The media has spent much of the month of January covering the Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o stories. While I'll admit that it's sometimes hard to look away from those train wrecks, I'd like to close this month by writing about something that really matters.
However, before I start, I'd like to ask for a small favor from my small group of loyal readers, and from anyone else who happens to read this post. If you agree with this post, please forward it to everyone you know in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida who you think might be receptive to the message below.
I ask this of you because the message below is intended for the folks in those states who voted for President Obama back in November. The message is as follows ...
Hey there Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida Obama voters! I'm glad that you all got to the polls in 2012 to help keep President Obama in office. I'm going to assume that most of you support Democratic/Progressive goals in general and would like to see the Democratic Party hold on the White House in 2016 and in the years to come ( * See note in blue below ). Unfortunately, there is a state of affairs in your states which could make it considerably harder for Democrats to keep the White House going forward.
( * I know that some small percentage of you may have voted for President Obama more because of his personal qualities than his policies. Some of you consistently vote for candidates you "like" or can "identify with", or for candidates who have stronger "leadership qualities". Some of you don't really see a big difference between the policies of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and will vote for candidates of either party if you like the personal qualities of a given candidate. If you are one of those people, I have just one thing to say: You are a complete moron. Seriously, if you really don't care about the policies at the core of our nation's politics, I'm not sure if I want you involved with politics at all. )
Each of your states voted for Obama in 2012, but has a Republican governor, and a state legislature that is controlled by Republicans. Some Republicans have been talking about the possibility of changing the way electoral votes are awarded in many of these states. At the moment, all of these states ( and all states except for Nebraska and Maine ) award all of their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who gets the most popular votes in the state. Some Republicans have proposed dividing the electoral votes in these states based on the number Congressional districts carried by each presidential candidate. Nate Silver breaks down the potential impact of such a change in this post, but suffice to say, the results would not be pretty for Democrats. If these proposed rules had been in place for the 2012 election, Obama would have won only 3 of the 13 electoral votes in Virginia, despite having won the popular vote in Virginia by more than 100,000 votes. If these proposed rules had been in place in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida in 2012, Obama would have won less electoral votes than Mitt Romney despite getting almost 5 million more popular votes than Romney.
Considering that the state government for each of your states is controlled by Republicans, there's really nothing stopping them from passing these Electoral College reforms right away. There's no reason to believe Republicans won't try make these changes considering that they have a long history of advocating non-democratic reforms. There's also nothing Democratic lawmakers could do in your states to repeal these rules changes prior to 2016, short of winning complete control of the state government prior to 2016 ( which is highly unlikely considering how the districts for the state legislatures are gerrymandered in many of your states ).
Only you have the power to keep this from happening. If you want the Democratic Party to keep control of the White House beyond Obama's second term, you need to do the following:
1) Write a letter to your governor. Let him know ( Note: The governors of all the states in question are male ) that you'll never vote for him in the future if he signs these kind of Electoral College reforms into law. It's certainly true that most people who are against these Electoral College reforms would never vote for a Republican governor in the first place, but it's also true that your governor knows that he can't get re-elected in a blue state without getting at least some support from people who vote for Democrats in national elections. Most GOP governors want to get re-elected ( or someday get elected President or U.S. Senator ), and they know that this cannot happen if they offend too many moderate Democrats. You might not be a moderate Democrat, but send that letter anyway. If your governor gets enough of these letters, he'll think twice before he signs any of these Electoral College reforms into law.
2) If you live in a state legislative district represented by a Republican, write a letter to let him/her know that you'll never for vote him/her in any election in the future if he/she votes in favor of the Electoral College reforms being proposed by the GOP. Particularly emphasize that this state representative will never get your vote if he/she ever decides to run for governor or for the U.S. Senate. Many GOP members of state legislatures represent safe GOP districts in which they don't need any votes from moderate Democrats in order to get re-elected. However, I'm sure many have political ambitions that go beyond the state legislature, so it's important to remind them that passing Electoral College reforms that hurt the Democrats chances to win the Presidency will hurt their chances to win state-wide office.
3) Get your asses out the door and vote for Democrats in non-presidential election years. I can't emphasize this enough. Elections have consequences. ALL elections have consequences. If everyone who had voted for Obama in 2008 had voted for Democrats from 2009 to 2011, we wouldn't be in this mess. I may not be much of a fighter, and I don't know where most of you live, but I swear that if I hear about low Democratic turnout in elections from 2013 to 2015, I'll figure out a way to kick all your asses. Seriously, get off you asses and vote from 2013 to 2015! Even if we can stave off these Electoral College changes between now and 2016, Republicans will be even more motivated to make these Electoral College changes if they lose the presidential election badly in 2016 ( which they certainly will if the Electoral College system is not changed between now and then ). When Republicans try to pull this crap again in 2017, I want to make sure than your state government is no longer completely controlled by Republicans.
Rich
No comments:
Post a Comment