2010-07-27

Political disaster in the making

Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College
The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.

...Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington have already approved the legislation, according to the National Popular Vote campaign's website.
A bunch of typically Democrat states have chosen to give their electoral votes to the national vote winner.

Putting aside the fact that this directly undermines the Great Compromise that created the United States and flies in the face of the fundamental ideas behind the Constitution...

Imagine that the Republican wins the national vote by a small percentage, small enough to trigger a recount, and that the electoral votes from these states makes the difference in the electoral college. The Democrat candidate wants a national recount, since these votes could change the election, but the Republican states refuse. The recount happens and the Democrat states miraculously find the votes to give the national vote to the Democrat.

Combine this with the fact that states are increasingly coming into opposition with the central government, and the recipe for interstate conflict has increased considerably (albeit still remote).

No comments:

Post a Comment