And as usual, for all y’all you bothered to click through and read my post, you’re welcome!

My weekend is going to be full of some awesome reading, I can tell… vaya con la carnival!

It would make every vote in every state politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). The bill would take effect only when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

The National Popular Vote bill has been approved by 21 legislative chambers (one house in CO, AR, ME, NC, and WA, and two houses in MD, IL, HI, CA, MA, NJ, RI, and VT). It has been enacted into law in Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These states have 50 (19%) of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring this legislation into effect.

To be involved in the National Popular Vote bill effort . . .

You can check the status of the bill in your state at http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/statesactivity.php

If it’s still in play in your state, let your legislator(s) know what you think. If you need help to identify and/or contact your state representatives, senators, and/or governor about National Popular Vote, you can search by your zip code using online sites such as http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home .

Sign up to get email updates – http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/getemailupdates.php

Help get the word out and show your support.

Tell a friend- http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/tellafriend.php

Distribute literature at political, civic, or other meeting, convention, or conference.
Post on discussion groups.
Write letters to editors, OpEds, and/or blog.

Responses to many common misinformed critiques are at http://NationalPopularVote.com/pages/faq.php

Up-to-date information and materials are at http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/explanation.php

see http://www.NationalPopularVote.com

It’s always seemed to me that grassroots anti-intellectualism has its roots in a sort of Nietzschean herd mentality. Every American’s upbringing has heavily stressed the notion of equality, and the meaning of “I’m as good as anyone else” changes a great deal based on how far one applies that ‘good’. Many people internalize that as more than just a moral claim. Perceiving an ability to determine the truth as one of the nobler characteristics, many assume that everyone possesses it in equal amounts. Someone claiming analytical access to a truth which an individual doesn’t perceive is probably fooling himself.

It’s interesting to see what a lot of people think ‘intelligence’ is. Anyone with a bachelors’ in science or engineering has encountered an opinion of the form “wow, I’m not smart enough to do that” lots of times. To many, intelligence is the ability to solve math problems, but it doesn’t extend to anything else. Anything with a practical, everyday element is seen as independent of intelligence, and, unless an argument includes lots of tricksy equations, the man on the street is likely to reject it because it’s too complicated to be true.

Lisa

PS will stumble