Speaking as someone living in one of the states where my vote counts the least, this is exactly why I feel the electoral college rips the people off, Robert. Regardless of whether I was happy with the winner or not, if we had popular vote in this country ( wouldn't that be a REAL democracy?) I believe the people would be much less contentious about election results. Seems obvious to me. I could be wrong.

To answer your question I am NOT happy that my vote will be in concert with the EC so, therefore, does not count. It DOES make me wonder why I take part in such a broken system.

...but, still, I vote. What else can I do? I guess it's useless to have an opinion in NY politics but I do anyway.

Here's something from Bloomberg BusinessWeek -

"It's a terrible system; it's the most undemocratic way of electing a chief executive in the world, " said Paul Finkelman, a law professor at Albany Law School who teaches this year at Duke University. "There's no other electoral system in the world where the person with the most votes doesn't win."

....this is democracy? How did we let this happen?

hoyodude wrote:

News flash. Our form of government is a "Representative Republic". It is NOT a Democracy.

In a Democracy, 51% of the people can vote to oppress, enslave, or even exterminate the other 49%. Ideally, in a true Representative Republic, the rights of the minority are protected. Our Founding Fathers knew this, and therefore decided against a Democracy, something many elected officials seem to be clueless to. I mean, how many times have you heard some brain dead Congressman or even President talk about our “Democracy”? Idiots need a civic lesson before they’re allowed to serve (silly me, I mean before they're allowed to rape and pillage the rest of us).

dpnewell wrote:

Perhaps you are getting too critical with the definitions of "democracy" and "representative republic" for the conversation, unless Hoyo is on board with your definitions. As to a representative republic, I don't think that the rights of the minority are any safer because we are a "representative" as opposed to "direct" democracy. The represented majority can do the exact same things at will. Take a look at the civil rights era when the representative majority oppressed the black Americans; the women's' sufferage movement when the representatvive majority made sure women weren't allowed to vote; the early founding years of our country when one had to be a white, male land-owner to vote; etc, etc. What ever you want to call what we have, whether in strict political science terms or common parlence, don't think there is any guaraantyor even assurance of inherent minority rights as a result of the political system we have devised and live in. It's a hell of a lot more here that gives minority rights.

rfenst wrote:

Oh, that gets tricky, especially considering that the rights of the minorities have been winning out against the will of the majority under the republic. You could argue that a democracy (by definition) would have trended this way also, but how can we prove it, and at what rate would it have happened?

z6joker9 wrote:

Now back to the OP. When it comes to Presidential elections, Jersey is solidly Democrat. That's why I don't feel like I'm throwing my vote away voting Libertarian since '96, and I always have the hope that we can finally break through and elect a Libertarian on the local level.

When I finally switch my residency to NC, I may have to rethink how I vote in Presidential elections, as in that state, my vote may be as important as yours seems to be in Florida.

dpnewell wrote:

Now back to the OP. When it comes to Presidential elections, Jersey is solidly Democrat. That's why I don't feel like I'm throwing my vote away voting Libertarian since '96, and I always have the hope that we can finally break through and elect a Libertarian on the local level.

When I finally switch my residency to NC, I may have to rethink how I vote in Presidential elections, as in that state, my vote may be as important as yours seems to be in Florida.

dpnewell wrote:

Our current system sucks, however, the alternative is election by the audience of the Oprah and Jerry Springer shows. Thanks, I stick with the Constitution.

Gene363 wrote: