conservative Judge warns: GOP Plan to ‘take the next election regardless of who wins’
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🤯
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This hasn’t aged well. I see Schumer as displaying his Freudian subservience; called the senate minority the majority.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/-the-fight-is-not-over-dems-won-t-step-down-after-gop-obstructs-voting-rights-bill-115286085946
Senate Republicans unanimously voted to block the “For The People Act,” which sought to expand voting rights and respond to restrictive election laws….
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https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/biden-loses-support-among-black-voters-polling-shows-139085893922
Rev. Al Sharpton joins Morning Joe to discuss new polling on a slight uptick in President Biden’s poll numbers along with new polling showing declining support for Biden from Black voters. May 2, 2022
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https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/opinion-to-end-roe-shredded-for-saying-abortion-bans-don-t-discriminate-against-women-139308613891
Opinion to end ‘Roe’ shredded for saying abortion bans don’t ‘discriminate’ against women SHARE THIS – MSNBC’s Ari Melber highlights how women’s bodies and choices would be controlled by men under the Supreme Court’s draft ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, despite the fact that more women are in government now than ever before. Melber traces how, historically, attacks on this right have long run through overwhelmingly male legislatures, pointing to a 1980s Pennsylvania law that attempted to narrow “Roe” as evidence. Melber also breaks down Justice Alito’s claim that abortion rules do not “discriminate” by gender. May 4, 2022
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This is a guest host (who I like just as well); he’s not Ari Melber:
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/michigan-a-g-takes-on-scotus-won-t-prosecute-draconian-abortion-cases-if-roe-overturned-139644997689
Michigan A.G. takes on SCOTUS: Won’t prosecute ‘draconian’ abortion cases if ‘Roe’ overturned
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Besides the other reasons it’s stupid to say a right isn’t real if it isn’t written explicitly in the U. S. Constitution, this guest points out that women weren’t included in our excuse for a democracy when that document was written and ratified.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/laurence-tribe-donald-trump-should-be-indicted-139745861838
Laurence Tribe: Donald Trump should be indicted
Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe says there’s evidence Donald Trump is “guilty of various forms of criminal conspiracy” and should be indicted. Tribe also believes the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is “clearly in question,” noting Justice Thomas faces ethics questions about his refusal to recuse from January 6 cases and Justice Alito’s leaked draft opinion, which Tribe says is poised to impose an “almost Neanderthal minority view on all of us.”
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I never knew why the electoral college existed, now I do!
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I wish it didn’t exist.
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Meet the Bestselling Author Retiring [in order to] Fight Trump
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