National Popular Vote

A bill, passed by California Senate and Assembly, was presented to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign into law. If he signed it, California would be the first to destroy the Electoral College as we know it and put the final nail on the coffin on state's rights.

AB 2948, a bill endorsed by National Popular Vote committee, would mean all electoral votes in each respective state would go for the winning candidate by popular vote, regardless of what the state itself chose. The legislation is pending in five other states (Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, and New York).

For example, in 2004, George W. Bush won the presidency by popular vote. In that scenario, if Arnold would sign AB 2948, California's 55 electoral votes would go for Bush, while California itself would go for John Kerry. In 2000, Al Gore won by popular vote. If Texas had a "national popular vote" law, Texas' 32 electoral votes (in 2000) would go to Gore, while Texas itself will go to Bush, and Bush is from Texas.

And it's constitutional. Some constitutional provisions, Congress, President, and Justices will just ignore (e.g., the PATRIOT Act, et al), while they took an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" against all enemies--including (and especially) themselves! But the Constitution has some loop-holes. In Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, it reads, "Each State shall appoint, in such Matter as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors", so every state has carte blanch on what it can do with its respective electors. I guess California will do away its sovereignty and follow the crowd.

This website says, "[T]his [current] system was not established by the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, or (sic) federal law." Can you say, "in such matter as the legislature thereof may direct?" In the beginning, the Founders elected a president (and vice president) by electors appointed by the state legislatures. That way, the president was removed from the political quagmire of campaigning. That system elected presidents like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Now, we have evolved (or devolved) into the Primarys, where the candidate who gets the majority votes of the people (with a few exceptions) gets all the electors in that respective state. The electors themselves do nothing. That system elected presidents like Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and there is campaign propaganda galore. Now, if the National Popular Vote gets its way, America will do away with electors entirely and decide by national majority vote strictly by the people. The American people know the 5 characters of The Simpsons better than the 5 rights listed in the First Amendment. The American people know the 7 dwarfs better than the 9 Supreme Court Justices. And to think: we trust the American people to pick our president? The Founders had it right from the beginning.

But eventually, the National Popular Vote will prevail. When that happens, America will finely have a pure democracy, and thus it's the beginning of the end. I say we are at the end of the rope (dependence going into bondage). God help us.