The GOP Speaks-Sort Of
The Tennessee Republican Party, through its National Committeeman John Ryder, seems to be taking a position on the so-called "National Popular Vote:"Some of Ryder's arguments were similar to our own, and in many other ways, John Ryder put a unique spin on why the electoral college is important. What was most telling, however, was not John Ryder's article in the Times, but the fact that yesterday the Tennessee Republican Party felt the need to disseminate that article to via e-mail to its list of press, supporters, and other such interested persons. In choosing to do so, the Tennessee GOP engaged in a kind of tacit endorsement of the Ryder position (which, per Thursday and Monday's columns, is also the Oatney position), and that is important because the party acknowledged, however faintly, the threat to Tennessee's political influence within the Union that is posed by this subversive political movement, one whose supporters are thus far being anything but forward and direct about their ultimate goal, to abolish the federal Electoral College in everything but name.
Labels: Conservatism, Federal politics, Local politics, Presidential Election, Republican Party
Check On the Majority
The effort by a certain group to do away with the Electoral College by a stealth "National Popular Vote" system would do away with a critical check on majority power:There is obviously a clear attempt-and one that is being paid for-to get the populous to accept what is, in reality, a major constitutional change by stealth. It sounds good to most people, doesn't it? After all, shouldn't the candidate who gets the most votes for Presidnet win? Isn't that how it is supposed to work in a democracy? Perhaps it might be, except that the United States of America is not, and was never intended to be, a democracy. We do not pledge allegiance to the "democracy for which it stands," nor do we have any patriotic song called the "Battle Hymn of the Democracy." Oh, Oatney, aren't you just playing with semantics, you may say, aren't a republic and a democracy the same thing." They are not the same thing-at least not according to our founders-and they placed certain checks within our constitution to try and insure that we would not descend into a democracy.
The winner in the Electoral College does win the popular vote most of the time, but it is presently possible for certain States to align together to insure that their candidate is chosen-there is presently a way to put a check on the "tyranny of the majority" if need be, so that rural America has a united voice if they vote as a block. If the National Popular Vote scheme is adopted, that check-and-balance within our system as it presently exists would disappear.
Giving way to popular sentiment is usually a good thing, but in a "complex republic" of the kind that the Founding Fathers created, there must be a way to check the will of the majority within the machinations of government-the Electoral College is that way as we have it today. National Popular Vote would permantly undermind this key protection of minority power and rural America.
Labels: Conservatism, Federal politics, Local politics, News Media, Political correctness, Tennessee politics
Indiana Example
If there was some concern about conflict with the federal government if Tennessee defunds Planned Parenthood, why can't we follow Indiana?:
Are we afraid of federal threats? The State of Indiana is clearly not, as it is prepared to fight the federal government in court in order to de-fund the world's largest abortion provider. Indianapolis has said that it will openly act in defiance of the Obama Administration and enforce the law that it has passed and that Indiana's Republican Governor Mitch Daniels has signed. If conflict with the federal government is the prime concern over the Campfield amendment, that issue won't go away either this year or next, and Indiana is showing the nation that they are ready to take on the challenge. If Governor Haslam uses the line-item veto to negate the altering language and thereby enforce the Campfield amendment, Tennessee will enter the fray immediately. If Republican leaders do not push for a line-item veto now, but then do as promised and pass the de-funding law in full as part of next year's session, the spat with Washington will only be delayed, but will almost certainly come-and in a Presidential election year. We should not be afraid to fight the federal power when Tennessee is fighting for what we know to be right. If the General Assembly intends to defund Planned Parenthood, why delay the inevitable?
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Labels: Aborticide, Conservatism, Elections, News Media, Political correctness, Republican Party, Tennessee politics
A Death Blow to States' Rights?
The group "National Popular Vote" wants to undermine States' rights and federalism in our country:The electoral college is not designed to reflect the national popular vote, but the will of the people within each respective State. The institution is to be found in the federal Constitution, and it does predate the period in which a popular vote was held for the presidency. Since the 1820's, the votes in the electoral college have largely reflected the composition of the popular vote within a particular State, and most States now have laws requiring that their electors cast their votes for the plurality popular winner within their State, or in Nebraska and Maine, within each congressional district, and in most cases when voters cast a vote for President, they are voting for that candidate's slate of electoral college electors.
The electoral college is one of our country's last real vestiges of active and functioning constitutional federalism, the kind of federalism that respects States' rights and local control over national power and Washington influence. Because of this, no respectable conservative who truly believes in federalism would likely consider its effective abolition.
Labels: Conservatism, Elections, Federal politics, Local politics, Miscellany, News Media, Political correctness, Presidential Election, Tennessee politics
The Live Horse
According to one source in the Legislature, we aren't just beating a dead horse:According to a legislator who contacted The Examiner yesterday on the condition of anonymity, many members of the Tennessee General Assembly have expressed extreme concern over allegations that the wording of amendments to the forthcoming Tennessee budget were altered without their knowledge. "Many members have let leadership know of their anger over this situation," our source said "and some were threatening to demand answers in a more public way, and nearly all who were angry demanded to know who was responsible for making the changes after the wording which would have negated Campfield's amendment was initially removed and then mysteriously re-inserted." Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) sponsored an amendment to the State budget which passed both Houses that was intended to deny Planned Parenthood, the world's largest practitioner of abortion, State funding in the coming fiscal year.
Labels: Aborticide, Conservatism, Local politics, News Media, Political correctness, Republican Party, Tennessee politics
