Vox: Abolish Midterm Elections After Trump's Exit

April 23rd, 2018 8:18 PM

Dylan Matthews provides yet more proof why nobody should ever treat Vox as a serious publication. In the past this Vox writer suggested we ditch the U.S. Constitution for a parliamentary system of government, get rid of the U.S. Senate, and opined about how American Independence in 1776 was a "monumental mistake."

In his latest incarnation of bringing down the American system of government, Matthews pretends to moderate his demands by suggesting that after President Donald Trump is removed for office that the Electoral College and midterm elections be abolished. He presents his latest far left fantasy dripping with disdain for America in The myth of an ending: why even removing Trump from office won’t save American democracy:

...This yearning is for something, anything, to end the death loop that American democracy appears to be trapped in, for a big, dramatic blowup to fix the system’s ills. In the liberal imagination, that blowup typically takes the form of Trump’s removal from office, an event that sets us back to a path of normalcy and sane politics.

This yearning is understandable — but it is both dangerous and misplaced. Ending the Trump presidency will not fix, or even substantially ameliorate, most of the problems plaguing the American political system. They were mounting for years before he took office — indeed, they made him possible — and they will continue to plague us for years after he leaves.

What’s more, the desire for a dramatic explosion of the Trump presidency at times seems to blend into a desire for the dramatic blowup of the American political system altogether, a sense that we need some apocalyptic event that will wipe the slate clean and revitalize our democracy in one big revolutionary motion. It’s no accident that the rise of Trump has coincided with fearful but titillated worries about coups d’état, collapses into tyranny, and even a second American civil war or secession. These concerns are partially specific to Trump. But they reflect worries that transcend him too.

Let's hit the pause button here and note that Matthews does not even bother to legally explain WHY Trump should be removed from office. Absolutely no mention of Russia or collusion or obstruction of justice. In case you think Matthews is a Vox outlier in this regard, he also links to a December article by Vox founder Ezra Klein in which no reason for Trump's impeachment is given other than being, in his liberal mind, "unfit" for office.

Now, few people outright argue for revolutionary overthrow of the American system of government. The closest we get to calls for revolution or overthrow are celebrations of the Chinese model of dictatorship from both Chinese and Western admirers who see a nation that, unlike a vetocratic America, can just do things, with the implicit idea being that America could use a turn toward autocracy.

Um, actually you did, Dylan, when you recommended getting rid of the U.S. Constitution. And now the intrepid boy reporter treats us to how we can "just muddle along" in the wake of Trump's removal for office due to unexplained reasons:

What does that look like? An unsatisfying litany of heavy political lifts, most of which will fail, and each of which on its own would only mildly improve matters if adopted. We should abolish the filibuster and Electoral College and eliminate midterm elections by having the House, Senate, and president serve concurrent four-year terms. We should adopt the Fair Representation Act to end gerrymandering and move toward proportional representation. We need a robust right to vote in the Constitution, public financing for elections, and more transparency for corporate and nonprofit political spending.

Yeah, just snap your fingers and the Constitution is instantly amended to abolish the electoral college and eliminate the midterm elections that liberals hate. At this moment Matthews experiences a very brief moment of fleeting reality:

These seem like ambitious reforms, and in all likelihood most of them will fail, leaving us in a perhaps mildly better version of the morass we’re in now.

Gee, you don't say, Dylan? Also in all likelihood to fail will be impeachment and removal of Trump from office just because liberals don't like him.