By now we've all gotten so used to talking about swing states and are so focused on how to affect the vote of independents and swing voters in swing states that there's not much noise being made about the fact that the entire system that produces swing states, ie the electoral college, is ludicrous. I have yet to read a single good justification for keeping this thoroughly undemocratic institution, and yet here we are once again, watching a subset of Americans in 17 different states determine our next President.
I say this now because today, the geographic tyranny of electoral math reached a sort of sublime apogee when Bush and Kerry actually campaigned in the same Iowa city at the same time.
It's almost like a Onion headline. What next? "Bush and Kerry spend entire day with same undecided Ohioan"?
For a limited time:
Donate $20 or more to In These Times and we'll send you a copy of Let This Radicalize You.
In this new book, longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine the political lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, including the convergence of mass protest and mass formations of mutual aid. Let This Radicalize You answers the urgent question: What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing?
We've partnered with the publisher, Haymarket Books, and 100% of your donation will go towards supporting In These Times.
Christopher Hayes is the host of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes. He is an editor at large at the Nation and a former senior editor of In These Times.
