TheWiseOldFart

The Electoral College is the least democratic law in America. It prevents the concept of “every vote must count,” and allows the states to choose our presidents, not the people. It is also one of the primary reasons red and blue states exist, and why our nation is divided to a degree not seen since the first Civil War. Red and blue states are detrimental to democracy but advantageous for presidential wannabees. Their reelection campaigns need only to make perfunctory visits to red or blue states, depending on your party affiliation. The majority of the efforts are focused on swing states, and red or blue states whose social and political demographics experienced a significant change over the previous four years. Although the population of America is approximately 340 million, the only number that matters for a presidential candidate is 270. This is the number of Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Something you will never hear from an elected official or the mainstre...

Five men and one woman. This gang of six are all biased in support of right-wing extremists who dominate today’s Republican Party in name only and serve Trump, ignoring the needs of the average American. John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett are corrupt Supreme Court justices who control your life. How do we fight against this gang of six and save our country for posterity? The sad truth is, we can do absolutely nothing. Of all the mistakes made by our Founding Fathers, one surpasses all others. The damage caused by not placing term limits on all three branches of government is the primary reason our government is now the most corrupt and incompetent in the world. The intentions of our Founding Fathers when they created the judicial branch of our government were admirable. However, they were obviously naïve. They underestimated the vices of greed and ambition possessed by all mankind. I believe that given the opportunity most ...

America is a strange country. It claims many “firsts,” and all of them are moronic and destructive. Corporate profits are of far greater importance than the quality of life for more than 340 million people. Most legislation which would improve the lives of the majority are never addressed and never come to the floor for a vote. I continue to claim that the federal government of the United States is the mot corrupt and incompetent in the world. I can prove my allegations easily and simply. I begin with the Electoral College. No nation in the world allows states to choose their president, or leader by another name, than America. In every other developed nation, the people choose the woman or man who will lead them. Because the Electoral College exists, we have “red and blue states,” which divide our nation and remove credibility from the election process. America is also unique in the fact that it is the only nation in the world not to have universal healthcare. Only in America is the hi...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart The Truth Lives Here In 1992, Bill Clinton won both the popular vote and the Electoral College. Since that day, 32 years ago, no Republican has won the popular vote with the exception of George W. Bush after his reelection bid in 2004. If the Electoral College did not exist, no Republican would have resided in the White House since January 20, 1993. Kamala Harris will undoubtedly win the popular vote on Tuesday, so the question becomes, “will the states void the will of the people again?” The bottom line is that Republicans cannot win if the Electoral College did not exist Every vote should count. Op-ed by James Turnage  

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart It is no secret that I believe the Electoral College is in direct opposition to the spirit and intent of the Constitution. The EC allows the states to choose our presidents. As long as it exists millions of American voters have no voice in who will lead our nation for the next four years. Here's why that makes a difference, and why Republicans are desperate to keep the EC. If the popular vote, the vote of the American people, decided the outcome of the election, not a single right-wing politician would have occupied the White House since 1993: that’s 31 years. Since 1993 there have been two Republican presidents: George W. Bush and Donald Trump. In 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote. The Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount and declared Bush the winner. In 2016, Hillary Clinton received three million more votes than Trump. However, a total of less than 80,000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin gave Trump a very slim victory in the E...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart Your vote on November 5 th may not count. Whether you support Kamala Harris or Trump, depending on which state you call home, you may be wasting your time filling out your ballot for the 2024 election. The truth is 538 men and women will decide your future for the next four years or longer. These are the electors who are the Electoral College. This is not democratic: this is not American: this is not fair. Every vote should count. Every voter should have a voice in our elections. It is morally and legally wrong that states are allowed to choose our presidents. I leave you with one irrefutable fact: Republicans and the mainstream media fear the repeal of the Electoral College for one reason: If it did not exist, no Republican would have resided in the White House since George H.W. Bush. That is a period of 31 years. Democrats won the popular vote in 1992, 1994, 2000, 2008, 20012, 2016, 2020, and will surely do the same in 2024. Op-ed by James Turnage My novels a...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart If you participate in political polling, I do not, the first question you are likely to be asked is: “what issue is most important to you?” The economy is most frequently the number one answer. I believe there are two issues you will never read about on the internet or see on the evening news. If both were addressed, our government could be saved. Our government is completely dysfunctional. An insanely small number of pieces of legislation were passed in 2023, and the pattern is continuing in 2024. A democratic republic cannot succeed without honest and sincere deliberation and eventual compromise. The parties are at war with each other in the 21 st century, and very little has been accomplished. TERM LIMITS Our Founding Fathers were not psychics and did not foresee what would happen within our government over the next 200+ years. If they could have imagined what is happening in Washington today, the first thing they would have done is set term limits on all th...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart I encourage everyone to vote. I continue to read responses like, “my vote doesn’t matter,” or “why should I if my vote doesn’t count?” I understand how some voters feel. I live in a “purple state.” However, if I lived in a red state, I would have no reason to vote. Electoral votes in deep red states usually go to those calling themselves “Republicans.” I admit that when I was first allowed to vote in 1968, I knew nothing about the Electoral College. I assumed that the candidate who received the most votes would be our next president. Little did I know that the states actually choose our nation’s leader. When I did understand the truth, more than 10 years later, I was extremely upset. I had grown up in California, but what if I had been a resident of Mississippi or any other red state? THERE IS BUT ONE WAY TO DEFEAT THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL ELECTORAL COLLEGE First, there would be no “red or blue states” if the Electoral College did not exist. This i...

  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, disagreeme...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   If you read my rants frequently , you are aware that I believe that all men and women who call themselves “Republicans,” and support Trump, are not Americans. They are members of The American Fascist Party, sometimes referred to as “MAGA Republicans.”   Red States Do Not Share American Principles   Red states are determined by the party of the state’s government. At one time they were primarily in the south, but today they include North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Texas, Ohio, and others whose politics have moved to the radical right.   Although they have differences, they share traits including ambitions to return our nation to a country dominated by white supremacy, blaming the federal government for all their problems, keeping women in a subservient role, attacking immigrants, falsely blaming them for their own inadequacies, and a penchant for accepting lies from Trump and Fox News as facts. They would have been loyal Nazis i...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart For the last two decades right-wing politicians have proven themselves good for only one thing: fodder for writers on late-night television. Not a single man or woman calling themselves “Republican” in the 21 st century is fit to run for office at any level. Now, in 2024, this has become a very sad fact. The only presidential candidates offered by the once Grand Old Party are an obese man who is facing 91 felony indictments, including treason, theft of secret documents, and a lifetime of fraud related to his failed business enterprises, and a woman who lost to “none of these candidates” in the Nevada state primary. At the age of 77, I remember that if a candidate had an affair or had a divorce in his past, he was forced to withdraw. Trump has had three wives, numerous affairs and unwanted sexual encounters, but Republican voters don’t give a damn. As long as he supports white supremacy, homophobia, Islamophobia, remains a suppressor of women’s rights, he is ele...