photo credit: roberthuffstutter
Bob Henline is promoting Electoral Equality today at Non-Partisan. The sentiment is admirable, but there are a couple of things that need to be cleared up before anyone jumps on the bandwagon here. Let’s look at his description of what he is promoting:
For those of you unfamiliar with it, National Popular Vote is an organization that is trying to bring some semblance of equality to American presidential elections. NPV is doing this through legislation at the state level, legislation that would create an interstate compact to award each of the member states’ electoral votes to the candidate that receives the nationwide popular vote majority . . . It’s a long road, but shorter than the other alternative, an amendment to the Constitution.
Thankfully Bob is upfront about the fact that this really should be pursued as an amendment to the Constitution. On the other hand, this movement is technically legal unlike other Constitution skirting movements. So there’s the first problem – they are not pursuing an amendment which would be the proper course.
The second problem is much more problematic and it holds true even if this were pursued as an amendment to the Constitution. The goal of removing the Electoral College or simply rendering it obsolete moves us further along the path that the 17th Amendment set us firmly on, namely the path of fundamentally altering our structure of government from being a republic to being a democracy. I admit that some people would openly pursue that change, but I highly doubt that most people even recognize the difference and thus they are unqualified to decide which form is more advantageous to the nation.
For those who wish to understand what form or government we were given and why, here it is in 11 minutes. Although the video puts it better the summary goes like this – all forms of government over time tend to morph into oligarchy or dictatorship (aka the rule of man) except a Constitutional republic which is ruled by law (this only holds so long as it truly is ruled by law). A Constitutional Republic based on the rule of law is what the founders gave us, but we have been less than diligent in preserving it.
The video debunks the popular conception that socialism and fascism are at opposite ends of the political spectrum although it does not clarify that while they both favor government dominance (as opposed to a free society based on the rule of law) they are on the opposite ends of the economic spectrum. Part of the misconception for most Americans in and out of government is based on mixing the political and economic spectra as if they were a single spectrum.
I agree with Bob that people should be represented fairly in our electoral system. I live in a state that is almost universally ignored in presidential politics except what a campaign airplane runs out of fuel between Denver and Las Vegas so I should have a vested interest in receiving more honest attention in campaigns but I am not fooled by the appearance of fairness that is waved under the banner of simple democracy through direct election of all public office holders.
If the people of this country want to change the form of government with their eyes wide open then I respect their right and ability to do so. I personally see great value in the form that our founders fought for (physically and intellectually) and passed on to us in the Constitution.
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