NY Times: The Electoral College Will Destroy America (or something)

Who’s surprised that the NY Times is running this opinion piece by editorial board member Jesse Wegman? You’ll love the subhead

The Electoral College Will Destroy America
And no, New York and California would not dominate a popular vote.

In other words, the populous states/cities will dominate the popular vote, making it about mob rule, rather than the whole point of a Democratic Republic, hence the reason we are called the United States Of America, not just one name like Canada or Mexico. That was the whole point of an electoral college, because most states were the size, at least by volume, of the old world European ones. What is a state? It was what they called nations. The Articles of Confederation joined these states, with their own issues and concerns, together, but not strong enough to be one nation. Hence the Constitution. Anyhow, enough U.S. History/Political Science 101

Last week, Nate Silver, the polling analyst, tweeted a chart illustrating the chances that Joe Biden would become president if he wins the most votes in November.

The “if” is probably unnecessary. It’s hard to find anyone who disputes that Mr. Biden will win the most votes. This isn’t a liberal’s fantasy. In a recent panel discussion among four veteran Republican campaign managers, one acknowledged, “We’re going to lose the popular vote.” Another responded, “Oh, that’s a given.” The real question is will Mr. Biden win enough more votes than President Trump to overcome this year’s bias in the Electoral College.

Mr. Silver’s analysis is bracing. If Mr. Biden wins by five percentage points or more — if he beats Donald Trump by more than seven million votes — he’s a virtual shoo-in. If he wins 4.5 million more votes than the president? He’s still got a three-in-four chance to be president.

Anything less, however, and Mr. Biden’s odds drop like a rock. A mere three million-vote Biden victory? A second Trump term suddenly becomes more likely than not. If Mr. Biden’s margin drops to 1.5 million — about the populations of Rhode Island and Wyoming combined — forget about it. The chance of a Biden presidency in that scenario is less than one in 10.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me really angry. Yes, I am aware that the United States has never elected its president by a direct popular vote; I wrote a whole book about it. I still cannot fathom why, in a representative democracy based on the principle that all votes are equal, the person who wins the most votes can — and does, repeatedly — lose the most consequential election in the land.

Because, when it comes to the presidency, we are not a representative democracy. That’s the House of Representatives, which, if Wegman really cared, would call for term limits, dramatically increasing the number of Representatives, and reforming campaigning financing so that they are beholden to the people in their district rather than from outsiders.

It happened in 2016 to Hillary Clinton, who won nearly three million more votes than Donald Trump — a margin of more than two percentage points — but lost because of fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. Two months away from Election Day, the odds of something like this happening again are disconcertingly high. That’s a bad thing. The presidency is the only office whose occupant must represent all Americans equally, no matter where they live. The person who holds that office should have to win the most votes from all Americans, everywhere.

You can tell where this is going, right? That the Electoral College is Bad, because it rewards those who play the game and win the electoral votes of enough states and the citizens in those states. You know how this works. I’m sure Wegman, who apparently wrote a book on this, knows as well. That’s why they want the EC to go away. If they really want that, they should push for a constitutional convention. I triple dog dare them.

Or, better, let’s break up many states to be more representative. California should be like 3-4 states. Texas into 2-3. Florida in two. NY into 2-3. Heck, Washington and Oregon into 2, since more than half of those states is dominated by the uber-left wing politics of just a few cities.

Regardless, Democrats won’t give up on getting rid of the EC and instituting mob rules, rather than our existing system which is designed to protect the minority from the majority, to give the minority a voice. And it sure sounds like they are worried Biden is going to lose.