Rambo: Has anybody ever done a close study of who the electors of the electoral college are? They’re the only group of people mentioned in the constitution whose qualifications to be such were never spelled out. Why? It is amazing that the average Joe thinks he/she actually “votes for president.” What an illusion.
If you try to bring up the subject of the electors in the media, the subject is quickly changed and you are shut down. They are the only group of people that are NEVER to be talked about publicly, the true rulers of the US, exclusively choosing the President of the US.
I’d love to see an in-depth expose of these secretive people, but it will never happen. I did look up “electors by state” years ago, and got 2,016 names. Most of the people we’ve never heard of (which is the just the way it’s supposed to be). The whole point is, stop thinking you “vote” for president. You don’t.
I understand your concern, comrade*, but I’m afraid that they might not be quite as important as you think or worry. Really they end up being pretty mundane. They are obviously very powerful, but they end up being as predictable as the seasons.
These are just party regulars of one of the two political parties. If Democrats win a state, they send a slate of electors to Congress made up of party stalwarts and political animals who are very active and loyal in that state’s Democratic Party. If Republicans win, vice versa.
Though theoretically they could vote for anyone they wanted to, since they are hardcore party veterans and loyalists often working in paid positions in that state’s party, they almost never or never vote for the other party.
So if the Democrats win a state, they send a slate of Democratic electors from that state. Theoretically any one of them could vote Republican, but they never do or at least I’ve never heard of a case. Vice versa for Republicans.
Honestly, I don’t think they’re all that important except when the Republicans tried to send those fake slates in the last election. Now they were getting serious about this elector stuff.
*I’m a Leftie, so I like to use this word with my ideological fellows. Of course communists use that word, but socialists do too. I went to the website of the Socialist International, a grouping of mostly social democratic parties around the world and in their forums, they were calling each other comrade too. Their anthem is also The Internationale, just like the communists. It’s such a great song!
Also I sort of use it to piss off my enemies because if they see me calling commenters comrades, and you just know they’re going to go right through the roof.
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Appreciate the feedback, but it doesn’t answer my question.
Why are the electors the only group of people mentioned in the Constitution whose qualifications to be such were never defined by the framers? House of Representatives? 25 years old. Senators? 35 years old.
Yes, it is true that at the time of the writing of the Constitution the founders did not foresee the rise of political parties (Washington is still the only President who did not belong to any political party), but when you think about it, the electors were really supposed to be a group of elitists, i.e., a check against mob rule (the popular vote).
Only those that “really” know what’s going on in the world should choose the president, not the “average Joe”, who, if you give them a six pack of beer, a TV set, and a union card are good for the night.
*Oh yeah. They’ll panic at the word “comrade.”
How dare that Lindsay use that word! He’s talking like Lenin! 😄