Goddammit, Make My Vote Count!

 

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

I am tired of hearing about “state’s rights.” When politicians use this term, they are not talking about the rights of the people who compose those states, they are talking about each state’s government. States would not exist without people: the people are the state.

Our nation remains an “experiment,” and so far, the experiment is failing. Throughout the Constitutional Convention heated discussions were commonplace. The Bill of Rights did not just happen. Each delegate was fighting to protect the differences in the areas they represented which would become the United States of America.

THE UNITED STATES HAS RARELY BEEN “UNITED”

First and foremost, America has never been united, with the exception of when we were engaged in two World Wars. Only then did most Americans join together in support of our military and its fight to defeat fascism. It is a fact that other than the First Amendment, considered the greatest paragraph ever written, disagreement about the wording of the other nine Amendments was extremely contentious.

The basic concept of the new nation was founded on personal freedoms and human rights. However, a closer look at what is happening in America today reveals a frightening fact. About one-half of our nation’s people reject equal rights for all.

1789 WAS ABOUT APPEASING STATES, AND IGNORING THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE

Our founding fathers made many mistakes. Many of the delegates involved penned articles admitting that the first draft of the Constitution was imperfect, but trusted their successors to improve multiple sections of the Law of the Land. However, this, too, failed. The Second Amendment, although flawed and ambiguous, continues to be a part of the Bill of Rights.

It is clear that one enormous mistake was not establishing term limits for all three branches of our government. However, an even bigger mistake was creating the Electoral College.

The Electoral College removes the rights of the people to choose the man or woman who will lead them for the next four years. The truth is simple: thanks to the Electoral College, states have the right to choose our nation’s leader.

EVERY VOTE SHOULD COUNT

I live in Nevada, which is known as a “purple state:” neither red nor blue. In 2008, 201 6, and 2020, my vote was in the majority and our Electoral Votes went to Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden. However, in 2000, the most contested election in American history, my vote had no effect on the outcome. A biased Supreme Court chose George W. Bush.

The Electoral College exists because less-populated states demanded equal representation in 1789. Apparently, the people were not in possession of sufficient intelligence to make a choice. Thus, the undemocratic Electoral College became a reality.

A FACT REPUBLICANS HATE

One person, one vote. This should be the only standard applicable to our elections. The Electoral College is why we have red and blue lates, and why our elections are decided by states and not people.

I firmly believe that my vote should have meaning in every general election. I can prove my assertion with a few facts about past elections.

In 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 Democrats won the popular vote. Only in 2004, George W. Bush’s reelection after 9/11, did a Republican win the popular vote, and then only by a small margin. If the popular vote was the only vote which mattered, America would have been led by Democrats for the last 32 years. Our nation would never have been damaged by the two worst presidents in history, Republicans Donald Trump, and George W. Bush.

Demand change. If our government and therefore our nation is to continue, term limits and the repeal of the Electoral College are mandatory.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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