Doing a bit of support on J. Kb.s post.
In Venezuela there is no such thing as the electoral college. You get a majority of votes, you get elected. Simple and uncomplicated, right? That is the goal Socialism strives for. Every vote counts, majority rules! Vox Populi, Vox Dei!
All the elections in Venezuela when I was living down and till Chavez won, had the same strategy and the same outcome: He who control the two main urban areas, wins the elections.
95% of the attention during an election year and during the campaign went to two cities: Caracas, the capital and Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia State, Oil country. And what I mean by paying attention was that the Government Party got to pave streets suddenly paved, cash was given away, hospitals brimmed with supplies, ambulances and a new coat of paint and promises of ponies and rainbows made. The challenging party only could hand out cash, make bigger promises, hand out bags of food to the poorest and count on the people’s anger about government not fulfilling the promises of the past election.
The rest of the country with the exception of Ciudad Bolivar (and only because it has the steel, aluminum productions and electric generation) were pretty much ignored from the attentions of the parties. And that reflected at congress/assembly later when nobody cared if your small state in the boondocks was in need of bridges because the “temporary” ones built 30 years ago, had collapsed or the government clinics were crumbling down.
I included in the map the cities of Maracay and Valencia, but they are the equivalent of a bonus pack in a video game: Great to have them for an emergency, but they are not really life or death.
“Caracas es Caracas y el resto es monte y culebras” (Caracas is Caracas and the rest is wild brush and snakes) is the Venezuelan equivalent of the American Intelligentsia deriding anything not NY/L.A. also known as Fly-Over Country. It was institutionalized that if it was not the great urban center, the rest was shit, no need to care about much and do not waste sleep about it. I do not have to tell you the levels of poverty before Chavez and Socialism and how worse it got after the Boys in Red took over.
When I moved to the US and finally wrapped my brain around the concept of Electoral Colleges, I was amazed at the genius of the system: You cannot safely ignore the “Little People” because they will eventually screw your plans big time. Same as the Bullet Box, the American Ballot Box is a deterrent or a monkey wrench in the plans of Statists: You need to consider the needs and wants of everybody or die a miserable electoral death.
Just ask Hillary.
A number of European countries have this “proportional representation” thing as well. Holland (my native land) is one. The scheme is pretty slick for the power brokers: people in theory vote for a representative, but in practice vote for a “list” — technically, the party leader whose name appears at the #1 spot on the party list. The party gets however many seats corresponds to the total votes for the list, unless someone far down got enough votes to his own name to be elected (“preference votes”).
What does this mean? The consequence is that there really aren’t 150 representatives; instead, there are a half dozen parties each of which have some number of votes, like proxies in a shareholder meeting. The individual parliamentarians don’t count; they vote as ordered by the party bosses. If they don’t, next time they are on an “unelectable” low spot on the party list.
Years ago one parliamentarian got into hot water by describing a truth that must not be spoken, when he described his fellow parliamentarians as “voting cattle”.
Great presentation. It should be required reading in high school civics.
Those old guys in powdered wigs were not stupid.
The cesspool that is New York State would be very different if upstate had the power to balance NYC.
We see that with the electoral college here, though probably no where near the level you describe.
NYC decides NY state; Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven decide CT.
Doesnt really matter how anyone else votes.
You expressed a truth as to why Chavez and socialism one in Venezuela. “The rest of the country with the exception of Ciudad Bolivar (and only because it has the steel, aluminum productions and electric generation) were pretty much ignored from the attentions of the parties. And that reflected at congress/assembly later when nobody cared if your small state in the boondocks was in need of bridges because the “temporary” ones built 30 years ago, had collapsed or the government clinics were crumbling down.”
Chavez’s win was because the barrios in Caracas and Maracaibo voted in block for him.
The rest was cream and cherry on top
J. KB’s quote from linked posting: “According to Cizmar, the reason our Republic “cannot, and should, not last in this format” is because New York and California do not have the power to simply crush the people of flyover country under their boot like he believes they should.”
All you need to know.
The other problem with straight national majority vote,
FRAUD. You already see it to some extent in every major city. Remember the Detroit ballot boxes? Supposedly three hundred votes tallied and less than one hundred votes in the box? LBJ and his first election. Senator Al “Groper” Franken and the Iron Range Buick trunk with the mysterious ballot box?
Chicago may be able to manufacture enough ballots to win, but all they win is one big state, which they usually win anyway. Imagine if they thought they could team up with Philly, LA, New Orleans, and St. Louis to steal the whole country? Four or five million votes are enough to swing most Presidential Elections.