Republican legislators are proposing two alternative changes in how Pennsylvania awards its electoral votes in presidential campaigns. The General Assembly should reject each proposal.
This is a thoughtful analysis of a dangerous pair of proposals that is going to be the subject of the next thoughtless Facebook meme you read, in which those who oppose this change will be accused of supporting the disenfranchisement of voters. This is a potential road to ruin for the United States - if these proposals are adopted in a hap-hazard fashion that favors a particular political party, framed by the screeching of partisan sheep, the consequence will a general election in which the winning administration got the minority vote - not by a thin margin as in 2000 but by a significant margin. That is the moment where things are going to fall apart with our winner take all political system - when the reason that the losing party disregards the legitimacy of the winning party isn't some silly conspiracy theory or argument on the margins. |