• LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    9 months ago

    Why would ditching the electoral college require dismantling state governments? That makes no sense.

    • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      It wouldn’t require it. But it makes less than no sense to ditch it while we are still a 50 state union. The entire point of the United States is that you can choose a state to live in with an independent regional government that governs the place where you and your family live and work. A place where you have more control as a voter in how it’s run. Then you have a federal government which can when institute needed laws that apply to every state, which is a lot of power over the state you live in. Thus you want each independent state to have a vote in who’s running the country.

      To get rid of the electoral college would mean handing over control of the entire federal government, a government that has the power to overrule laws in your state, to effectively four or five states.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        But that’s already the case? Swing states get to decide national policy far more than other states. Giving proportional representation would at least ensure that the states with a bigger voice have more citizens. Citizens in small states would still have an equal voice, unlike the current system.

        I think universal equality in political power is far more compatible with federalism than the current system.

        • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          It is not already the case. Without an electoral college, a single voter in North Dakota has effectively no voice at all. In fact, the states entire population would mean little more than a rounding error. With no electoral college the cumulative voting power of the entire state is 0.23%. With the electoral college they’re bumped up to over 1%

          Swing states get to decide national policy far more than other states

          …no? A swing state is just a state that that has enough voters from each major party that they could go either way. They don’t have any more power than any other state.