The Proposed New Electoral College Map: Yeah, That’s More Like It
Since forever, we’ve been saying that not only is Philadelphia no longer spiritually a part of Pennsylvania, hell, it’s not even a part of America anymore. If you need proof of this, simply try driving three hours in any direction outside of the city and count the minutes until your brain tells you to hulksmash these stupid people and their entire stupid way of life. Finally, someone else is listening. In Neil Freeman’s Electoral College Reform map, Philadelphia finally gets separated from the mouth-breathing Pennsyltuckians who’ve been dragging us down ever since we forced them to teach evolution in the schools and told them it was a no-no to make babies with lil’ sis. Sure, we are now ganged up with South Jersey, which has problems of its own, but advantages as well: We get Cape May (hi, gays!) and the rest of the southern Jersey Shore (the moment it stops being funny or ironic, you can leave, we promise). Also, have you been to Haddonfield? It’s NICE!
January 26th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
From dude’s website: “Ends overrepresentation of small states and underrepresention of large states in presidental voting and in the US Senate.”
? I’ll grant him that on the Senate, but in terms of the electoral college it’s technically the opposite. Nobody comes to DE, for instance, to campaign in the presidential election cause it’s got jack squat electoral votes. It’s lucky it got Biden to come through once…and he’s from there.
As an aside, while I wouldn’t want to actually live there geographically, how cool would it be to have your state named “Great Smoky”?
January 26th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Let’s see…I’d live in Philadelphia (obviously), Williamette, Olympia, SF Bay, San Joaquin, ummm….maybe NY, maybe Boston (I know…but really, tell me you couldn’t live in the West Village or at least summer up on the Cape)…that might be about it.
January 26th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
elegantly designed to keep the scumbag left in power.
January 26th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
jburnside: powerless, inelegant scumbag
January 26th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@jburnside…or “people in power”. That’s what you meant to say, right? Remember, buddy, it is people who have the right to vote, not land. That’s sort of what differentiated us from the European monarchies and assorted other dictators of the world. Of course, it could be, you hate this country and the constitution on which it is based. And you are allowed to hate the founding document, it’s a “free country” and all that. Just have the sack to say it.
January 26th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
I love how Missouri emerged more-or-less untouched. Apparently it is already electorally perfect.
January 26th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
@Expat: “overrepresentation of small states” does not necessarily pertain to campaign visits. It simply means that DE get 3 Electoral Votes for its 885,122 residents while CA get 55 for its 36,961,664 residents (3.39e-6 electoral votes per resident vs 1.49e-6 – meaning DE residents get 2.25 times more electoral bang for their buck). In the case of DE campaign stops are concerned – Biden was VP candidate; DE was in the bag and time and money should, pragmatically, be spent elsewhere.
The US Senate is fucking joke as true democracy is concerned. (Hypothetical) food for (angry) thought: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14collins.html?ref=opinion
January 26th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
“Ganged up with South Jersey”? Philly and SJ are inextricably linked: 300 years of a shared cultural history has seen to that.
January 26th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
@ A Feculent Rainbow
DE in the last election was not the best example for the reasons you stated, but every presidential election, and the primaries for that matter, bears out the same point about visitation to small states in general (with exception to NH an IA during the primaries). You’re correct in the ratio of electoral votes to residents area, but I would argue that the campaign for electoral votes mitigates and even over corrects for that imbalance. It’s during the pursuit of those votes that state voters and party bigwigs and influences are feted, listened to, paid attention to and deals brokered with. If you’re not visiting Wyoming or Delaware you’re subject to their influence in any meaningful way as a candidate.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
@ Expat:
“I would argue that the campaign for electoral votes mitigates and even over corrects for that imbalance.”
I’m not debating you there. I’m merely suggesting that you’re taking issue with a fairly innocuous mathematical truth (as opposed to an analytical argument). Certainly, when we consider the complexities of the electoral college – including proportional vote states like ME and NE – and that courtship of electoral votes, it is ignorant to simply assume that smaller states are over represented.
However, I think such a graphic is a great means of illustrating simple/fundamental flaws – with regard to the application of democratic representation – found within both the US Senate and the Electoral College.
With regard to the electoral college, flaws are further illustrated with (4) instances where a candidate wins the popular vote but still loses the election. Given that modern campaigns are designed to buck the electoral college and the ubiquity of print, radio and televised media, I would argue for the abolition of the electoral College (and that’s a whole new can of worms). I would hope that Freeman’ proposal was tongue-in-cheek (“[disadvantage = ]Local governments would have to deal with shift in state laws and procedures”) and that he doesn’t actually endorse the continued use of the electoral college.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:11 am
This would be awesome just so SEPTA could get some real funding and we could make our own casino laws.