This to me is nothing more than a populist move to destroy Electoral College. It ignores the US Constitution, so it’s not even LEGAL.
HB 1299, introduced March 4th of 2009 in Colorado’s General Assembly, currently sitting in the house to be read over by the “Colorado Lawmakers,” and is sponsored by:
HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
Kerr A., Benefield, Carroll T., Casso, Court, Curry, Ferrandino, Frangas, Green,
Hullinghorst, Kefalas, McCann, Middleton, Miklosi, Pommer, Rice, Scanlan, Schafer S.,
Solano, Todd, Vigil
SENATE SPONSORSHIP
Romer, Bacon, Groff, Veiga
This bill in short is seeking to eliminate the Electoral College. One of the bedrock principles that this nation was founded on, is UNDER ATTACK!!! Now this is nothing out of the ordinary, bills like this have been pushed and attempted in other states as well. The terrifying thing about this bill is that it very easily can happen. Colorado is so distracted by other things like the financial crisis, war… err OverSeas Contingency Operation blah blah blah…., American idol and other such things, this bill might actually pass. It’s insane.
This bill appeases a populist thought that the Electoral College is bad. The people that think this are either insanely ignorant and don’t know their history or they’re insane. The electoral college gives the States equality in the vote count in Presidential elections. If you are one of these, and really even if you’re not please read this articulated about the history and reasons for the Electoral College article:
William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director
FEC Office of Election Administration, Revised in 1992
I love this insight from a fellow blogger over at Politix Cartoons:
Probably the most egregious insult is that the people of Colorado actually voted overwhelming against this type of legislation in 2004 in the form of Amendment 36.
People intent on destroying the Electoral College have not stopped with the state of Colorado. What I find interesting, however, is that you won’t find them wanting to break up the Electoral votes of solidly blue states, such as California or New York. Why isn’t there a big rush to implement these same types of measures in the big blue states?
The biggest argument that proponents of this disaster proclaim is that “every vote should count.” However, purporting this argument will send one on a logical quagmire. For if they truly believed in the legitimacy of everybody’s vote, then they will have to accept the votes of 65% of Coloradans who voted against changing the Electoral College! Their motivation cannot logically be about the will of the people.
If you want to do something about this contact:
Mail
Bill Ritter, Governor
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792
Phone (303) 866-2471
Fax (303) 866-2003
Email Governor’s spokesman evan.dreyer@state.co.us
