2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumOk. The election was stolen. We know that now. Time to stop blaming Hillary or Bernie.
The theft was carefully calculated to steal less than one hundred thousand votes in key states that would shift the Electoral College to Trump.
Putin, Comey, voter suppression, the complicit media, the stay-homers and never-hillary voters all played a part and it worked because of an antiquated relic from the time when this country enslaved people. It's called the Electoral College.
WE NEED TO CAMPAIGN LOUDLY TO GET RID OF IT SO THAT THE CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY WHO GETS THE MAJORITY OF THE VOTES WINS EVERY TIME.
For those not familiar with it's history, the Electoral College was a compromise arrived at to keep southern, slave holding states from leaving the union. A deal was struck between the slave holding states and the more populous northern states that they could count their enslaved black people to give them more electoral votes, but they would only be counted as 3/5s of a man.
Got that, everyone? Got that dehumanization of black people back then, got that bow to white supremacy that we are still selecting our president by to this day?
No matter what happens on Monday it needs to go. Let's all make a sustained, concerted push to get rid of this relic that keeps harming out country by putting unqualified, loser-of-the-popular- vote repugs in office who promptly fu_k up on the world and national stage with their wars and economy-wrecking policys that favor the rich but cost us jobs and lost homes.
Call and email your senators and representatives and urge them to get rid of this lasting piece of slavery because that is exactly what it is.
J_William_Ryan
(2,092 posts)The problem isnt the EC.
And neither Clinton nor Sanders are to blame.
Democrats nominated someone more unpopular than the Republican nominee, a candidate perceived to be unpopular the consequence of subjective, unfounded, and baseless reasons, where Democrats miscalculated how unpopular the Republican candidate was.
Democrats are no different in 2016 than they were in 2012, save for their unpopular candidate.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)My vote in California should not be worth a tiny fraction of the vote in of someone in a sparsely populated state. I was a Bernie supporter, but we can multitask and this is a problem.
Tommy2Tone
(1,307 posts)but I guarantee you if the state voted for the GOP in the numbers you guys vote for Dems the GOP would change that. Let's face it they are better are fighting in the trenches than Dems.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)Skews things in favor of more rural, more conservative states and against more populated, more liberal states. And it's only gotten worse, because they've artificially capped the number of representatives in congress so it's not keeping up with population. This has to stop. Twice in two decades the winner of the popular vote has lost the presidency. And it will almost always be liberals who are on the losing end of that.
brush
(57,413 posts)don't win the presidency.
Hekate
(94,518 posts)...the other guy.
Christ on a trailer hitch.
The Hillary hate here is scary.
Hekate
(94,518 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)It comes from a pretty bad place I think,
Most sadly, I think there are many on this site who helped elect the one who cannot be named. Many have outed themselves before and after the election. We know who they are.
It's horrible. But I'm glad to see your post and others like it. We're still with her.
Quackers
(2,256 posts)"Democrats are no different in 2016 than they were in 2012, save for their unpopular candidate.
I thought WE were all Democrats here and she was OUR "unpopular candidate".
Hekate
(94,518 posts)In any case, when I do so it is to emphasize a point by mirroring them.
Be that as it may, I've been here long enough to be known as a legitimate and loyal self-identified Democrat. This is my party since 1968, Hillary was my candidate, and I'm Still With Her.
Not everyone here is a Democrat; that's pretty clear. And we have a flood of newbies (or at least low postcount under their current name) and we are still in the sorting out stage with a lot of them. I am getting very tired of the ones continually emphasizing how "historically unpopular" Hillary was and is. (For an unpopular candidate she sure as hell won a massive amount of the popular vote.) And telling us how the solution to winning the EC is to move further left so we can capture the votes of conservative rural whites clinging to their guns and Bibles. Something in that does not compute, but I keep reading it here.
The system is rigged against Democrats 6 ways from Sunday. Our tent needs to be bigger, and inclusive of Blue Dog Dems and others considered impure by many on the left. The more pure we get, the smaller our tent will be. If we want people in red states to elect Democrats, we will have to run candidates who can speak their language, and that means in those states they will be in the center, not the left.
Lil Missy
(17,865 posts)Is Fox news and with Right wingnuts. She BEAT trump by 3 million votes.
triron
(22,240 posts)What you said!
C Moon
(12,545 posts)2. Even the EC's fail-safe is about to fail on Mondaykeeping a nut case out of office.
We need popular vote Presidents from here on out. There is no defense for the ECexcept for by Republicans.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,535 posts)Kotya
(235 posts)and governors mansions across the nation, the house and the senate and soon the White House, despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million, you can except that they will defend the Electoral College with every fabric of their being now more than ever.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,535 posts)Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
uponit7771
(91,671 posts)... you want to believe
apcalc
(4,517 posts)Unpopular by 3 million votes over the other guy
The EC is an artificial construct. Time for it to go.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)You won't get a constitutional amendment. The small states that benefit from this won't give up their power. But, there is a movement to get enough states to pass that 270 threshold to agree to have their electors vote for the winner of the popular vote. I believe many states, including California, are already on board or seriously looking into it. It's a way to accomplish this without needing the constitutional amendment.
brush
(57,413 posts)we probably won't gt that interstate pact for the same reasons we won't get a Constitutional Amendment. The states with all R legislatures/governor won't let it happen.
If we want to get rid of the EC we will have to concentrate on taking back some of the state governments, which will mean appealing (again) to some of the people we lost in this election.
I haven't looked into it, but I would guess that most, if not all, of the states that have signed onto The Popular Vote Compact are red states.
triron
(22,240 posts)Hillary one of best qualified for POTUS in history.
TDale313
(7,822 posts)They wouldn't have been able to fuck with things so easily without the current EC setup. They wouldn't have swung 3 million votes.
bowens43
(16,064 posts)The electoral collage serves a purpose, to keep the very worst out of the oval office. Will they exercise that power this time? I doubt it but we need to have a safety check.
apcalc
(4,517 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)...and the thought that anyone would blame just one person or cause is laughable.