Remember how Proglodytes were begging for Hamilton electors?

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Since that Wile E. Coyote-esque scheme fizzled the electoral college is now racist...

MovingForward2020 (13 posts)

"THE PROSLAVERY ORIGINS OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, by Paul Finkelman"
   
If people gain awareness that the Electoral College was not created for some good or worthwhile purpose, perhaps it will be easier for them to accept that it does not serve a good or worthwhile purpose today. I'm just spreading the word. The first four paragraphs of this article, the maximum allowed, are quoted below. Link to article: http://people.uncw.edu/lowery/pls101/wilson_chapter_outlines/The%20Proslavery%20Origins%20of%20the%20Electoral%20College.pdf

"THE PROSLAVERY ORIGINS OF THEELECTORAL COLLEGE
Paul Finkelman*

INTRODUCTION

How did the United States come up with such a crazy way to
elect a president? The electoral college system seems to make no
sense. It is quite undemocratic. The tiny states have
proportionally more power then the larger states. In addition, the
winner-take-all process makes voting seem meaningless in many
states.1 As the 2000 election demonstrated, having more popular
votes than your opponent does not guarantee that the candidate
will win the election. This only reconfirmed what the nation
learned in 1824,2 1888,3 1876,4 and probably 1800.5

The system seems to be unique in the United States—
applying only to the presidential election—and unique to the
United States. I know of no western or industrialized democracy
that uses such a system. As far as I know, the presidency is the
only elected office in the United States in which the person with
the most votes in the final election does not necessarily win.6 In
every state, county, and local election, in all elections for members
of the House of Representatives and the Senate the person with
the most votes in the final election wins.7

How did we get such a system? The classic explanations,
found in various textbooks and political science treatises, focus on
the process argument, federalism, and the view that the framers
were skeptical of the people voting.

The electoral college is of course based in part on the three-fifths
clause. Thus there is an immediate connection between slavery and
the electoral college. At first glance this might seem coincidental,
and most textbooks, in fact, offer other explanations
for the creation of the electoral college.8 The few that notice
slavery mention it only in passing, and then ignore it, perhaps
because an extended investigation of slavery and the electoral
college would undermine traditional political science categories.
The Electoral College Primer, for example, notes in passing that
the one reason for the electoral college was “the loss in relative
influence of the South because of its large nonvoting slave
population.”9 The authors of this book never again mention the
subject, and do not include the word slavery in their index.
Similarly, Robert M. Hardaway understands that slaves were
counted for purposes of representation in the House,10 but does
not consider how slavery affected the decision to create an
electoral college. This lack of discussion of slavery by scholars of
the electoral college is surprising, because the records of the
Convention show that in fact the connection between slavery and
the college was deliberate, and very much on the minds of many
delegates, including James Madison. Before turning to a more
thorough examination the role of slavery in the creation of the
electoral college, it is necessary to first consider the more common
explanations for this system of electing presidents."

heaven05 (12,861 posts)

1. I have seen people

trying to soft pedal this racist based system of electing someone who probably believes deep down in his racist, fascist heart along with his "soft and hard" racist base in the 3/5 of a person USA belief concerning AA people in general. People are not even beginning to understand how serious the status of decent people and PoC in the USA is.

3/5 compromise was an abolitionist construct to undercut the slave states in representation while preserving the union so that abolition could eventually be passed.

If you weren't such an ignorant bigot ****tard you would no that.

mopinko (47,006 posts)

2. one person one vote. all else is tyranny.

**** you and your horde of criminal immigrants in California.

brooklynite (36,034 posts)

3. These stores are nice, but pointless...

...the people at a Democratic/liberal blog site aren't the people you'll need to convince to eliminate the EC, and arguing that the EC is "proslavery" isn't likely to change a lot of minds in the red states you'll need to swing.

libtodeath (2,579 posts)

8. I am not reaching out to racists.

X_Digger (17,398 posts)

6. Is this the new 'thing' now? Don't like something, it's obviously 'pro-slavery'!

National anthem? Pro-slavery!
Second amendment? Pro-slavery!
Bananas? Pro-slavery!

What a silly out of date article. The United STATES was formed as a federation of discrete political bodies (states). Hence two bodies of legislature- one proportional to the population, one with state equality. You'll see this pattern repeated frequently in the debates of the constitutional convention, as well as in the writings of the prominent thinkers of the time. The electoral college echoes this sentiment.

We never were a direct democracy, we're a republic. By design.

"new"?

Everything these hateful infants reject is labeled racist. It's been that way for so many years that the race card was exhausted by the time The Shrew popped her deplorables balloon.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028405611

[jb2u11]

Wasn't the electoral college around before many of the southern states were southern states?  Long before slavery was even an issue?

[miskie]

Firstly - there are no slaves in the United States, it no longer matters.

Secondly, the 3/5ths Compromise reduced the power slave states had in the United States federally. If slave states could count slaves proportionally, they would have increased their power in The House of Representatives, while at the same time denying the vote to those people they are representing. What ? We need two more reps to sway a vote in our favor ? Lets bring in a crapton more slaves !

(BTW, this is what Cali is doing with the illegals.. But you don't wanna discuss that, do you ?)

[miskie]

Wasn't the electoral college around before many of the southern states were southern states?  Long before slavery was even an issue?

Well, yes - but the whole 3/5ths thing, as well as the current Electoral College were put together by the 13th and 12th amendments. In many ways the 13th Amendment set the stage for the Civil War, along with other legal determinations, the Dread Scott case, etc. etc. etc.

[Gretchen]

I would love to know just how many illegal non-citizen votes The Hag got.

[Karin]

Response to libtodeath (Reply #8)
Wed Dec 28, 2016, 01:55 PM
 brooklynite (36,034 posts)
9. Not all Red-State voters are racists.

How do you propose to go about eliminating the EC, besides talking to people who already agree with you?

Response to brooklynite (Reply #9)
Wed Dec 28, 2016, 01:57 PM
 libtodeath (2,584 posts)
10. By being progressive and showing those that dont vote all the good the Democratic party can give to

them.

   What a plan!

libtodeath is another DUmmie who is making a splash with her lunacy, incoherence, and civic ignorance. 

[98ZJUSMC]

libtodeath (2,584 posts)
10. By being progressive

The very problem of letting the mask slip.  Doesn't it ever dawn on you cretins that that is the exact reason they refuse to vote for you?

and showing those that dont vote all the good the Democratic party can give to them.

You clods just cannot, will not, ever understand that they, WE, fully understand that to give to.... "them", you first have to steal from "them".

[miskie]

Doesn't it ever dawn on you cretins that that is the exact reason they refuse to vote for you?

Nope, it never does. When Democrats lose favor because of their policies, its <<NEVER>> that the policies aren't liked, its that they aren't enacted strongly enough.

So, they double down, and then wonder why even less people vote for them the next time around..

[SVPete]

OK, let's look at how states would be affected by the EC, by looking at the populations of the original 13 states in 1790. Largest to smallest, they were:

Virginia
Pennsylvania
North Carolina
Massachusetts
New York
Maryland
South Carolina
Connecticut
New Jersey
New Hampshire
Georgia
Rhode Island
Delaware

So, the top four states, whose EC representation was diminished were 2 slave states and 2 free states. And the bottom four, whose EC representation was augmented, were 2 slave states (DE was a slave state, IIRC) and 2 free states.

Narrative FAIL!