Friday, March 13, 2009
Road closed, detour open
An interesting movement to repeal the Electoral College is flying under the radar in many state legislatures. The 'National Popular Vote Interstate Compact' aims to amend the constitution through an agreement between states.
Of course this isn't how the original written constitution wants an amendment to be passed; the original procedure has two options, both of which must run through Congress. But the states clearly understand that Congress now represents China, so anything that helps America must detour around Congress.
So a number of states have decided to pass an amendment requiring popular vote, and to pass it WITHOUT the help of Congress. The amendment doesn't precisely create a new form of election, and it doesn't change the Constitution's text. [Which wouldn't matter anyway since the text is unused and abandoned.]
Here's how it works:
In other words, the states in the compact will still cast electoral votes, but they will do it on the basis of the total popular vote, not on the basis of their own state vote. Non-participating states will still use the old method, but their votes won't matter. As the participants increase, and the consequences of non-participation become clear, other states will fall in line formally or informally.
I hadn't heard of this movement until I noticed a brief news item today about the Oregon state house passing its version of the amendment. Turns out that the Wash state senate passed its version recently as well. So far, 4 states (including Ill) have fully enacted the law, 4 (including Calif) have passed the legislature but not the governor, and 8 (including Wash and Ore) have passed one house of the legislature. The bill has been at least introduced in all but three states.
= = = = =
Sidenote:
The last substantive amendment was the 21st in 1934, which repealed the 18th. Since then, with one minor exception, all actual changes in the Constitution have been made by Communist saboteurs wearing black robes, and nobody has challenged the authority of the saboteurs. The minor exception is in the area of "terms and conditions of employment", such as presidential succession and Congressional pay. We've had a few formal amendments in those areas since 1934, because for some reason the black-robed saboteurs are not interested in changing those bits of the text, and for some reason the government decided to obey those bits of the text while brazenly disobeying everything else in the document. I suspect the saboteurs leave those bits alone because they understand that those bits are contributing to our collapse; why change something that is already serving your evil ends? The saboteurs didn't need to erase those bits anyway. Bush and Cheney erased one piece: P and VP aren't supposed to be from the same state. Obama has carved out another piece, because his natural-born citizenship was genuinely in doubt and was not officially checked by anyone. ¶ 11:08 AM
Of course this isn't how the original written constitution wants an amendment to be passed; the original procedure has two options, both of which must run through Congress. But the states clearly understand that Congress now represents China, so anything that helps America must detour around Congress.
So a number of states have decided to pass an amendment requiring popular vote, and to pass it WITHOUT the help of Congress. The amendment doesn't precisely create a new form of election, and it doesn't change the Constitution's text. [Which wouldn't matter anyway since the text is unused and abandoned.]
Here's how it works:
States joining the compact will continue to award their electoral votes in their current manner until the compact has been joined by enough states to represent a controlling majority of the Electoral College (currently 270 electoral votes). After that point, all of the electoral votes of the member states would be cast for the winner of the national popular vote in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In other words, the states in the compact will still cast electoral votes, but they will do it on the basis of the total popular vote, not on the basis of their own state vote. Non-participating states will still use the old method, but their votes won't matter. As the participants increase, and the consequences of non-participation become clear, other states will fall in line formally or informally.
I hadn't heard of this movement until I noticed a brief news item today about the Oregon state house passing its version of the amendment. Turns out that the Wash state senate passed its version recently as well. So far, 4 states (including Ill) have fully enacted the law, 4 (including Calif) have passed the legislature but not the governor, and 8 (including Wash and Ore) have passed one house of the legislature. The bill has been at least introduced in all but three states.
= = = = =
Sidenote:
The last substantive amendment was the 21st in 1934, which repealed the 18th. Since then, with one minor exception, all actual changes in the Constitution have been made by Communist saboteurs wearing black robes, and nobody has challenged the authority of the saboteurs. The minor exception is in the area of "terms and conditions of employment", such as presidential succession and Congressional pay. We've had a few formal amendments in those areas since 1934, because for some reason the black-robed saboteurs are not interested in changing those bits of the text, and for some reason the government decided to obey those bits of the text while brazenly disobeying everything else in the document. I suspect the saboteurs leave those bits alone because they understand that those bits are contributing to our collapse; why change something that is already serving your evil ends? The saboteurs didn't need to erase those bits anyway. Bush and Cheney erased one piece: P and VP aren't supposed to be from the same state. Obama has carved out another piece, because his natural-born citizenship was genuinely in doubt and was not officially checked by anyone. ¶ 11:08 AM
