Let's Fix the Electoral College

The Electoral College is an important part of picking our President and needs to stay in place.  However it needs to be fixed in order to work the way that it was intended to work.

The Electoral College is suppose to give everyone a voice instead of just the big populated cities.  Without the Electoral College places like Los Angeles would be more important than Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin all combined.  If a candidate could win the Los Angeles area he or she could get more votes than all those states combined.  One city makes 5 states irrelevant.  That is why the Electoral College exists and is important.  So each state has a voice in the Presidency.

Look at what is happening in California right now to understand how the popular vote would destroy us.  A vast part of California is fed up with how the state is governed and want to make their own state.  They don't feel represented by the state government.

So now we know why the electoral college exists and why it is important.  However it needs some fixing.

How are electoral votes disbursed to each state?  You get one vote for each Congressman/woman for each state and 1 for each Senator.  So for Wisconsin we have 8 Congressional Representatives and 2 Senators.  (Each state gets 2 Senators) Wisconsin then is worth 10 electoral votes.

Right now many states have decided that the winner of the votes in the state get all the electoral votes for that state.  So if you win Wisconsin by even 1 vote you get all 10 electoral votes for Wisconsin.  Same for California and many other states.  Actually only 2 states, Maine and Nebraska, divide the votes.

I propose that all states should divide their electoral votes.  The states are broken up by Congressional districts already.  During the election, for each Congressional District a Candidate wins they get that electoral vote.  That would force Candidates to work the whole country to win the votes.  Instead of just the big cities.  Right now you only have to win the big cities to get the state and all the electoral votes for that state.

Lets look at California.  California has 55 electoral votes.  Hillary Clinton won the state with 62% of the votes.  Donald Trump only got 32% of the votes.  So it is reasonable to assume that 1/3 of the voters in California did not vote for Hillary Clinton.  Yet every Electoral vote went for her in the Presidential election.  Without spending hours breaking it down by Congressional District lets just assume and say Clinton gets 62% of the Electoral Votes and Trump gets 32%.  Clinton would have only gotten 34 of the electoral votes and Trump would have gotten 17.  Rough Math but you get the idea.

This would make every vote count much more so than how it is done now and also make every state count.

Lets look at the 2012 election.  Obama beat Romney 332 votes to 206.  A landslide victory that sounds like a mandate for Obama by the American People.  But lets look closer.  Here is the Electoral Votes map for 2012.

2012 Presidential Election

Now lets take a look at the same map factoring in Congressional districts.

2012 Presidential Election by Congressional Districts

Take a close look at Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Obama won both of those states and took home a combined 38 electoral votes.  But if you look at the state by Congressional District he didn't represent even close to the majority of the state.  Only the bigger Metropolitan areas.  The same can be said for Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, West Virginia, Florida, Colorado and New Mexico.  The person getting the electoral votes did not represent a majority of the state, only the big cities.

If you look at the second map it sure doesn't show a mandate.  It realistically doesn't even show how Obama won, except for knowing how the electoral votes are disbursed.

The big cities are deciding our President and the rest of America is forgotten.

2016 Presidential Election by Congressional Districts

The above map shows the last Presidential election.  In the wake of the stunning loss by Hillary Clinton they call for the popular vote to be the only vote that matters.  Trump lost that vote, but I don't think that you would fairly represent the majority of the United States if you said Clinton won.

University Professor Files Complaint about "Ladies Lingerie Joke"

I don't have a PHD and I don't pretend to understand the kinds of politics that are played on College Campuses and by the people that work there.

But can someone please educate me on how this all works?

Just a few weeks ago we had an Educator at Fresno talk about hating the Bush Family and how she can't wait for them all to die.  Called them names and then posted the phone number for a suicide hotline that got inundated with calls.

That was protected speech and ok.  No discipline. 

Now we have another who is on a crowded elevator and when asked what floor, jokingly answers with "ladies lingerie".  An old joke and quite funny honestly.

A Professor from Merrimack College in Massachusetts complains and this person now faces disciplinary action.

Are you really being serious?  Yes. 

This world has gone plain crazy.

The Fall of John McCain

I was always a supporter of Sen. John McCain.  I liked how he stayed out of the mess that was Washington and just went at getting things done. 

When he ran for President, I liked a lot of what he talked about and thought maybe he was going to make a change with the Republican Party for the better.

Over the past couple of years I can definitively say that I am so very happy that he never won the Presidency and have never been more disappointed in a politician. 

McCain has turned out to be just another Politician to me.  He turned into a bitter person holding grudges and against the very party that he was suppose to represent.

He no longer represents the class and statemanship that he once represented to me. 

I remember a conversation I had with someone during the election where he ran for President.  I was fully behind McCain.  I was told that I would be getting someone who doesn't represent the things I believe in.  He is selling me a bill of goods, is what I was told. 

Guess what, they were absolutely right.  This man that I supported and this man that I thought was one of the best was selling me a bill of goods.  It is so sad to see this happen and I feel bad that a man I once revered, not be that man I always thought he was.

I find myself torn between the pain of watching him go through all of his medical issues and the fondness for his family and the anger of realizing that I must have never really new the man I thought I had.

MSN Takes Good News and Makes it Negative

Leave it to MSN to take good news and make it a Negative. 

The Headline on MSN reads: Pomeo uses wrong surname for Kim Jong Un

The story titled: Oops! Mike Pompeo refers to North Koren leader Kim as 'Chairman Un'

OMG stop the world.  Secretary of State has made a mistake.  This is horrific.

To underscore the negative press MSN wants to give instead of focusing on the positive and the big story, the entire article with the exception of the last paragraph is fixated on the mistake.

What the true story should be about and only gets one paragraph is:  Pompeo went to North Korea and finalized the meeting with Trump and is bringing home three American Citizens that had been being held by the North Koreans. 

That is big news, except where the biased and left leaning anti-Trump media is concerned. 

Poor Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin who always thought she was a comedian put herself in a bad situation when she infamously took a picture of a bloody head resembling President Trump and posted it.

Since she has faced intense blowback and scrutiny.  She blames everyone but herself and continues to do so. 

She is now making claims of being on a kill list and receiving death threats.  Which all seems pretty ironic for her to be upset about this.  You did hold up the head resembling the President all bloody in an apparent attempt to look like you decapitated him.  Yet you are upset about death threats?  I am sure they are all joking around like you did.

She also is complaining about how hard it is to find jobs.  She said people have a bad taste about her and wont hire her.  I wonder where they could have gotten that bad taste or the lack of desire to hire her?  Wonder why they would be concerned to have her perform at their events or venues?  Not like she would do anything stupid.

But wait, it is Trump and the Right Wing Media's fault.  She didn't do anything wrong.

Kathy, sorry but it appears that your 15 minutes are up, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

State Senator Lena Taylor uses Racial Slur, Says its not Offensive

State Senator Lena Taylor believes that there should be a double standard on racial slurs and also takes aim at the Milwaukee Police Department for their handling of her attack on a bank teller.

Lena Taylor said in an interview that she told a bank teller "You did a really good job today of acting like a good house nigger". 

Reported by the Journal Sentinel Taylor went on to say that she was bothered that some considered it a racial slur.  Seriously?  What would you call it?  If someone stoop up in the Senate Chambers and said that to Sen. Taylor would she consider that a racial slur?

The Journal reported that she believed it was ok to talk that way because both her and the person she was saying to were African-American. 

You just have to shake your head.  Here is a person who is constantly bringing up the Race issues in Milwaukee and then she uses this kind of language to attack another person and believes it is ok. 

Then as if she hadn't done enough damage, se went on to complain that all the Police Officers at the bank were white and they made the matter worse.  The Bank asked the Police to intervene. 

Is it any wonder we have issues with race in Milwaukee?  This is the type of leadership that we have.