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

[John Clark]

On Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 2:43 AM, Stuart LaForge <avant at sollegro.com> wrote:

>
>
> *Yes, that is called the Electoral College and by my reckoning and the
> deliberate framing of the constitution by Hamilton, Jefferson et. al.,*


I don't care who framed it, the Electoral College has proven itself to be a
disaster.

*> it is a feature and not a bug.*


That's what every programer says when defending his crappy software, and
slavery wasn't the only bug in the constitution software.


> *>The Electoral College was implemented with the**same rationale of
> giving every state two senators.*


Yes the exact same boneheaded rationale was given for both. A voter in
Wyoming has 68.3 times more influence over what happens in the US senate
than a voter in California, and that's just nuts.

> *>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.*


But in any rational system all the states should *NOT* have equal standing
in the eyes of the federal government because neither the state of Wyoming
nor the state of California is a rational being, but individual voters are.
A Wyoming voter has 66.7 times as much influence over who the president
should be than a California voter, and that's just nuts.
>
>
*>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.*


The coastal mega-cities SHOULD dominate if that's where the people live! If
the number of cows or wheat fields you own determine how powerful your vote
is why not the value of your stock portfolio or the square footage of your
penthouse apartment? And its not as if the cow owners have displayed
exceptional wisdom, in recent years the Electoral College laid turds in our
laps in the form of Donald Trump and George W Bush, and they are the 2
worst presidents in my lifetime. Trump has only been working on it for 2
years but is already well on track to become the worst president not just
in my lifetime but in American history.

*>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". *


Why? The people picked Clinton but they don't count, the Electoral College
picked Trump and they do count. That reason alone is more than enough to
condemn the Electoral College.


> *>Otherwise, you are talking about amending the constitution over the
> election of a president that youdon't like*


Trump is far more than just another president I don't like. In its history
America has had good presidents and bad but never a creature like Donald
Trump, he is unique. I'm really worried about 2020, and not just about what
will happen if he wins reelection, I am even more worried about what will
happen if he doesn't. In 2016 Trump won but was a sore winner and bizarrely
claimed the election that he won was fake,  if he looses in 2020 does
anybody really think he will be a good sport about it and say it was a fair
election? I don't know if Trump has the ability to make himself President
For Life but if he thinks he does there is not a doubt in my mind he will
try for it. Trump is not very smart and is known to vastly overestimate his
ability so he might fail, but even a failed attempt will be extremely ugly
and dangerous.


 John K Clark
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