My first vote for President meant nothing – I cast my ballot for George W. Bush on a November evening in Amherst, Massachusetts. Despite all the late returns in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and – most infamously – Florida, I knew my vote didn’t really count in a state where the Democratic machine was so strong.
In 2012, that ballot might count even less, thanks to a new law. Massachusetts will throw its Presidential electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the popular vote, assuming enough states agree to do the same. It’s a convoluted law which likely won’t change much in the short term. The long term goal of movements to circumvent the electoral college is to put every state in play – which will be a boon for campaign donors looking to wield influence as campaign spending skyrockets.
But more significant is that the state which led the charge against taxation without representation is now a pushover. Blue suits on Beacon Hill have done what redcoats on Bunker Hill couldn’t: subject the governing decisions of Massachusetts citizens at the whim of others.
If the current Massachusetts legislature had been fighting the Revolutionary War, we might all be speaking… well, never mind, you get the point.
Jim Eltringham 