The Basics of Government

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

And the electoral college rarely works like it ought to! (Electors tend to give all their votes to one guy instead of splitting them up in case a district votes that way.)

If a state legislature decides to employ a system for assigning electoral votes wherein the winner of the popular vote statewide wins the state's electoral votes, and the electors assign the state's electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote statewide, how is that not working "like it ought to"?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

Our House of Representatives is elected by Congressional district, so if their constituents can choose their own representatives why can't they have their votes properly applied towards the candidate they choose, not the candidate the whole state wants?

Because the United States is a federation of 50 states, not 435 congressional districts, and because the state legislatures in 48 of the 50 states have decided that they want to assign their electoral votes based on the winner of the state's popular vote for President. Why can they do it that way?

Originally Posted by U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 2

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

Because the Constitution assigns them the power to determine how electors are to be chosen.

If a state legislature wants to assign its electoral votes based on who wins the popular vote in each Congressional district, the Constitution says they can.

If a state legislature wants to assign its electoral votes based on who wins the popular vote nationwide, the Constitution says they can.

If a state legislature wants to disregard the popular vote for President entirely, pick a group of electors and let them vote, either as a group or individually, for whoever they want, the Constitution says they can.

As stated, 48 of 50 states have determined that assigning their state's electors based on the statewide popular vote is the way they want to do it.

Now, I'll repeat my question; if the state legislature decides to assign its electoral votes, as the Constitution says they can, based on which candidate wins the state's popular vote, instructs the electors to vote accordingly, and they do so, how is it "rarely working like it ought to"?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

Electoral votes are assigned by Congressional district, just like Representatives

Electoral votes are assigned by state, based on a state's congressional delegation, not by congressional district (strictly speaking, there is no provision for congressional districts, but that's a different issue). Each state has an electoral vote for everyone it sends to Congress, with a minimum of three, as every state has at least one representative in the House of Representatives and two Senators.

You and Sass both need to actually read the Constitution before you try to tell anyone what it says or how it works.

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When sections of the Constitution are vague on points, the judicial branch can be asked to determine what they're saying. Just what they say can be interpreted different ways as society changes, as when the Court that handed down Brown v. Board of Education read the Constitution differently than the Court that handed down Plessy v. Ferguson.

However, when the Constitution is crystal clear on a point, there isn't (or rather, shouldn't be) any need for interpretation. The Constitutional requirements for overturning a presidential veto are there, and are clear enough, as are the Constitution's rules for assigning electoral votes.

Someone who'd read the Constitution would know that, and if not, finding it would be a simple enough exercise of Just Fucking Googling It.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by pb & spanglish

So... Anyone want to try to explain to me in VERY SIMPLE TERMS what's going on with Israel? I hear about the Middle East so much, but whenever I ask someone, all I get is a, "Well, it's hard to explain..."

Jews and Arabs like to kill each other. For the last 60 years or so, Jews have been better at killing Arabs than Arabs have been at killing Jews. Arabs are not happy about this, so they use suicide bombers to kill more Jews. This only serves to give Jews an excuse to use tanks and F-16s to kill more Arabs.

I was speaking idiomatically.

It doesn't matter where the Arabs are from. Arabs are Arabs.

Lebanon is already recognized. What Lebanon would really like is for Israel to stop destroying their country when they feel like it. It's bad for tourism.

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