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Have you had enough of the Mueller Report? Done smoldering over Smollett? Jazzed at opening day for MLB? Then have we got the show for you! This episode features a conversation with Henry Olsen about the lessons of the 2018 midterm, how the Democratic presidential field for 2020 is shaping up (with lots of mockery of course), a genteel argument about Henry’s views about why conservatives should rethink their reflexive support for the electoral college (an admission scandal of a different kind, you might say), and finally a tour of the new season of major league baseball, with Henry’s handicap of the teams that made the best moves. Plus a psychological diagnosis of Clayton Kershaw’s post-season troubles, and whether the Nationals will prosper without Bryce Harper. Something for everyone!
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I still disagree with Olsen’s view on the Electoral College but then I’m generally against messing with the Constitution. Some interesting thoughts on it though.
The Constitution has already been amended to weaken drastically the power of the states relative to the federal government. Direct election of Senators weakened the power of the states. The Constitution as written deined a federal government that was far weaker than the states.
Eliminating the electoral college would further weaken states. Eliminating the electoral college is a bad idea.
@libertydefender: I agree
I have two proposals that would ameliorate the situation without giving up on the Electoral college system.
1.Increase the size of Congress. A rule of thumb that political scientists have come up with is that the lower house of a legislature should have a number of members equal to the cube root of the total population. For the US right now that would be ~690. Which is 265 more than we have now. I would propose to increase the total number of senators and representatives by 165, by adding 45 representatives after the 2020 census, 50 senators after the 2030 census, and 55 representatives after the 2040 census, and truing up to the formula after the 2050 census.
2. Adopt the Maine/Nebraska system of choosing electors by congressional district with 2 being chosen by statewide vote.
Choosing electors by federal Congressional districts would further weaken the power of states. Furthermore, it would make the presidential election a redundancy of the Congressional elections.
Changing the electoral college is a bad idea.