[ExI] Electoral College was Re: Politics of Radical Life Extension / Indefinite Lifespans

[Stuart LaForge]

John Clark wrote:

> Anything could happen given Washington's current irrationality and
> contempt even for the very idea of objective facts. But if the above does
> occur its cause will have nothing to do with advances in science or
> technology, it will happen because some chant screaming cult like
> politician has managed to convince 23% of the American voters that
> everything he says is true and the above would be good for them (although
> it calls itself a republic it is possible for you to win a election and
> become president of the USA even if your opponent gets 77% of the popular
> vote and you only get 23%).

Yes, that is called the Electoral College and by my reckoning and the
deliberate framing of the constitution by Hamilton, Jefferson et. al., it
is a feature and not a bug. The Electoral College was implemented with the
same rationale of giving every state two senators. It was to express the
egalitarian concept that the various states of the union were in some
sense peers or "equal partners" in the United States and were of similar
standing in the eyes of the federal government.

The alternative is to have the interests of coastal mega-cities completely
dominate the interests of the farmers, miners, and factory-workers of the
entire interior of the country.

If you want to condemn the Electoral College, then you have to come up
with a better, more rational reason than "it allowed Trump to mobilize the
vote in the fly-over states and get elected". Otherwise, you are talking
about amending the constitution over the election of a president that you
don't like . . . which is clearly an over-wrought emotional response.

Stuart LaForge