Legislative fools back national popular vote
Two foolish Republicans in the Oklahoma legislature have succeed in moving forward a bill that would subject Oklahoma's electoral college votes to the results of the national popular vote. State Sen. Rob Johnson and State Rep. Don Armes are the sponsors of SB 906, and on Thursday, February 20, 2013, the Senate Rules Committee moved the bill forward with a "do pass" recommendation. Republican Senators Don Barrington, Cliff Branan, Rob Johnson, Rob Standridge, Ann Griffin, Ron Justice, and Bryce Marlatt and Democrat Senators Constance Johnson, Jabar Shumate, Al McAffrey, and John Sparks voted in favor; Republicans Rick Brinkley, Kim David, Eddie Fields, John Ford, Jim Halligan, Clark Jolley, and Gary Stanislawski, and Democrat Charles Wyrick voted against.
Two of the "aye" Republican votes are assistant majority floor leaders and one is the Rules Committee chairman. All seven Republican bozoes who voted for this should be removed by their caucus from any positions of responsibility. They have voted to make Oklahoma's electoral votes hostage to the depredations of the legendary vote fraudsters who reign over places like Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia.
Among the many advantages of the Electoral College system is that it creates a firewall against fraud. We don't have one election for president but 51 separate elections. No matter how many fraudulent votes are manufactured in Chicago, it can only affect Illinois' electoral votes; it won't have any effect on the outcome in Florida or even neighboring Indiana. In fact, we'd be well-served to have even more firewalls, with each congressional district choosing an elector, as is already done in Nebraska and Maine, so that Chicago fraud would only affect Chicago congressional districts. Electoral vote by congressional district would give urban areas influence in predominantly rural states (e.g. Lawrence/Kansas City, Kansas) and would give rural and suburban areas influence in states with large urban concentrations (e.g. upstate New York, Orange County, California, downstate Illinois).
Thanks to Brandon Dutcher for the Twitter tip on this story.
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They might as well be calling for the dissolution of the Federal Senate! It's the same logical denial of a state entity's autonomy.
Totally misguided!
I am not ready to go so far as call them bozos (or is it bozoes?) yet. However, I too share your frustration. I know bright people who are for this change, but it makes absolutely no sense to me. In addition to your concerns, I think a national popular vote would lead to regional parties and coalition governments. Our winner take all in the 50 states (I won't pretend DC is a real election) makes each state important. In addition, Oklahoma's percentage of the ultimate decision making goes down with this change. I have yet to here a cogent argument in favor of this change.
This betrayal in Oklahoma deserves a special place in hell. I'd be interested in background on where else this has been done, and who or what is responsible for it. If it's happening in Oklahoma, then the rest of us need to prepare.