Commentary On Elections-Part Sixty-Two (Session One, Session Two, & Session Three)

Commentary On Elections-Part Sixty-Two (Session One)

direct democratic mode- The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Compact ensures that every vote, in every state, will count in every presidential election.

In theory this plan appears to be effective and principled. After all it is very difficult to argue against "One Citizen, One Vote" throughout the nation. The proponents of this cite that most states are ignored by the candidates for President. They enunciate these candidates have no reason to pay attention to the issues of concern to voters in states where the statewide outcome is a foregone conclusion. In other words, NPV advocates state that POTUS/VPOTUS candidates in the general election will focus too much attention on the "Swing States".

The facts do substantiate this. In 2012 all of the 253 general-election campaign events were in just 12 states, and two-thirds were in just 4 states (Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa). Thirty-eight states were completely ignored. In 2016, almost all campaign events (94%) were in the 12 states where Trump’s support was between 43% and 51%. Two-thirds of the events (273 of 399) were in just 6 states (OH, FL, VA, NC, PA, MI).

Read the next post to discover why NPV is actually not plausible even though it appears as such.

Commentary On Elections-Part Sixty-Two (Session Two)

In life just because the opposite is a bad idea does not mean necessarily that the same is a good idea. While it is agreed that the Electoral College is indeed highly flawed and not in compliance with Representative ideals, neither is its polar opposite, national popular voting. NPV too is not in compliance with Representative ideals.

While the electoral college can help smaller states achieve parity with larger states, it can often discriminate against any state if a state has a clear voter majority supporting one party. Smaller states have been adversely affected by the electoral college because of this.

However NPV eliminates any and all individual state's influence over the election for federal head executives. Barriers are erased as state lines are totally crossed and eroded by NPV. While the federal government has been the sovereign government authority since the aftermath of the US Civil War, it is still important that individual states too have authority in deciding the POTUS/VPOTUS race. States may indeed have only secondary authority but that in itself is authority nonetheless. These powers belonging to each and every state should never be stripped and destroyed.

Commentary On Elections-Part Sixty-Two (Session Three)

NPV eliminates States' rights and influence pertaining to the elections of POTUS/VPOTUS. It is based on direct democratic mode and it confers too much authority in producing results of these elections to the federal government.

The Electoral College emphasizes States' rights and influence pertaining to the elections of POTUS/VPOTUS. It is based on imperial democratic mode and it confers too much authority to each and every state.

Both of these described systems unfortunately de-emphasize the representative rights of the individual(s). While both systems are polar opposite of each other, both compel the citizenry to choose superiors rather than subordinates for these two federal head executives positions. The POTUS and VPOTUS become public leaders rather than public servants.