Earlier this week, Sen. Bryan Schatz (D-HI) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college and “restore democracy” in America by allowing for the president and vice president to be elected directly via the popular vote.
Right off the bat, Schatz’s bill fails because America has never been a democracy, which means there’s nothing to “restore.” His bill would, however, create a mob-rule democracy where the population centers of the East and West coasts would determine the outcome of presidential elections and effectively disenfranchise the rest of the country.
A House version of the bill to abolish the Electoral College was introduced back in January by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), and the amendment enjoys the support of Democrat candidates for president, including Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Kamala Harris, and Kirsten Gillibrand.
While the odds of the bill passing by the necessary two-thirds of both the House and the Senate aren’t great, the threat to our republic established at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 is much closer than most Americans realize.
In an article I wrote last month on this topic, I pointed out how the Electoral College is being systematically dismantled at the state level without the need to amend the Constitution.
A growing number of states and the District of Columbia have joined together to create a “work around” to the Constitution — known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact — and it could survive a court challenge.
Under the NPVIC, each participant agrees to award their Electoral Votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote, regardless of who the voters in each state selected as their winner.
At the time I wrote the article, Colorado had just joined the Compact, bringing the total number of states to twelve and the Electoral votes total to 181. Since the article, however, Delaware and New Mexico have joined, bringing the total number of states to fourteen and the Electoral votes to 189 — just 81 shy of the 270 necessary to win.
If you’re wondering how the NPVIC could possibly be constitutional, the fact is there are no provisions in the Constitution or in federal law requiring electors to vote for the winner in their states. Should the effort wind up in the courts, recent trends in the judiciary provide little comfort that the Constitution will be protected.
Let me also remind you that before and after becoming president, Donald Trump has expressed a desire to abolish the Electoral College — most recently about a year ago.
The threat to our republic is very real, and conservatives need to wake up and get involved at the state and local level on this issue if we are to have any hope of keeping it.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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