HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Abolish the Electoral College? A Soho Forum Debate

Views:790
@ReasonVids

Law professors Richard Epstein and Lawrence Lessig go head-to-head.
------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?sub...
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
"The Electoral College is the best means of electing a president compared to any others that might be devised."

When Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016 even though 2.8 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton, everyone from Bill De Blasio, to Michael Moore, to Eric Holder and Bill Maher said that at long last we should abolish the electoral college. Then-California Senator Barbara Boxer introduced a bill to amend the U.S. Constitution to do just that.

A Gallup poll from September of this year showed that 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the electoral college in favor of a national popular vote, although it's an issue that breaks along partisan lines. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans want to keep the electoral college, while 89 percent of Democrats said that we should get rid of it.

Is the electoral college the best system for electing a president? That was the subject of an online Soho Forum debate held on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. Richard Epstein, a law professor at New York University, defended the system against Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard. Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein moderated.

Lessig won the Oxford Style debate by gaining 14.29 percent of the audience's support. Epstein lost 2.04 percent of his pre-debate votes.

Narrated by Nick Gillespie. Edited by Ian Keyser and John Osterhoudt.

Photos: Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons/Flickr; Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons; Rick Wilking/REUTERS/Newscom; Mike Stotts/Splash News/Newscom; Gabriele Holtermann-Gorden/Sipa/Newscom; CD1/Mandatory Credit: Carrie Devorah/WENN/Newscom; Erica Price/Sipa USA/Newscom; Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/Newscom; Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/Newscom; Niklas Halle''N/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press/Newscom

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for How to Stop America's 'Endless Wars'8:50
    How to Stop America's 'Endless Wars'
    ReasonVids
    1039 views
    Thumbnail for Density or Sprawl? How To Solve the Urban Housing Crisis15:04
    Density or Sprawl? How To Solve the Urban Housing Crisis
    ReasonVids
    1038 views
    Thumbnail for The Real Breaking Bad: How the Drug War Creates Collateral Damage6:48
    The Real Breaking Bad: How the Drug War Creates Collateral Damage
    ReasonVids
    1021 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Betsy DeVos Responds to Her Critics5:06
    Stossel: Betsy DeVos Responds to Her Critics
    ReasonVids
    967 views
    Thumbnail for 4 Dumb Things GOP Candidates Have Said About Legal Marijuana3:14
    4 Dumb Things GOP Candidates Have Said About Legal Marijuana
    ReasonVids
    852 views
    Thumbnail for Government Caused Housing Segregation. Do We Need More Government to Fix the Problem?1:37:29
    Government Caused Housing Segregation. Do We Need More Government to Fix the Problem?
    ReasonVids
    817 views
    Thumbnail for Why You Should Clerk at IJ1:07
    Why You Should Clerk at IJ
    IJvids
    851 views
    Thumbnail for Married to a Rag Doll | Grunt Speak Shorts5:36
    Married to a Rag Doll | Grunt Speak Shorts
    Terrence Popp
    659 views
    Thumbnail for Who do you hate '08?0:47
    Who do you hate '08?
    ReasonVids
    958 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: The Fight Against Food Trucks5:30
    Stossel: The Fight Against Food Trucks
    ReasonVids
    912 views
    Thumbnail for Unbelievable! Massive Freedom Rally In Australia! Patriot Uprising!!!2:06
    Unbelievable! Massive Freedom Rally In Australia! Patriot Uprising!!!
    AOU
    1929 views
    Thumbnail for Meet the People Getting Screwed Over By Jerry Brown’s High Speed Rail7:03
    Meet the People Getting Screwed Over By Jerry Brown’s High Speed Rail
    ReasonVids
    924 views
    Thumbnail for Thomas Sowell's Maverick Insights on Race, Economics, and Society9:57
    Thomas Sowell's Maverick Insights on Race, Economics, and Society
    ReasonVids
    938 views
    Thumbnail for Open Borders vs. COVID-19: A Soho Forum Debate1:25:37
    Open Borders vs. COVID-19: A Soho Forum Debate
    ReasonVids
    819 views
    Thumbnail for Will Scammers Notice I'm Using Windows 3.11? | Kitboga19:14
    Will Scammers Notice I'm Using Windows 3.11? | Kitboga
    invidious
    325 views
    Thumbnail for Valentines chair #ireland #valentinesday #chair #woodwork #suganchair #handtools #ash #firewood | Eoin Reardon0:59
    Valentines chair #ireland #valentinesday #chair #woodwork #suganchair #handtools #ash #firewood | Eoin Reardon
    invidious
    108 views
    Thumbnail for 19 year Old Boy Destroyed Super Fighter | HARDEST KNOCKOUT5:35
    19 year Old Boy Destroyed Super Fighter | HARDEST KNOCKOUT
    AOU
    1809 views
    Thumbnail for The Social Media Mob vs. the Novel6:50
    The Social Media Mob vs. the Novel
    ReasonVids
    979 views
    Thumbnail for Even I wouldn't have thought to do this0:20
    Even I wouldn't have thought to do this
    bestofupgoat
    95 views
    Thumbnail for Latin America Needs Free Trade & Drug Legalization: Q&A with WSJ's Mary Anastasia O'Grady6:13
    Latin America Needs Free Trade & Drug Legalization: Q&A with WSJ's Mary Anastasia O'Grady
    ReasonVids
    902 views
    Thumbnail for Sackett v. EPA: How One Couple's Battle Against the Feds Might Protect Your Land7:39
    Sackett v. EPA: How One Couple's Battle Against the Feds Might Protect Your Land
    ReasonVids
    1003 views
    Thumbnail for Will the Spike in Murder and Violence Undermine Criminal Justice Reform?12:04
    Will the Spike in Murder and Violence Undermine Criminal Justice Reform?
    ReasonVids
    966 views
    Thumbnail for Richard Viguerie on the Future of Conservatism7:34
    Richard Viguerie on the Future of Conservatism
    ReasonVids
    806 views
    Thumbnail for Stupid dogs0:14
    Stupid dogs
    bestofupgoat
    352 views
    Thumbnail for Israel Unveils New Defense System To Deflect Accusations Of Human Rights Violations | The Onion2:55
    Israel Unveils New Defense System To Deflect Accusations Of Human Rights Violations | The Onion
    invidious
    365 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle