US Government [Friday, March 30, 1st period]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh was mainlining coffee like he'd never seen the stuff before in his life. He hated mornings.

He gestured to a map on the board. "Every state and the District of Columbia is worth a certain number of electoral votes, which are used--rather than a straight popular vote--to determine who becomes President. A state's electoral vote number is the combination of the number of representatives it has in Congress added to its two Senators. Every state, therefore, has at least 3 electoral votes. California, with the most population, has 55 electoral votes.

"There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs--you need at least 270 of them to become President. In the history of the United States there have been four elections where the person who became President didn't also win the popular vote--1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000."

Josh scrubbed his hands through his hair. "There is always someone trying to abolish the electoral college, and the debate both for and against it have been raging since roughly 1824. Proponents say that it requires candidates to spend time in states that they'd normally avoid--Iowa, for instance, or Michigan--and tailor their message to the entire country rather than focussing exclusively on California, Texas, and Florida, where the population is. Opponents say that with a winner-take-all distribution of electoral college votes--a candidate can win a state by 40 votes and still get all of the electoral votes--it disenfranchises the voters who cast ballots for the other guy." He gestured lazily at the class. "What do you think?"

Comments

Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

So, should the electoral college be abolished or not?

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"I don't think we should get rid of it, but maybe make it so the votes are split percentage-wise based on how the voters vote?" Dawn thought about that, "Or would that just make things more complicated than they are already?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Some states are breaking it down by congressional districts," Josh said. "So far we haven't run into a 50-50 split in electoral college votes from a state, which would be fun, and the trend hasn't spread to states with more than, say, 8 electoral votes."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Is there a way to just keep things from involving a recount after every single election?" She asked hopefully.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Appoint me dictator for life?" Josh replied. "I'd be mostly benevolent." He scrubbed his hands through his hair and grinned. "With an electorate as polarized as it's been the last two cycles, recounts were inevitable. The stakes were just a lot higher than we were used to seeing. I'm pretty sure that the genius in the White House has managed to shift all but his hard core base firmly into the 'hell, no, we're not voting Republican' camp, but we won't know until 2008 rolls around."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"When you say mostly, how mostly are we talking about?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Keep the muffins and bagels coming and we'll get along just fine," Josh said, smiling.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Like electing Xander," Dawn mumbled.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh's ears perked up. "Who is that guy, anyway?" he asked. "Willow was handwavily in my office a few days ago pestering me about him."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Huh? Um, Xander Harris? Used to be a student here? Now owns one of the apartment buildings in town?" Dawn told him, "Also, one of the greatest guys in any universe, in my opinion. Kind of my surrogate big brother, but he's Willow's best friend. Seriously, one of the good ones, but he has a twinkie thing."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Right," Josh said. "Some guy named Bridge, right?"

There was a reason Josh wasn't allowed near national television most of the time.

No. Filter. At. All.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Bridge. Is Not. A. Twinkie."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Huh?" Josh said, completely oblivious to how totally inappropriate his comment had been the dumbass. "Oh! This Xander guy likes the snack food?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn facepalmed. Yup, almost exactly like electing Xander. Or Xander and Anya's love child. "Yes. With the half-life of plutonium."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"But not actually using plutonium," Josh said. "My friend Sam checked into it."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"I...oh my god, you people run the government? Aren't you supposed to be, I don't know, less like Scoobies and more like adults?" Dawn asked incredulously.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"You'd think so, huh?" Josh said, grinning. "But we're positively sane compared to the Cartographers for Social Equality."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Wondering if she needed a protection spell before she came to this class anymore, Dawn asked, "The who?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Crazy mapmakers," Josh said. "I don't think they've found Brigadoon yet, though." He shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't paying much attention to their briefing."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Brigadoon? "They were looking? Is there, like, a Fandom West that we don't know about where this seems more normal?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh shrugged again. "Dunno. That's what Big Block of Cheese Day brought out--the total crackpots."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"You like the people who believe in vampires and are friends with aliens?" Dawn asked innocently.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh smirked. "And the ones who want wolf-only highways."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"There's no way you can get a werewolf to stick to the highway," Dawn said without thinking.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"But will they ask for directions if they get lost?" Josh asked, eyes twinkling.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn grinned back, "Only the girls."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[chasingsnitches.livejournal.com]

"From a person just learning about it," Cedric started, "yes. It seems unnecessary and there seems ample opportunity for tampering."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"There's that," Josh agreed. "Can you think of a different way to make sure that national politicians aren't crafting their message solely to the folks in California, Texas, Florida and New York, though?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[likethegun]

"I don't think it should be abolished altogether," Sam said. "I mean, if there's only been four elections where the President didn't get the popular vote, out of all the elections the U.S. has had, that seems like a pretty small ratio by which to throw the whole college out the window."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh nodded. "A good point," Josh said. "And the 1824 election was nasty."