My past two posts — here and here — have explored the current push for reform of America’s Electoral College.

This final post examines why the National Popular Vote Compact (NPVC) is dangerous to the country.

InterAlia/OPCA features an article from Oklahoma, where the reform bill is currently being considered.  Bobby Lepak defends the current Electoral College:

The Electoral College was developed for a reason. The Founders were well aware of ancient democracies and the shortfalls of a popular vote for president, and chose to develop a system that protects our constitutional republic. 

The current electoral process demands that the President have a broad base of support from the states, thus making him the President of the United States, not President of the People. Surrendering the state’s will to the will of the people of other states is simply not how the system is supposed to work. The Founders considered electing the President by a popular vote and chose against it. 

Upstate Voice explains why the Founding Fathers opposed a democracy (emphases mine):

Our founding fathers understood that pure Democracy (majority/mob rules) can lead to the curtailing or elimination of liberty for the minority or stated another way; pure Democracy leads to tyranny of the majority. 50%+1 of the population can impose their will on the remaining 50%-1 of the population. History has shown us that this can lead to, among other things, dictatorships, totalitarianism, discrimination and slavery.

Under a National Popular Vote, 100% of the citizens in a state could vote for candidate A and all of the state’s electoral college votes go to candidate B, rending small states powerless and the will of the people in the state irrelevant.

The end result of NPVC would be to

ensure a progressive will always control the administrative branch.

Upstate Voice explains the concept behind federalism, which ties in with Electoral College principles:

Each state, no matter the population in the state, sends two Senators to Washington to represent the interests of that state. No one state has more power in the Senate that any other state. This helps to ensure that larger, more populated states cannot impose their will on smaller, less populated states.

The same concept applies to the electoral college and the presidential election. We cannot allow a few large states to decide who our president will be. All states must be fairly represented and the electoral college helps to ensure that all states have a voice.

The upshot is that

The progressives in America have embarked on an effort to circumvent the intent of the constitution and take permanent control the presidency. Progressives are not concerned with Federalism or “Tyranny of the Majority”, as long as they are the majority.

As Bobby Lepak says for OPCA:

A bill can be known by the company it keeps.  NPV is endorsed by left wing groups like ACLU, Sierra Club, League of Women Voters, and Common Cause, an organization that receives its funding from groups like George Soros’s Open Society Institute and the Tides Foundation. Obviously, these groups would not be supporting NPV if they did not stand to benefit from it. Meanwhile, no major conservative figures have come out in support of NPV. 

There might be plenty of RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — but no true conservatives supporting it.

As for 2012, he writes:

The reason these groups have flocked to the NPV movement is their radical agenda is much easier to advance without the Electoral College standing in the way.  It is becoming increasingly difficult for liberal presidential candidates to draw electoral maps where they can win without having to compromise on many of their positions. 

Under a NPV scheme, a candidate like President Obama could run on a much more extreme platform and focus all of his efforts on getting voters to the polls in liberal strongholds rather than having to come to the middle and persuade more moderate voters to vote for him. 

An NPV scheme will turn the presidential election into a get-out-the-vote contest, rather than a debate on ideas. With liberal groups like Project Vote (ACORN’s voter-mobilization arm) committing massive voter fraud, conservatives will be at a disadvantage in every presidential election.

If you can, please let your legislators know the dangers of NPVC.  The United States was never meant to run as a reality television show.

End of series

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