MINORITY RULES by T. Edwin Perry
On July 29, 2010, I addressed the recent legislation changing the way that the Electoral Votes of six States would be applied in the upcoming Presidential Election by giving them to the winner of the National Popular Vote, and I missed something…SOMETHING IMPORTANT.
The basis for the National Popular Vote argument is the position that everyone should have an equal vote. This concept is generally considered “Democracy;” however, as James Madison described it in Federalist Paper #10, a Democracy is “a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble to administer the government in person.” It requires that EVERY PERSON WITH A VOTE must gather and CAST THEIR VOTE each and every time an issue needs to be decided. To assume that the “One Person One Vote” argument holds any validity whatsoever, we must also assume that, at the very least, a majority of the population will, in fact, cast their votes. Guess what? That doesn’t tend to be the case.
Historically, years that include a Presidential Election generate a significantly higher turnout than “Midterm Election” years, where only Congressional Federal Elections are held. I’ve taken it upon myself to do a little research, with the help of the Pew Center, and Infoplease.com, to establish what percentage of the population shows up to cast their votes. The figures are somewhat shocking.
According to Infoplease.com, a part of the Pearson integrated education company, the percentage of the Voting Age Population to actually cast their vote since 1976 ranges between 36.39% (1998 Midterm Elections) on the low end to a high of 57.35% (2008 Presidential Elections). Midterm Election turnouts tend to be much lower, between 36.39% to 39.79% (1982 Midterm Elections), while Presidential Elections tend to generate a higher turnout between 49.08% (1996) and 57.35%. Perhaps the most disturbing statistic to be taken from this is that only between 61.6% and 79% of the population even bother to register to take advantage of this Right. (Note: Infoplease.com did not have statistics regarding the number of Registered Voters as compared to the total Voting Age Population, nor were any statistics available for the 1972 elections in Louisiana as there were no statewide elections in November of that year.)
The information from the Pew Center was fairly similar, though reflected higher figures for their information for midterm elections from 1982 through 2008, averaging between 40.38% and 44.57% for national turnout by State.
Here’s where things get interesting: according to Infoplease.com, the ten most populated States (California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey & Georgia, in order from highest to lowest) generally reflect the lowest turnouts by percentage of their populations, from 28.49% (Georgia in 1986) to 52.12% (Michigan in 2006), while accounting for the highest number of Electoral College Votes per state. (Oddly enough, Minnesota, which ranks #21 in terms of population, is typically among the highest turnout in midterm elections, typically around 60%.)
So what does all of this mean? Well, first off, it means that we do not have a DEMOCRACY. With upwards of 50% of the Voting Age Public ABSTAINING from the vote, the demographic and political composition of those casting their votes can significantly skew the outcome of any election. (Perhaps we should call this a “Demography” instead.) If a high percentage of voters supporting one side of an issue in the more populated states come out to vote, the votes of the smaller states, regardless of the percentage of voters who cast their ballots, will be pointless. And there is a word for a kind of Government that is controlled by a small percentage of the population, but that word is not “Democracy.” It’s “Oligarchy.”
The purpose of our form of Government is intended to protect the input and representation of the Minority, to guarantee that the interests of the weak are defended against the potential tyranny of the strong. These recent legislations are a theft of the rights of the Individual Voters by their own Representatives in their State Legislatures. They are an outrage of EPIC proportions, and a Tyranny unseen since the days of SLAVERY!
It’s not Democracy. It’s not Justice. And it DAMN SURE isn’t RIGHT!
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