This is going to leave a mark. SCOTUS affirms "faithless elector" laws constitutional

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ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,358
8,447
126
By removing the ability of the electoral college to be independent of the people they’ve removed that safeguard.
state legislatures are still free to appoint the electors as they see fit. this decision completely affirms that.
 

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
32,548
15,425
136
state legislatures are still free to appoint the electors as they see fit. this decision completely affirms that.

No what this affirms is that the state is free to force the electoral college to vote in the way they see fit.
 

brandonbull

Diamond Member
May 3, 2005
6,338
1,215
126
Red state, unenlightened, easily manipulated. You believe yourself to be better than those people, you believe your political beliefs are obviously superior. You believe they're not bright enough to understand the concepts that you embrace. You believe they're being manipulated. The solution to this problem is to alter the constitution to reduce they're political influence.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to be enlightened.
And some still can't figure out where they go wrong when trying to win an argument or stating their case. Self appointed superiority doesn't work too well.
 

brandonbull

Diamond Member
May 3, 2005
6,338
1,215
126
OK. But the will of the people should hold sway more than it does. Too many things that the public wants and deserves, the public does not get. The middle class is collapsing, has been for decades. Gun control, elimination of the loop-holes has public support, but it doesn't happen. Taxing the rich so their maids don't pay a higher rate than they do.You yourself complained about being taxed without being represented. The filibuster. Gerrymandering. The systematic disenfranchisement of segments of the electorate cherry-picked by special interest financed agents. I haven't even mentioned universal health care. This is just off the top of my semi-educated head.
And Joe Biden and others like him have been kicking around D.C. for decades and have done nothing about any of those things.
 

nickqt

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2015
7,695
8,095
136
Looks like it's a triple play then, my friend.
Making everyone's individual vote equal doesn't make an individual vote more superior than another vote.

The Electoral College and Status Quo does exactly that, though. Not that you're against one group of people having superiority over another group of people.
 

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
32,548
15,425
136
And Joe Biden and others like him have been kicking around D.C. for decades and have done nothing about any of those things.

More ignorance on your part. Biden’s record, just like with every politician is public record.


You can complain about his record but to say he didn’t do anything about any of those things is false and easily verifiable by anyone competent enough to use the Internet. Do you know how to Internet?
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,147
4,847
136
Why is the presidential election the only election that doesn't go by the popular vote? Time to change this once and for all.
 
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Sunburn74

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2009
5,037
2,615
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OK. But the will of the people should hold sway more than it does. Too many things that the public wants and deserves, the public does not get. The middle class is collapsing, has been for decades. Gun control, elimination of the loop-holes has public support, but it doesn't happen. Taxing the rich so their maids don't pay a higher rate than they do.You yourself complained about being taxed without being represented. The filibuster. Gerrymandering. The systematic disenfranchisement of segments of the electorate cherry-picked by special interest financed agents. I haven't even mentioned universal health care. This is just off the top of my semi-educated head.
I think this is in part due to the inability to have national referendums as the british do or states do on a state level.
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
38,409
8,700
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I think this is in part due to the inability to have national referendums as the british do or states do on a state level.
We should absolutely have a vote of confidence feature for the presidency. Impeachment has yet to do more than stir the pot, it's never come to anything. Nixon resigned under threat of being ousted, yes. But it took a major crime as impetus. Intelligently run countries can change the leadership when necessary. Here, we're mired in ancient traditions that are all too calcified. Getting that done here, instituting a vote of confidence in the legislative branch to have interim election for the president would require an amendment. I think the Democrats could get behind it, but the GOP, I very much doubt it. They are so wedded to business as usual as a way of life and governance.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,136
30,086
146
OK. But the will of the people should hold sway more than it does. Too many things that the public wants and deserves, the public does not get. The middle class is collapsing, has been for decades. Gun control, elimination of the loop-holes has public support, but it doesn't happen. Taxing the rich so their maids don't pay a higher rate than they do.You yourself complained about being taxed without being represented. The filibuster. Gerrymandering. The systematic disenfranchisement of segments of the electorate cherry-picked by special interest financed agents. I haven't even mentioned universal health care. This is just off the top of my semi-educated head.

a lot of those very real problems, from what I can tell, have to do with the way that elections are financed--direct-from-lobbyist-pocket-to-legislator's-fur coat type of seat purchasing. The influence dynamic is the problem, and beyond the simple model of holding democratic elections which more or less work (outside of obvious voter disenfranchisement and apathy-injection), taking a sledge hammer to campaign financing laws is the reasonable solution.

In one case you are saying that the problem is how our elections are held, or how our government is arranged. In another, you argue how those models are influenced. I don't think you're wrong, I just think the two aren't exactly the same, and don't necessarily have to be influenced by the inherent corruption that is currently allowed to fester, and that the solution for that isn't related to the model of how we hold elections or the structure of our representative government. Yes, the EC is problematic and the "philosophy" that established its existence is long-since obsolete. ...I mean, we fought a war and defeated traitors more than 150 years ago which explicitly ended the only (immoral) reason for its existence. So yes, its time is long overdue.
 

hal2kilo

Lifer
Feb 24, 2009
24,225
10,878
136
I apologize for the idiots in my state that caused this to even be a case in the SCOTUS.