Subj : Your tax dollars at
To   : Ron Lauzon
From : Lee Lofaso
Date : Sun Dec 22 2019 07:07 pm

Hello Ron,

>LL>There is nothing in the US Constitution mandating the use of the
>LL>electoral college process in order to elect the President.
>
>Article 2, Section 1.
>And
>12th Amendment

Nothing there.

Article 2, Section 1 - "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner
as the Legislature thereof may direct"

12th Amendment - "The Electors shall meet in their respective
states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President"

* note - a small portion of the 12th Amendment is superceded
by section 3 of the 20th Amendment.

What the US Constitution calls for is an electoral college *system* -
which is not the same thing as most folks think or realize.

IOW, each individual state is free to choose how the POTUS/VPOTUS
are to be elected.  IOW, a state can pass a law mandating its electors
to vote for the candidate who has received the most popular votes
nationwide.  If the number of states having passed such a law amount
to a total of 270 or more electoral votes, then the candidate who
has won the most popular votes nationwide is the winner.

All this without changing a single word of the US Constitution.
Or by adding or repealing any amendments.

>LL>Direct democracy is what every prodemocratic individual on the
>LL>face of this planet should fully support.  One person, one vote.
>LL>It really is that simple.

>Yes, that *sounds* good.

Of course it does.  What's there not to like?

>But that means that the high population areas get to elect the president and
> if you don't live in one of those areas, your vote
>effectively does not count.

Do we want to be a country like South Africa as it was under
apartheid?  Do we want to be a country like Israel, which some
claim is a modern-day apartheid state?

63 million voters chose Donald J. Trump for president.
65 million voters chose Hillary Clinton for president.

There are 3100+ counties in the U.S.  The vast majority
of those counties are red, rather than blue.  The vast majority
of voters live in counties that are blue, rather than red.

Which means the USA may be a de facto apartheid state.

>Doesn't sound very democratic to me.

Nelson Mandela did not like it in South Africa.
Palestinians do not like it in Israel.

>And part of the reason for the Electoral system is to prevent tyranny of the
> majority.

What we have today in the US is tyranny of the minority.

Direct democracy will solve that problem.

--Lee

-- 
Laying Pipe Since '88

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