(November 20, 2016 at 12:49 pm)mh.brewer Wrote: Keep the EC, get rid of "winner takes all" in the states. Easier than changing the constitution. 

Wouldn't Clinton have won but for "winner takes all"?

Her popular lead continues to grow, now at 1.68 million votes:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/#item-5

(November 19, 2016 at 1:56 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(November 18, 2016 at 10:33 pm)Sterben Wrote: I have to agree with the others, it's a waste of time and internet bandwidth. If you think that they will over turn an election your living in dream land. He's gonna be our president for the next four to eight years. Let's just ride out the storm and hope that our relationship with Japan and other important countries does not fall apart. I'm glad I can't be drafted due to the last born male clause and I'm not having children.

Last born male clause ? 

(November 19, 2016 at 8:10 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: 'USian' is a term I have trademarked and copyrighted.  Use it again, and you'll be hearing from my solicitors.

Boru

That's cute. Fuck off now. 

(November 19, 2016 at 1:01 pm)Jehanne Wrote: You can, of course!  However, some critics will no doubt criticize the petition for the fact that non-voting US individuals, whether in the US or not, signed it.  Still, it's doing quite well compared to other petitions.  In fact, I think that this one might be the #1 in terms of signatures.

That doesn't make it right for you to preclude me to sign it. I believe this site's
"constitution" upholds my right in that sense , if only tangentially, in this case.

      If your last born male of your direct family you can not be drafted. It's a rule that has been in effect since WW2, when the Solomon brothers all died during. Since there was no males to carry the family line. If you watch the film Saving Private Ryan, all his brothers died in combat; so he was being sent home on that clause.

Sullivan

(November 20, 2016 at 6:18 pm)Sterben Wrote:

(November 19, 2016 at 1:56 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote: Last born male clause ? 


That's cute. Fuck off now. 


That doesn't make it right for you to preclude me to sign it. I believe this site's
"constitution" upholds my right in that sense , if only tangentially, in this case.

      If your last born male of your direct family you can not be drafted. It's a rule that has been in effect since WW2, when the Solomon brothers all died during. Since there was no males to carry the family line. If you watch the film Saving Private Ryan, all his brothers died in combat; so he was being sent home on that clause.

That's a myth. It doesn't work like that. You can avoid being drafted only if there's a military death in your immediate family. 

https://www.sss.gov/About/Return-to-Cons...iving-Sons

(November 18, 2016 at 9:38 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: Online petitions don't do anything.

Yes they do.  They allow slacktivists to feel like they're making a change.

This petition won't do anything, because to abolish the electoral college in favor of popular vote, we'd have to amend the Constitution.

(November 21, 2016 at 12:36 pm)Doubting Thomas Wrote:

(November 18, 2016 at 9:38 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: Online petitions don't do anything.

Yes they do.  They allow slacktivists to feel like they're making a change.

This petition won't do anything, because to abolish the electoral college in favor of popular vote, we'd have to amend the Constitution.

It's a way of trying out the waters. I can see a snowball effect here if enough people sign it.

(November 19, 2016 at 1:05 pm)Jehanne Wrote: The EC was supposed to be a stop-gap, a release valve, if the US electorate got out of control and popularly elected a dimwit to the Presidency. 

And that's exactly what the EC caused to happen this year.

(November 19, 2016 at 11:46 am)Opoponax Wrote:

(November 19, 2016 at 9:31 am)Aegon Wrote: In this year’s election, Hillary Clinton won about 62% of California’s popular vote, which was a little less than 7 million. The total number of people that voted (Republican, Democrat, or other) in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi this past election adds up to 7 million. Do you think it’s fair that 60% of California has the same say as 100% of NINE other states? The Electoral College obviously has issues but popular vote gives a ridiculous amount of power to some states and virtually none in others.

Everyone's arguing that states don't matter when 1 person = 1 person. But there are certain interests that vary by region. You're basically telling the midwest they don't matter because they live in an ill-populated state.

Like I said, there are built-in and necessary inequities of the Senate and House that prevent the populous states from ruling over the smaller ones, and therefore their interests are more than fairly represented in the federal government. Again, Wyoming has one Senator per roughly 300,000 people; California, one Senator per 19,000,000. 

I don't know where you're from, but here in California, the most the POTUS candidates do is run TV ads here and there and hold fundraisers for people who can afford tens of thousands of dollars for a plate of chicken and vegetables. Other than that, they don't campaign here because the electoral college makes us not one of the swing states. If it were a popular vote, then Republican candidates would have the opportunity to get out here and garner more votes, which in turn would help the predominantly red states. 

It isn't like Trump lost the popular vote by 15 million. Had it been worth his time to campaign hard on the west coast, it's not unreasonable to think that he could have campaigned his way to several million more votes than he actually received. I fail to see how that is inherently unfair.

I live in NY, so I know how you feel. But you didn't respond to my point about regional interests. Also, there's nothing that you said that couldn't be solved by letting states split their electoral votes.

(November 21, 2016 at 10:19 am)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(November 20, 2016 at 6:18 pm)Sterben Wrote:       If your last born male of your direct family you can not be drafted. It's a rule that has been in effect since WW2, when the Solomon brothers all died during. Since there was no males to carry the family line. If you watch the film Saving Private Ryan, all his brothers died in combat; so he was being sent home on that clause.

That's a myth. It doesn't work like that. You can avoid being drafted only if there's a military death in your immediate family. 

https://www.sss.gov/About/Return-to-Cons...iving-Sons

     I stand corrected. Well in that case, I'll just fail every test and get sent home in case of a draft.

The Sullivans brought about the navy's rule that only one mmember of a family could serve aboard any one ship.

The 5 Sullivan brothers died when USS Juneau was blown up at the Battle of Guadalcanal.