01-06-2008, 08:01 PM
[quote freeradical]I would like to see more than two parties too, but what evidence is there to support the assertion that getting rid of the electoral college would do this?
Who asserted this?
As opposed to our system, where we have K-Street lobbyists so anxious to curry favor with the party leadership that they allowed a poisonous toad like Grover Norquist tell them who they could hire and how much to pay them.
As opposed to our system, where these lobbyists write position papers -- sometimes even actual legislation-- for elected representatives. Representatives to whom they have been granted unparalleled access as a reward for loyalty to one party or the other.
It is only recently that Senators have been elected by popular vote. And, of course, the answer to this concern is the House of Representatives, which is coequal with the Senate in matters of drafting and passing legislation, and in which each state has votes proportional to its population.
We could turn it around. We could repeal the 12th amendment and restore the Electoral College to its original status and function. A panel of eligible citizens, representing each state (and the District of Columbia), and chosen by whatever means each state decides. who meet in open session to vote for two presidential candidates. In order to be elected President, a candidate must have a simple majority of the electoral votes. The Vice Presidency would go to the candidate with the next largest number of votes.
Article II
Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.
Who asserted this?
I certainly do not want to see us become a parliamentary democracy. This is a system that is all about special interests. Look at Italy; they used to have a "housewife party". Their political objective was to obtain a government pension for all housewives.
As opposed to our system, where we have K-Street lobbyists so anxious to curry favor with the party leadership that they allowed a poisonous toad like Grover Norquist tell them who they could hire and how much to pay them.
As opposed to our system, where these lobbyists write position papers -- sometimes even actual legislation-- for elected representatives. Representatives to whom they have been granted unparalleled access as a reward for loyalty to one party or the other.
]Why stop at the Presidency? The real travesty is in how we elect our Senators. A voter in Alaska, Delaware, et al is exercising far more power than a voter in California or Texas when they vote for a Senator.
It is only recently that Senators have been elected by popular vote. And, of course, the answer to this concern is the House of Representatives, which is coequal with the Senate in matters of drafting and passing legislation, and in which each state has votes proportional to its population.
We could turn it around. We could repeal the 12th amendment and restore the Electoral College to its original status and function. A panel of eligible citizens, representing each state (and the District of Columbia), and chosen by whatever means each state decides. who meet in open session to vote for two presidential candidates. In order to be elected President, a candidate must have a simple majority of the electoral votes. The Vice Presidency would go to the candidate with the next largest number of votes.
Article II
Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.