Electoral Collage Fiasco

[Algarus]

This past week has been disturbing to watch. People rioting over an election? In another time this would just be seen as Trumps pack of people are just sore that they lost right? Alas, no. That's not it at all. One side lost and now they are in the right for protesting, correct? People don't seem to like the electoral collage now. Which is odd, seeing as how this election isnt the first in which a president lost the popular vote. So I ask this to everyone in favor of throwning away this sytem that, according to some people out there, is a facist system. Im sorry if this comes off as snide, but I am so sick of listening to people screaming about how America is a Facist state now (Seriously, I've seen at least 3 different people screaming about it). As someone who is studying history, and has a fairly good handle on the political system of America, I would like to hear an explination for this stance.

 

[The Captain]

This past week has been disturbing to watch. People rioting over an election? In another time this would just be seen as Trumps pack of people are just sore that they lost right? Alas, no. That's not it at all. One side lost and now they are in the right for protesting, correct? People don't seem to like the electoral collage now. Which is odd, seeing as how this election isnt the first in which a president lost the popular vote. So I ask this to everyone in favor of throwning away this sytem that, according to some people out there, is a facist system. Im sorry if this comes off as snide, but I am so sick of listening to people screaming about how America is a Facist state now (Seriously, I've seen at least 3 different people screaming about it). As someone who is studying history, and has a fairly good handle on the political system of America, I would like to hear an explination for this stance.

Well, I think the trouble is less in what's happening and more in what may happen.

For example, England is still technically a theocratic monarchy, and at any point the ruling family could dissolve all democratic institutions and plunge the country back into its autocratic past. The electoral college is a similar way, as electors don't actually have to listen to their constituents and can vote however they want. Not to mention that even if they vote according to their constituents someone can still become president and lose the popular vote by a massive margin.

Now the odds of these things happening are very low, but the fact that they exist in a democratic system is what has people worried. Its a matter of principle.

And for the record there have been many attempts in the past to abolish the electoral college, but objections tend to heat up in an election year.

 

[Mazianni]

Fascism is defined by both the left and the right as "whatever I don't like!" Obviously Trump is particularly disliked by quite a few people across the aisle.

In this case the electoral college gets to be fascist due to Trump losing the popular vote by some margin. People forget this is the United States of America and not the United State of America, and that the presidential election, like the election of Senators used to be, is a representation of the will of the States moreso than the general population.

Most of the founders never really had a real swell look on democracy and the EC is just another example of this.

Could be fun times ahead if there's enough faithless electors, however.

 

[Algarus]

Fascism is defined by both the left and the right as "whatever I don't like!" Obviously Trump is particularly disliked by quite a few people across the aisle.

In this case the electoral college gets to be fascist due to Trump losing the popular vote by some margin. People forget this is the United States of America and not the United State of America, and that the presidential election, like the election of Senators used to be, is a representation of the will of the States moreso than the general population.

Most of the founders never really had a real swell look on democracy and the EC is just another example of this.

Could be fun times ahead if there's enough faithless electors, however.

By fun tomes ahead, i assume you mean a civil war?

 

[Mazianni]

Nah, I honestly doubt there'll ever another civil war in this country while it's still rich and orderly, no matter how corrupt it gets.

Domestic terrorism isn't out of the question though. Timmy McVeigh and friends.

 

[Algarus]

Nah, I honestly doubt there'll ever another civil war in this country while it's still rich and orderly, no matter how corrupt it gets.

Domestic terrorism isn't out of the question though. Timmy McVeigh and friends.

I dont think it'll be like the Civil War of the 1800's, but I think some of the milita's around America might start getting violent.

 

[Green Ranger]

This past week has been disturbing to watch. People rioting over an election? In another time this would just be seen as Trumps pack of people are just sore that they lost right? Alas, no. That's not it at all. One side lost and now they are in the right for protesting, correct? People don't seem to like the electoral collage now. Which is odd, seeing as how this election isnt the first in which a president lost the popular vote. So I ask this to everyone in favor of throwning away this sytem that, according to some people out there, is a facist system. Im sorry if this comes off as snide, but I am so sick of listening to people screaming about how America is a Facist state now (Seriously, I've seen at least 3 different people screaming about it). As someone who is studying history, and has a fairly good handle on the political system of America, I would like to hear an explination for this stance.

I don't think the American system is fascist, so I'm just going to sidestep that whole thing, but, couple of things:

1) No, this isn't the first time that the popular vote hasn't won the college votes, and it won't be the last. The issue most people have with the electoral college system in regards to this particular point, however, is that it is happening increasingly frequently.

2) People rioting and protesting because they lost isn't new. America campaigns super hard for its presidential elections, and after 18 months everyone's emotions are running high and a lot of people are feeling really disenfranchised by the system right now - especially given the vitriol of this particular campaign. Essentially the protests are a by-product of the fact that America has been collectively holding its breath for a year and a half. This is the outpouring of emotion that follows and, as far as I can tell in the American system, it's pretty normal these days.

3) The other main issue that voters seem to have right now is that not every vote is equal. This is something Donald Trump complained about previously when it looked like Mitt Romney would win the popular vote, but not the electoral college, and it's a fairly common complaint - mainly because not every vote is equal in the election (certain states votes are weighted almost 3 times as heavily as other states in terms of determining wins in the college IIRC, while millions of votes in safe states are effectively meaningless because of the winner-takes-all system), and in general the college is a pretty anti-democratic mechanism due to the weighting of specific states and regions.

4) Tbh I think a lot of people probably don't fully understand the electoral college, so yeah, people are probably confused and a little pissed that the candidate who is trailing by two million votes is going to be the next president.