Tuesday, August 28, 2018

The Electoral College Is A 1787 DeLorean

This is what makes time travel possible: the flux capacitor! ~ Dr. Emmet Brown*

     The abuse of history is a skill self-styled "conservatives" use to their advantage, and it has been on full display.  But the assertions repeated endlessly will not stand up to scrutiny.

     The great irony of the Electoral College is that it has been used for a purpose contrary to its creation.  But "the original intention" was clear.  After the Convention made the decision James Wilson called "the most difficult of all," James Madison said, "The President is now to be elected by the people."  (The Electoral College by Lucius Wilmerding, Jr. 3 & 19)  And Alexander Hamilton acknowledged the same during the battle for ratification.  "The President of the United States would be an officer elected by the people for FOUR years...."  (The Federalist Papers, No. 69)

     While there had to be a transition from the Articles to the Constitution, the principles upon which it was based cannot be misunderstood.

       The right of equal suffrage among the States is another exceptional part of the Confedera-
       tion....  Its operation contradicts that fundamental maxim of republican government, which
       requires that the sense of the majority should prevail.  Sophistry may reply that sovereigns
       are equal, and that a majority of the States will be a majority of confederated America.
       But this kind of logical legerdemain will never counteract the plain suggestions of justice
       and common sense.  It may happen that this majority of States is a small minority of the
       people of America; and two thirds of the people of America could not long be persuaded
       upon the credit of artificial distinctions and syllogistic subtleties to submit their interests
       to the management and disposal of one third.  (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers,
       No. 22; emphasis added)

     For the second time this millennium, the candidate who lost the popular vote supposedly "won."  In 2000, the margin was 540,000.  In 2016, it was 2.86 million.

     His Dubiousness was made possible by the sunshine patriots, the charter members of the Yap Patrol whose behavior has been so brazen as to be almost beyond belief.  But the night riders succeeded.  They wanted to dominate the stage; make assertions and repeat them endlessly; and create solutions to non-existent problems.  So, they got rid of the fairness doctrine during the Reagan Administration.  Thus, Fox "News" and "conservative talk radio" were born.  They could tell a story from a specific angle without fear of challenge from a citizen who would make a formal complaint to the Federal Communications Commission for an opportunity to respond.

     By simply claiming that there was massive "voter fraud"--and saying it over and over again--laws were passed to require Photo ID.  The purpose was to stop certain people from voting.  But the problem is the facts get in the way because Professor Justin Levitt's study of elections from the Presidency to dogcatcher, 2000-2014, revealed 31 POSSIBLE cases of in-person "voter fraud."  Thirty-one POSSIBLE cases of "voter fraud" out of one billion votes come down to 0.00000003 of 1%.  Ivory Soap is not that pure.  And that is why it pays to dominate the stage; one can ignore the inconvenient.

     At the time of the Convention, there was no way to reduce "the different qualifications in the different States to one uniform rule," which left a series of hurdles.  (James Madison, The Federalist Papers, No. 52)  But step by step--and with the passing of the baton--they were overcome, although some erected new barriers.

     The Russian Connection gets all the attention, but what also had an impact on the election was Operation Crosscheck.  And while that may sound like the authorization included plausible denial--"As always, should you or any member of the I.M. Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions"--it was a domestic effort to deny certain American citizens their right to vote.

     Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, was the commander.  His faulty list of approximately 7 million voters was used by GOP counterparts in 27 States to remove Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters from the rolls by claiming they were voting in multiple States.  A first and last name was enough for a match.  Jr. and Sr. did not matter, nor middle names, nor different Social Security numbers.

     "The program's method of identifying and purging voters especially threatens the registrations of minority voters who are...67% more likely than white voters to share America's most common names:  Jackson, Washington, Lee, Rodriguez and so on," according to Greg Palast.

     In the three crucial States that were supposed to be the Democratic firewall, the gentleman from New York "won" by 44,000 in Pennsylvania, 11,000 in Michigan, and 23,000 in Wisconsin.  Crosscheck removed up to 344,000 in the first and 449,000 in the second.  In the third, Photo ID, which is used to stop non-existent "voter fraud," made the difference by depressing turnout in Milwaukee.  Thus, the 20 electoral votes in Pennsylvania, 16 in Michigan, and 10 in Wisconsin went to the Republican instead of Mrs. Clinton.  And so, the legitimacy of the gentleman from New York goes beyond the question of foreign influence.

     The domestic covert operation against certain American citizens was successful because the self-styled "mainstream" press failed--and still fails--to cover this story.  But the falsehood about 3 million "illegal aliens" voting--circulated by the Kobach crowd--was covered.  Yet 7 million citizens on a list to deny them the right to vote are ignored.  And that takes us back to restoration of the fairness doctrine.  For if the broadcast press faced the possibility of formal complaints being made to the FCC, there would be pressure to respond to the concerns of communities adversely affected.

     Because of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments, there is a national standard with consequences for those States that deny or abridge the right to vote; and, therefore, at long last, "the original intention" of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton will come to pass with the President of the United States as the choice of the people.  The National Popular Vote can make it so, and when that is done, the Electoral College can also perform its national security function, as noted by those two key Framers.

     "Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption.  These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.  How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the Chief Magistracy of the Union?"  (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 68)

     That warning has been validated by recent events, which reinforce the importance of precautionary measures.

     "With all the infirmities incident to a popular election, corrected by the particular mode of conducting it, as directed under the present system, I think we may fairly calculate," said James Madison in the House, "that the instances will be very rare in which an unworthy man will receive that mark of the public confidence which is required to designate the President of the United States." 

     Yawn Wayne, the man who would rather show off than show up, struts and frets his hour upon the stage.  The dime-store Macbeth is in denial about the dagger before our eyes.  But the tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing shall soon be heard no more.  For trust is the first quality of a leader, and it is violated at one's peril.

     "Responsibility is of two kinds--to censure and to punishment.  The first is the more important of the two, especially in an elective office.  Man, in public trust, will much oftener act in such a manner as to render him unworthy of being any longer trusted, than in such a manner as to make him obnoxious to legal punishment."  (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 70; emphasis added)

(c)2018 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.


1)  *Back to the Future

2)  https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/05/arts/fcc-votes-down-fairness-doctrine-in-a-4-0-decision.html    [fairness doctrine]

3)  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10746    [Justin Levitt study; 31 out of a billion votes]
       
4)  [Operation Crosscheck]

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/27009-voter-purges-alter-us-political-map    [11-17-2014]

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/43764-focus-greg-palast-how-can-we-stop-crosscheck-and-get-our-country-back    [05-25-2017]

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-crosscheck-voter-database-is-a-security-threat/    [02-02-2018]

5)  https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46437-focus-theres-more-to-the-narrative-about-hillary-clinton-and-wisconsin    [the self-styled "mainstream" press ignoring or discounting Photo ID voter suppression, 10-22-2017]

6)  [Operation Crosscheck ignored by the self-styled "mainstream" press]

https://www.salon.com/2017/01/10/the-massive-election-rigging-scandal-the-media-ignored_partner/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/politics/pennsylvania-democrats-trump.html

7)  https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/  [National Popular Vote]

And now, with Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III supporting Operation Crosscheck and Photo ID, it is time to consider the appropriate response:  "But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any...citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of...citizens shall bear to the whole number of...citizens (eighteen) years of age in such State."  (Fourteenth Amendment, Section 2; the citation has been adjusted to reflect subsequent amendments that gave women the right to vote in all the States and that lowered the voting age to eighteen; emphasis added)  So despite the gutting of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby v. Holder, citizens can take action by relying on the Constitution itself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/us/voting-rights-voter-id-suppression.html?hpw&rref=us&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well






    

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