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Tag: original intention

The District Method - History and Explanation

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Jan 21, 2013 at 02:20:27 PM EST
Tags: 2012 Presidential Election (by congressional district), Electoral College, 3 USC § 1 & 7, quadrennial presidential elections, states vs. people balance, small states vs. large states balance, popular support vs. distributed support, U. S. Constitution Article 2 § 1 clauses 2 thru 4, U. S. Constitution Amendment XII, original intention, Congressional District Method, Maine, Nebraska, Pennsylvania (pending), Ohio (pending), Virginia (pending), Wisconsin (pending), Michigan (pending), Florida (pending), potentially North Carolina and Nevada, National Popular Vote is constitutionally irrelevant, Maryland (wants out), New Jersey (wants out), Illinois, Hawaii, Washington, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Vermont, California, New York (not interested), Pennsylvania (not interested), Guarantee Clause, U. S. Constitution Article 4 § 4 clause 1, Massachusetts Variant, Maine Variant, New York Variant, Virginia Variant, Electoral District Method, Tennessee Variant (all tags)

You may have heard of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an initiative being advanced by a Soros-funded group that intends to bypass the Constitution and obviate the Electoral College, handing the quadrennial presidential elections to whomever wins the plurality of the nationwide popular vote. This article isn't the place to go into the details of the initiative (the link provides a usable starting point for further research), but suffice it that triggering the compact will realize something that has been a strategic objective of the progressives for quite some time.

However, America is not a democracy; rather, the United States are a republic. And that distinction isn't one of mere semantics. In a republic, the voice of the people is more indirect the more non-local the matter is. When it comes to elections, I can think of none more non-local than the presidential election. Among the checks and balances the Founding Fathers included in the Constitution was the balance of the voice of the people with the voice of the states, thus the use of the Electoral College to elect the president every four years.

(8 comments, 1832 words in story) Full Story

The NPVIC Will Rear It's Head . . . Again

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Dec 17, 2012 at 11:53:30 PM EST
Tags: Electoral College, 3 USC § 1 & 7, quadrennial presidential elections, states vs. people balance, small states vs. large states balance, popular support vs. distributed support, U. S. Constitution Article 2 § 1 clauses 2 thru 4, U. S. Constitution Amendment XII, original intention, Massachusetts Method, Maine, Nebraska, Pennsylvania (pending), Ohio (pending), Virginia (pending), Wisconsin (pending), Michigan (pending), Florida (pending), potentially North Carolina, National Popular Vote is constitutionally irrelevant, Maryland (wants out), New Jersey (wants out), Illinois, Hawaii, Washington, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Vermont, California, New York (not interested), Pennsylvania (not interested) (all tags)

Today, for those paying attention, was a very important day in the timeline of the 2012 Presidential Election. Today, on the first Monday following the second Wednesday of December, at such place and time as determined by the local legislature, the duly appointed and elected Presidential Electors met in their respective jurisdictions and cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States - at least one of whom must not reside in the same jurisdiction as they do. Though the 51 jurisdictions do not appear to have reported yet, 27 of them are expected to cast their votes one way, and 24 of them are expected to cast their votes the other way.

And yet, for the past 41 days, perhaps because even as recently as the day before Election Day eleven states (at a total of 146 electoral votes) were considered to be in the "tossup" column, there has been considerable behind-the-scenes debate about a potential "reform" to the way that some states apportion their electoral votes, a reform that, had it been in place during this election, may have significantly impacted the outcome. Actually, instead of "reform" I should be referring to this as a "back to the basics" approach to the Electoral College.

(1949 words in story) Full Story