By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… By the time this column is published, the first step in the very undemocratic process for selecting the candidates for the office of President of the United States will have begun with the Iowa Republican Party Caucus.
The hardy Iowans who are registered Republican and are willing to brave the minus-34˚ wind chill factor predicted for the Monday caucus vote, will gather throughout the State to vote for the candidate of their choice. The selection will be between a Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, an ex-Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley, and ex-President Donald Trump. At the time of this writing, it appears that the “Mad Hatter”, Donald Trump, will easily win this opening event.
This year, Iowa Democrats will hold caucuses on the same day as Republicans. However, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats will not meet to vote for their Presidential candidate in the November election. Instead, they will vote for a party nominee through a mail-in voting process that begins Jan. 12 and will conclude on March 5. The Democratic caucuses will elect delegates to the county conventions in March, which is the next step in selecting the individuals to serve as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. National convention delegates will be required to vote for a Presidential nominee in accordance with the results of the mail-in voting process. Only those who have registered as Democrats will be involved in the selection process for the Democrat candidate for President.
Most states, including Nevada, will decide who the Republican and Democrat candidates will be by a primary vote. Only those Americans who have joined a political party of their choice will be allowed to vote in the primary. This means if you are like me, an independent voter, you will be limited to a selection made by individuals who you may disagree with leaving you with no viable candidate for which to vote. Unfortunately, there will be not be a “None of the Above” choice.
All that being said, I would remind the reader that no regular American citizen votes for a President. When you go to the polls, you vote for a set of Electors from your state based on the number of Representatives and Senators allotted the state. This is a blind vote, for you do not know who those Electors are.
In all but two states, it is a winner take all situation. The candidate selected by the two major parties will receive all of the Elector votes of the majority voters of that state.
An interesting situation is that the Electors are free to vote however they wish. However, it is a rarity for the Electors to votes against the party hacks that selected them. For all intents and purposes if a candidate receives one more votes than his/her opponent, they will receive all the Electoral votes of that State.
Under the present Constitutional method for electing a President of the United States, it is possible for a person to be elected who has received less than half the national votes casted. In essence, approximately ten states can control who is elected President. To change this would take a Constitutional Amendment allowing for the direct election of the President by a majority of the American people.
Keep in mind when the Founding Fathers created the presidential election process, there were two problems they we hoping to overcome. First, there was the difficulty of managing a process where there was a wide spread population with little means of communication. Second, the Founding Fathers understood that the average American citizen of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s were much too concerned with survival to worry about what was happening on a national level and were more than glad to allow the elite to run the government.
Like it or not, the Founding Fathers did not establish a democracy, they founded a republic meaning a government run by representatives of the people not by the people themselves.
It may well be time to amend the Constitution to allow each American citizen the opportunity to vote for their choice for President of the United States. While America would remain a government run by representatives of the people, the people would have the right to vote for the person of their choice rather than the choice of party-affiliated individuals. We have the technological ability to allow for a nation-wide primary and to take the top two candidates for a final election allowing the person who gets the most votes to become President. This would undoubtedly be an improvement over the present-day choice of the Mad Hatter and Sleepy-eyed Joe who apparently will be offered by the two major political parties.
I understand that it is way too early to predicate the outcome of the fifty primaries and caucuses, but it appears more and more likely to be a rematch of the 2020 election.
It really doesn’t matter how one feels about the election process in America, it cannot be changed before the election of 2024.
It will be interesting to see if the Republicans will continue to circle the wagons and shoot to the center, and if the Democrats will keep their candidate in the basement and enjoy the Republican self-inflicted wounds.
You may have noticed that while the Republicans have been brutalizing each of their Presidential candidates, the Democrats have once again set back and enjoyed the show.
If I were running the Democratic Presidential campaign I would merely be recording the sound bites from the Republican debates and play those, explaining that this is what the Republicans think of their candidate.
You may have noticed that those who would run against Joe Biden for the Democrat nomination have been very careful not to criticize the President, while those who would seek the Republican nomination have been eviscerating each other. This is very typical of both parties. Democrats, like it or not, know how to campaign and remain loyal to the party. Republicans don’t seem to have a clue and have little in the way of party loyalty. This may well cost them in the 2024 Presidential election.
Thought of the week… “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
– H.L. Mencken
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3 thoughts on “No One Asked Me But… (January 17, 2024)”
There is some basic information regarding the electoral college that Moses leaves out. The existence of the electoral college guarantees that the citizens of the less populated areas of the country have a voice in the election of a president. This is an important part of federalism, which was designed to give power to the states and not a national government. A nationwide primary or direct general election would concentrate more power in the national government. Yes, this is a republic, election laws vary by state, so do many other statutes and regulations. If one doesn’t like laws in a particular state, you are free to move elsewhere which is more to your liking. The concentration of power in a national government which was definitely not the intention of the founders has already given us huge bureaucracies like the IRS, the FBI, the CIA and various other agencies of the executive branch which seem to be more and intrusive in our everyday lives and regulate us without involving any elected representatives. We do not need another agency of the national government to run elections.
The Electoral College had everything to do with slavery. The red states of the new country were lightly populated by white people and blacks were non people. The Electoral College gave them too much power. It is an outdated exercise.
One person, one vote. A person in Los Angeles should be equal to a person who lives in Wyoming. Why should a person who lives in a high population state be penalized? States have high populations because they have the most opportunity. There is a reason why people live in Clark County rather than Nye County. It’s the same for California and Wyoming.
Kudos to Mr. Stella , for reminding us about the superiority of living in a republic versus in a pure democracy! If we were a pure democracy, politicians would spend NO TIME!! seeking the opinions or votes of the “fly-over” states, but would spend ALL their efforts seeking the votes of people on the east and west coasts. Also, you can bet that all national office holders would be individuals who reside or grew up on the coasts.
Useful political processes have risen and faded from view during the history of our republic, and, I believe that the usefulness and benefits of the various state Presidential Primary elections have disappeared, and that the primary elections have resulted in sub-optimal candidates being offered to us as choices for president. It looks like the current outlook is for the same two sub-optimal,(dare I say dishonorable?) men will be our choices in November !
I recommend all readers to access “Progressive Era Reforms and the Birth of Primaries 1890-1960.” published by Northeastern University, and read about the history of how the primary elections were invented to eliminate the selection of candidates in the proverbial “smoke-filled room’ in which party big-shots did wheeling and dealing to pick candidates.
Perhaps it’s time to go back to the smoke-filled room! But please, NO CIGARS !!