Re: The Trouble With The Electoral College - Cities, Metro Areas, Elections and The United States

I thought you would appreciate this. <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2016/11/maine_just_passed_ranked_choice_voting_bravo.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2016/11/maine_just_passed_ranked_choice_voting_bravo.html</a>

Eric Hula

You are one of my favourite content producers on youtube as is, and I'm always sad that you're not as prolific as many of my second-favourites. I've always gladly supported them on patreon and I'm thrilled for the opportunity to support you. I've always worked for tips (fine arts busking or American service industry) so the economic logic of "you provided a thing I like so I threw money in your jar" (while there are many arguments about it in the grand scheme) is extremely natural to me. Solid choice. Keep sharing your thoughts, I like how you communicate them in both content and entertainment value. I'll keep tipping.

TC Safavi

Just switched myself **up** from 1 video max per month thanks to this video.

DJ Brasier

Great video as always and it gets my money :)

enchantedsleeper

Not a fan of this one. I find it actually less than helpful to point out flaws in a system without offering solutions. Clearly, you need to offer two. Although the popular vote is simple (majority wins). To support State power, however, you need to offer the best of the alternatives. Maybe in the third video on the topic.

Ian MacLean

Worth paying for. Once again you've found a topic where there's a lot of confusion and explained it extremely well.

Brian Michalowski

Very happy to pay for this indeed. It's an excellent addition to the previous on this topic. I've been watching your vids for years and only recently found out about becoming a patron. I admire your ability to break down complicated issues in a didactically elegant and entertaining way. I've been sharing your vids in an effort to educate others and the response was wonderful and positive. Thank you for your dedication and your wonderful work! Looking forward to watching and paying for many more to come! On a general note (and I am not sure if this was intentional): your speaking speed is comparably slow in this one (and I think it's a good move). While I have no issue following your fast ones either, I know that combined with text/graphs/images appearing while you're talking at a higher speed can be overwhelming for some.

CanIcallYouKate

I'd be a bit annoyed to pay for the 21-second "[UPDATED VERSION!] The Trouble With The Electoral College", but "Re: The Trouble With The Electoral College – Cities, Metro Areas and The United States" is a legit video and worth paying for.

Kyle Cronin

I would be in favor of charging for it. It feel like a full video.

Jesso Ossej

I think you should charge for it! Interesting and informative!

Bjorn

Charge for it : this is definitely worth it (…as usual)

Sam Rossetti

If it was an under one minute correction I'd have some qualms, but this is a nearly 5 minute video. I think you should charge for it. We have ways of limiting our spend rate on you if we so choose. But thanks for asking.

Ken Blackman

No problems paying for it. Thanks for checking and thanks for posting!

Crescentia

Thanks for the preview. I'd like to pay CGPGrey another dollar, because his videos are so informative and logical. If he includes the Patreon "extra bill" notice / withdraw payment in the video or doobly doo, as well, then I think he will have all the bases covered. The video does deserve a follow-up, but I think it deserves a fourth video even more, to encourage the discussion of better alternatives to the electoral college. CONTENT: That graph showing the 50% of population in a small number of counties was great. Also, the distinction between cities and city limits was worth mentioning. He mentioned this as a reply vlog, but honestly, if it was released later, with more content, I think his viewers would be more satisfied. The US election (at least, the November one) and the reaction is mostly over, so there are few time-sensitive reasons to post the video ASAP. Can CGPGrey keep in the original music from the first three videos? It was great! Consider the other side (devil's advocate): -You discussed population distribution and where candidates visit, but I am more worried about budgetary spending. -Mentioning why democratic electoral systems using direct majority could hurt rural areas (I think this is one reason why the electoral college was originally made) Example: Imagine 5 counties by percent of population. These counties form a local government. County A: 49% city County B: 20% suburban County B: 15% suburban County C: 6% rural County D: 5% rural County E: 5% rural County A, B, and C have a strong majority. Depending on the branch of government and the office, if these three counties work together, and ignore the other counties, then the unfairness to the minorities is still possible. Let me give an example. If the local government spends 84% of its operational budget on these three counties, then everything's fair, right? However, if a department in its executive branch spends 100% of its budget, its choice of office locations, or its work to specifically benefit only its constituents, and the issues related to 84% of the population, this is unfair. For one day, this type of misallocation is immaterial, but over decades, these practices can lead to unfairly neglected, regionally-based minorities. Throughout history, there has been suffering and rebellions by unfairly neglected, regionally-based groups. Sure, a smaller population doesn't need as much funds, but they still deserve their 16% of the pot. Positive spin (musice helps with this, too!): Unfairness to a particular group is inevitable in a democracy, but what's the most fair voting system? CPGGrey could consider offering a fourth video proposing an alternative system that can still protect minorities from majorities, while giving the majority the power they deserve. Consider proposing better solutions, like: -study what Nebraska and Maine do, instead of winner-takes-all, rather than just mention it (if everyone does it, this way, he could argue why it would be a better system) -forward link to his single transferable vote / alternative voting videos at the end of this video

Zephram Harrison

Yep, this is good stuff. And I agree, we need to have an adult conversation about how our system works, and (cautiously) replace it with something that produces results more reflective of the range of the public's views.

Andrew Berg

Great stuff worth paying for, please keep it coming!

Andreas Junghanns

Go ahead. Good stuff

Julian Arce

I don't mind paying. I would like to get rid of first past the post voting in the US, which would allay significant fears about election results. The US from the beginning has tried to balance big vs small states interests, and avoid the tyranny of the majority. Although we have strayed from the founding, the individual states were supposed to be the primary power holders, not the national government (hence 10th amendment). The Constitution is deliberately difficult to change, and if we get rid of the electoral college we must be careful about what we put in its place, and what unintended consequences could arise. Strict popular vote is not a good idea in my opinion, because of the very valid "2 wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner" argument against pure Democracy.

Ben Wagner

charrrrrrrge

André Videla

Go ahead with charge for this as well. Making corrections and expanding the argument you made in the original video doesn't somehow make this video "invalid." This is also very timely and I have always enjoyed the few videos that you have made that had a quick enough production cycle to be about current events.

Russell Dunk

I don't think it's a coincidence the number of electoral college voters is the same as the number of congressmen and senators... 200 years ago getting to Washington was a long painful process, and each state already had a few representatives there. Just let them vote! It'd be awkward to not let all of them vote, so we'll give each state C +S votes. Sure we'll leave up to the states to maybe pick the same number of electors some other way, but especially for far away states this will work great.

Adam Berkan

I enjoyed this video as I've enjoyed all your election videos. They are informative and well constructed. One thing I differ on is the intention of the electoral college. It has plenty of problems, but its main flaw you point out, that it can override the popular vote, is exactly the point. I'm not saying that's a good thing, necessarily, but it fits with the overall theme of checks and balances within the government. Everything can be overridden. The House can refuse to pass the Senate's bills and vice versa, the President can veto, the Congress can override the veto, the Supreme Court can strike down laws even when they're passed (okay, this isn't in the Constitution, but I'm counting it anyway.) Everything is designed to prevent power from concentrating or running amok, including the citizenry as a whole, which is essentially treated as another branch of government which much has a check against its power. You make strong arguments about the disadvantages of having the electoral college, but you should present a more honest defense of why it was created in the first place. All that being said, I enjoy and admire your work.

Joshua Schneider

Grey, we love your videos! The more the merrier! When I watch a new one, i can't wait for the next! I'll be happy to pay twice this month, and next month, and on on on..! Honestly, i think my limit would be around 4 (per month) for what i pay now. But if you would make more, i'd be happy to at least pay the ad block absolution for every video plus what i do now (limited to 4 a month)! Keep on making them, I hope that patreon keeps enabling you to keep creating! And btw, i have great respect for how honest you've been about your mistakes in your past videos. I can't say i see them all as mistakes, but i love that you reflect and share your findings with your community. It supports self awareness, something the world desperately needs right now.

laurens nieuwendijk

Charge it. You're not going to saturate the market for your videos any time soon.

Heretofore

I say charge. I will admit that if it becomes more frequent/more "vloggy" I'd probably drop down a level, but I still think this is worth charging for.

Jeb Rach

I'm ok with changing for this video.

Ralph van den Heuvel

I am good with paying for this one but I am at a lower tier as well

Jeffrey J Johnson

I am never going to have problems paying up for a video you put up as we need more intelligent discussion in the world, now more than ever. That said, I think you are going to have a hard sell getting any real intelligent conversation about the electoral colleges right now since it is very hard for people to currently see past it as currently the deciding factor of a very divisive US election.

PastUtopia

another thought - i do not remember what the argument was from your 2011 video. you dive right into the details of why you were wrong about using something something........maybe a refresher or a little more context before getting into the details. the argument isn't fresh in our minds. the 2nd half of that video is excellent.

Jesse Tomlinson

I'm not ruling out that you should not charge for re: videos... But not this one in particular. But I'm not upset about being charged for this one, as it still had meat on the bones if that makes sense. It was a good enough informative video, but not the kind of content exactly that made me become a patron. Thanks for asking!

Todd Forsyth

Charge - this is a good video that I will share all over place like i normally do.

Jesse Tomlinson

First, I read somewhere that some of the states electoral voters a sworn to follow the will of their states popular vote. Is this an honorary sort of promise or a legally binding one? Second, I appreciate that you put out these kinds of videos. Your occasional social commentary reaches a sizable crowd and I personally think I benefit from hearing different perspectives so I'm glad to have a robot to listen to ;) for real though, this stuff is good...

Phil Agosti

Charge it.

David Eilers

I pay per video, and if that means more videos it's worth every penny. I just saw your 22-sec re-edit. PLEASE charge for it. It was a 22 -second distraction from beating my head against the desk.

Kristy

I kind of agree -- I was also confused. Perhaps a re-edit combining both videos so that it would be more clear?

Kristy

I am a conservative, so i kinda benefited from the election I guess(?) though I didn't vote for Trump. I don't really object to the electoral college either (or Pennies for that matter, they are perfectly fine). But it doens't matter, I support you and your work and love your videos--even when I disagree with them. So charge away!

Bob Kunz

I pay per video. No problem. Still averaging about one per month for the calendar year, so it all comes out in the wash. Two this month, none in some others. I am interested in more CGP Grey videos. If they start stacking up (a good thing), I might consider going to a per month pledge of the same net amount, just to even it out for my billing.

Tom Boland

Do it. I even promise that I won't get used to you churning out videos on current events in 3 days' time.

Charles Yocum

Agree with others that yes, go ahead and charge, although I have not been able to get it to play (likely due to my own lack of technical knowledge). Am very interested in watching this, esp. after that most disappointing election.

Travis Neely

I'm ok with charging for this one. I need to go back and rewatch the original.

Eric Hula

Yeah, it's fine to pay for this! It's enough of a thing in its own right. ^_^

Moti Lieberman

I thought it was very good and am happy to pay for it. You might not want to start the video with a discussion of why you were wrong to use city v metro areas in a previous video. Some might think this whole video is a mere correction and skip it, when it does have interesting new thoughts. I just have an unfleshed out thought about the electoral college. Does it work as a balance between electing a president from the people and from the states by weighting rural states slightly higher than they would otherwise be.

Preston

I normally like your videos for their clarity, but to be honest, this one confused me. I think the problem is that I don't understand the argument you are pushing back against. Is it that people who like the electoral college think it protects a rural minority against an urban majority, or is it that the president should win a majority of states, because...that would be good, somehow? Because I don't understand the arguments you are countering, I think I'm not really following the points you are making. I understand the bit at the end, about how the electoral college is dangerous because the electors can just ignore the votes and do whatever they want, but it seems very tangential to the first half of the video. As for the charging thing, I don't mind.

Ben Wilcox

Given the quality of your videos, even the most inconsequential or unusual one feels like Christmas morning. Charge away.

David W (d20dave) (d_dave)

I've spent too many years watching your vids and not paying a cent, with adblock on (SHAME!!), so this vid is actually the one that motivated me to join Patreon to support. I definitely support the payment on this vid! :)

Andrew Ols

I support this video and payment thereof.

TPRJones

CGP Grey, as many people here I'm completely ok with multiple videos per month as long as you keep with the quality that makes you stand above the rest.

Oscar

I am very happy to pay for this, as someone who covers up to 2 videos per month. It adds new information AND is topical. This is the exactly the sort of content I want to support!

Linden Hilson

I watched it, I learned something; charge away.

Please, pretty please, upload this. This needs to be heard by as many people as possible. I am happy to pay for more videos from you. I just changed my setting to allow 2 videos a month. Let me know if it needs to be more.

Roy Eltham

Happy to pay, your content is always awesome. Fwiw, I'd agree with at least one other commenter to move the "correction" to the end, as an "addendum" rather than lead with it, but then again I don't create videos and you do :)

and you speeled strange wrong in the first sentence.

K-Wings

Happy to pay for this video.

Abstract Aardvark

I don't have a problem with two videos. Feel free to charge me twice. It is an important update/discussion.

K-Wings

I'll pay for it.

Joshua Kristoff

Happy to pay for this.

James Dressel

Happy to pay for this.

Stephane Bura

I think it's fair to charge for this even though it contains a correction on a previous video. Someone was shocked when I similarly told them Electoral College members are not bound to vote for their states' choices (for the most part). Theoretically, Hillary could still win, even if such a thing has never happened in American history. But I feel like it could be clearer why metro areas should've been included in the 1st place.

Scott Jack

I don't have any problem supporting a 2nd video this month, or any month for that matter. Every video you make is great and I m happy to support as many video as you make.

Jean Gachet

All good Grey Upload with my blessing!

Andrew Brooks

Excellent. I really admire your ability to be rational and collected in these troubled times. I know I had some trouble these past couple of days. I would be happy to pay for this episode. I know I got a LOT of mileage out of your voting videos explaining to people why First Past the Post voting is terrible (re: voting for third parties, avoiding voting, etc), so I would love to have another well reasoned argument for shelving the electoral college that I can send to people to help educate them.

pm

Charge me all you like. I pledged to pay per video and so I will.

Cas Eliëns

I think this is good, although it might need more of a 'punch' at the start. Some people might stop watching part way through and miss the "bottle of poison" image, which is probably the more important point in this video.

LonMcGregor

'Please vote for orange' is a little too on the nose.

Christian Norton

Im curious what you think is so strange about this video. Is it the posture of advocacy, or how topical it is? Either way, I think this type of video is great. So long as you remain nonpartisan and conceptual, I think it keeps with your "neutral authority" voice. I also don't expect the value of this kind of video to be perceived as any less than a "main video." While it is topical, I think it will still have continued relevance.

Travis Turk

I am perfectly fine paying for this. The content is on par with what I have come to expect from your work, it is very relevant, and raises awareness about the unfairness of the EC. Take my $7 without any guilt.

Richard Lower

I think it's great and very much in line with the style and tone of your other videos. I'd like to hear more about why you think this is different than the rest of your catalog. Yes, it's a response/correction/update, but it still has great info and is well presented. I'd happily pay for this and many more. It could stand to have a little more info to remind us and bring us up to speed on the original video, but it's a solid informational essay video.

Mike Kirsch

While I personally mostly understand the electoral college and the reason it was created when our country was founded this would do a good job to help others at least begin to understand the process. I became a patron because you publish videos like this that help inform people that might not understand things. Charge as you see fit I have no objection to charging for this video.

Nick McKiel

You say that the Electoral College has never taken away the people's vote, but it might be worth doing a follow-up or clarification on the 1824 election, where Andrew Jackson got the *most* votes, but because he didn't get a *majority*, the decision was passed down to Congress, who chose John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson. Arguably, that is a process by which the will of the people AND the electors could get overruled, and the decision is left to a smaller, more isolated minority.

Jawes

Also, no worries on charging for the video. It's worth it.

Nitron F117

I have my cap set to 2 payments per month, for just such an occasion as this.

John March

While I was able to follow the reasons behind saying you should have used metro areas rather than city limits, this is only because I had an argument recently where this distinction came up. Some additional info pointing out how the outcome is ultimately the same might be helpful.

Nitron F117

Happy to pay

Sup3rW00t

Great video, I'm happy to pay. Go for it!

Jan-Frederik Schulte

The beginning part about the metro areas is a bit difficult to parse, but otherwise I think the video has some good information in it. Ultimately, I am happy to support this.

Max Petretta

I want this thing posted as soon as possible so that I can spread it as far and wide as I possibly can

William Gamble

Willing to pay.

Jordyn Bonds

My monthly limit is set higher than 1 video, and that's a deliberate choice.

Martin Schoenmakers

I feel like perhaps the introduction could have been expanded by just a few seconds by saying something like "In my Trouble with the Electoral College video from 2011, which if you haven't seen yet, you should click here to go watch that now, I was wrong to use the city limits [...]" and helping those who might not have seen the original not get lost immediately. And in "it also doesn't address the concerns this map express," express should be "expresses" I think.

Jacobi Carter

Charge me!

Martin Gannon

He's not leaving it behind the paywall, its just the preview behind the paywall now. He was asking whether when he posts it on youtube publicly if he should charge.

Robert Williamson

More content is better! Albeit it only costs me a few dollars a piece. Ditto on what Jackson said, though. The first bit wasn't super clear.

Isaac Good

Charge me!

Nick Vance

The reason that I'm a patron is that your content is considered and thorough. This content hits those criteria.

DudeInTheNight

Electors are chosen by the parties, I believe. The popular vote in each State tells that State's electors how they should vote in December. When you cast a vote for a candidate, you are actually casting a vote for an elector that has promised to vote for the person whose name you checked off. In some States I believe the elector's names are actually on the ballot, but don't quote me on that. The original purpose of the electors was to prevent large majorities in any given state form having too much influence and pretty much making the smaller States irrelevant. So, even if a huge number of people vote a certain way in a State, it only has so much influence on the total vote count.

Stephen Williams

+1. Still, interesting to watch.

Ben D

Happy to pay for more content!

Christophe Bogaert

I would absolutely be comfortable paying for this content. It's a cogent piece of work that I can share with those who are misinformed, and that alone makes it worth it in my eyes. Further, I don't want to ever give any sort of impression that any piece of content you produce is inherently more "valuable" than any other. I support you because I want you to be free to continue to express yourself, in whatever form it may take. Be it a 1 hour long explanation of a complex situation, or a 2 minute 'let me clarify this one point' video. "Is this worthy of being a post people will pay for?" isn't a question I'd ever want you to have to ask. For me, the answer will always be Yes.

I think that as is, its a tad short, but it does make me feel better about the outcome and it does provide more valuable insight into this thing that nobody understands, so i think it would be fine if you charged for it, or at least, im ok with it.

JustAFreud

I also have a comment after thinking about the problem and how to fix it. How do you convince the people who have the ability to change the system to change it when the existing system is what got them into power in the first place? They have zero reason to desire a change.

Christopher N Harrington

I'm happy to make another payment for the month.

Kimberly Plouffe

Also, I agree that there's a weird line to walk between getting paid for valuable services (eg your videos) vs engaging the public. It seems like it would be fair to make all 'fix the world' videos as free and all 'this is entertaining and edifying but not meant to drive important social and political discourse' videos as paid.

Stephen Tures

I think the video is great follow up to your past videos and current events. The begining I seemed like you just wanted to make corrections to previous videos and I was uncertain where this was headed but by the end you had a very clear message.

Graham Koch

You've been making longer videos lately that took you lots of time to put together, so I think it's totally fine to mix in some shorter ones that are less onerous to make!

Jayden Newstead

I don't mind paying for this video, but I'm on the lowest tier. Higher-tiered people might feel cheated.

Arara

Thank you CGP Grey, your voice of reason is always appreciated, especially in such troubling times. Please take my bitcoin. Agree with others that the metro-area disclaimer seems unrelated to the electoral college argument. That part could be cut, and replaced with a click-through to a written blog post or something like that.

Craig Bonsignore

I support this video and payment thereof.

Christopher N Harrington

The lack of music in this video gives it an almost unsettling tone. As for your charging-for-the-video reasoning, I'm fine with it.

Niek van de Pas

TBH, I don't even recall whether I paid for >1 video a month or not (at least without checking). Apparently I did?

Stephen Tures

The entire intro relating to another video could (and should) go to a separate video (a CGPGrey featurette?) because it does very little to inform the rest of the video. Furthermore, it gets the viewer thinking and contemplating something else while you continue with the content proper.

Vedran Aberle Tokić

I understand your reasoning, but i would really like to be able to share this video, but that is ineffective behind a paywall. It is a big problem currently that people dont understand the electoral college. So the issue is essentially information bias, the people that already agree with you will pay for the video, but that people that actually need to see this never will.

FauCast.Com

Thumbs up for charging. If people don't want an extra charge, Patreon already provides a means of preventing it.

Elliot Shank

This seems like a legit thing to charge for, it's not a main video but it still informative and exposes viewers to ideas .

Adrian Garcia

I'd be happy supporting it! Topics related to close events in time are really appreciated.

Alejandro

Charge away. And have fun with the comments. ;)

Dominik Hertel

As a non-american, I still don't get the Elector thing. When someone casts a vote in the november ballot, they write in their presidential candidate, AFAIK, then Grey says @3:18 that the electoral college votes are actually select, non-elected, individuals. So the vote in november is more like a "poll" to "inform" their state electors that they should vote on A or B? And the colllege vote counts we are seeing are actually simulations what the College results wold be if no elector misrepresents their state decision (which IFAIK never happened and is a behavior some states punish)? So how are the electors chosen? By the boards of the parties? I wish these points were made clearer somewhere. Especially because it looks like the most nebulous aprt of the whole thing and in every explanatory content regarding the electoral coolege, The elector part is the most hand-waving part of the thing. One saying in public office administrative circles around here is that a public-interest process should be fair and *seem* fair. Argue whatever you want about whether the electoral college is or isn't fair. You can't argue whether it *seems* fair or not. It doesn't.

Elton Carvalho

Not your best video. Not for the video but for clarity of message in it. You seem to be explaining and excusing yourself much more than usual and that muddies the water a bit.

Vedran Aberle Tokić

A monthly cycle was not good for my mental health.

CGP Grey

I think you are okay to charge. The video is timely and topical, plus Patreon gives us tools to cap our "patronage." I think the video is much more interesting for the fact that you are wading into the waters of advocacy.

Christopher Chase

It isn't behind a paywall. It will be on youtube. It is just whether or not he charges his patreon people for it.

Jerome Gill

I liked the video and I think this is an important inclusion in your series on the electoral college. I also see your point about potentially making people upset, but I think that anyone that has pledged money to you is more than happy to pay for anything that you deem worthy of payment. We trust your judgement.

Zach Whittle

I think its a worthwhile video. The system is confusing and i always enjoy more clarification on it. I'm fine with paying for more content if you stay at the quality level you have been and are with this video.

Denisis

I'll be in favor of paying to encourage more content!

Phillip LeBlanc

It's a good video. I think you lay out pretty well why the EC isn't doing anyone any favors. I think it's worth charging for.

Jonathan Cahill

This is great. I wish it were possible. The Republicans are the only party who have benefited from this and they're not going to change that. Heck, after Trump, no matter what happens Republicans won't have won the White House from Democrats in 36 years with the popular vote.

Patrick Johnson

I agree. The electoral college process sucks. There are so many better ways.

Tony

I'd pay for this. Charge away!

Peggy Youell

I'm sure most people would be okay with being a video that you charge. It's interesting enough to me to classify it as a whole video.

Tiago Skora

No problem supporting this video.

Steve Stark

I happily pay for whatever content you produce, what you do with this video won't change that.But... on a video that is, honestly, one of the most important videos that can be written - informing people about the political process and calling for it to be changed... making it paid feels like the wrong thing to do. It should be spread as far and wide as possible. This isn't describing the benefits of self driving cars, nor is it looking at the philosophical problems with instant teleportation chambers

Megan Walker

I happily pay for whatever content you produce, what you do with this video won't change that. But... on a video that is, honestly, one of the most important videos that can be written - informing people about the political process and calling for it to be changed to fix a massive problem... making it paid feels like the wrong thing to do. It should be spread as far and wide as possible. This isn't describing the benefits of self driving cars, nor is it looking at the philosophical problems with instant teleportation chambers. It's instead dealing with a single issue whose effects impact every US person (and, given the placement of the US on the world stage at the moment, a lot of other people as well). If any video needed to be free, it's this one.

Megan Walker

I'm with @Jerome Gill I'm happy to pay for anything Grey feels he needs to put out.

Jacob

Yeah, unless you're seeing this directly after the other video you reference, the whole city-proper vs. metro area is just a distraction.

The Robot Engineer

I'd pay for it. But I have the same problem like John Jackson.

Simon Seber

Were your "bitterest pill" something that happened capriciously and regularly, that would be one thing. But it doesn't (and AFAIK) hasn't yet. It's thus hard to evaluate the core argument here, as the video doesn't consider the failsafe-against-demagogues-and-tyrants motivations behind the EC, e.g. Hamilton wanting to ensure that "the office of president will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications". I agree that the EC is buggy WRT urban/rural demographics, but I'm not convinced we don't still need it. These days, I've been thinking that the better solution is the NPVIC (nationalpopularvote.com) + the EC, with electors who are willing to fulfill that failsafe duty in an emergency.

jason black

I'd like some commentary on *how* we actually could get rid of it. I don't see a single path towards it. It would require changing the constitution. Senators from small states, and republicans in general (rural voters)will not support it. The recent election of a republican losing the popular vote case-in-point.

Kyle Litwin

I like it and I feel like there is enough content and length to be worthy of "1 payment" even if it is a second video in the month. I vote publish. :-)

Don Rude

Is the dilemma purely about whether to charge for the video? If so, maybe you should be on a monthly patreon cycle rather than per-video. I don't like the creators I support having any anxiety about "overcharging" us patrons, since we have granular control over that via pledge limits AND because imo the whole point of this platform is to let us remove financial anxieties from the creators we enjoy, not produce new ones!

Aaron

Great video. Great content. I'll be more than happy to pay for a grayvlog

Geoffrey Hilt

Great video. I understand where you're coming from Re: "this could be interpreted as a reaction to the result" but still - I think it's worth publishing.

Jo Weiser

I can't wait to throw this at my crazy family members to shut them down about how great they think the electoral college is

Josh

Yeah I agree having not watched the 1st video recently I had no idea what he was going on about.

Andrew Nieuwkoop

At the end of the day, you should feel encouraged to make corrections. Also, rules for rulers was clearly a huge chunk of work for you. The occasional shorter and longer video all balance out.

Jerome Gill

I'm happy to pay for your work, as I think it benefits this planet. Please charge for this video.

Austin Spafford

I would be happy to pay for this as content, and think it not only encourages you to make more topical videos (sorry, pressure, etc.) but it is something I think I could use later on when explaining the topic to someone. To me, that is one of the reasons I pay for your content - because I would pay for educational tools etc. I think people who are unhappy because of political views could choose to not pay for it. Perhaps when you send this out, you should have a caveat for that? That it is possible to remove for this specific video without removing their patronage from you in general. Gotta keep trying for the Shard, after all!

Allison Zionts

I think the arguments you are making are going to be a very long row to hoe. But I also think you should make that effort.

Scanner Luce

So... discussion time then? Should the executive office be won via popular vote? Should we keep the electoral college (without the electors) and change it to a proportional award system (e.g. lion gets 60% of 10 EC votes in their state so lion gets 6 rather than all 10)?

Andrew Nichols

I feel like you can't just drop the info about the "real election" without at least pointing to some more links for info or ideally going into it in more depth yourself. I do like this video though for the most part.

A Scruff McGruffin

I think charging for this video would be fine

Eric Dang

Yeah I loved everything, except I didn't know what you were saying about the metro.

Alexander JB

I'll pay for however many videos you want to put out in a month.

Kieran Hunt

Great video, like always.

Brian Clark

I'm a little lost on the beginning about Metro area part. Not sure it matters all that much.

John Jackson

Personally, I'm happy to pay for any content you feel the need put out.

Jerome Gill

Awesomeness thanks for the vid!!! I love to content

Cesar E. Lopez El ll