So today well talk about the Electoral College, what it is, how it works and why most scholars kind of hate the Electoral College and its among the Political Science set which homely youve had so far and you get a fullthroated argument against the Electoral College and it is a useful, instructive book because lays out all of the common arguments for it, as well which is helpful for allowing each person to sort of make up their mind about what they think about this institution generally speaking. So this is really i do a whole week on this one because its how we like the president and few americans fully understand the process. At the very least if you take a course in the american presidency you should walk away understanding how this process we use to select our chief executive officer work, but also because it is really important in how it structures how elections turn out. Just how we started our discussion by president ial nominations by discussing the history of the nominations pr
We last broadcast book read updates. There are two i want to start with. One is this monumental Frederick Douglass prophet of freedom by david w. Blight, the definitive biography of Frederick Douglass especially what is going on in the United States with racial injustice, nobody was more consequential it has been more consequential on the target of race in america than Frederick Douglass. Way ahead of his time. He was not only in abolitionist and passionate abolitionists as a former slave but he insisted from the earliest time in the 1840s right through his death in the Nineteenth Century video quality was the goal and he would brook no deviation from that. He was very clear what the goal was and so many of his words ring true today and i recommend the biography. It is a long read but one of the things i learned about Frederick Douglass is he was an active suffragist. Absolutely. Very insistent. Had a distinguished career, was able to talk to a mixed race audience at a time when that w
My up next university of mary. Discusses the life of Thomas Jefferson. His actions on slavery and race. This video is courtesy he of the university. Its part of their lecture series. Mean i am pleased to announce, a special miniseries of six lectures every entitled great president ial lives. Daily this series is particularly attractive for two main reasons, the first being its timeliness. As we face a president ial Election Year and you prepare for it, it will be an insight that all really of us can benefit from. The second is the speaker himself, our indus esteemed professor, william beak raleigh who has just completed 50 years on the faculty of the university of Mary Washington. During the half century doctor crowley, has been effective in numerous ways. Our Historic Preservation program, and this american 1959 a turnover amazing great life series. And it is for his for essence of teaching that he is best known. And to thousands of our students that have walked through our halls. He
With states like texas and hawaii already surpassing their total of 2016. What you think that massive number of votes means . 2006, it maybe was not as interesting but we are talking a lot about it today. We are seeing a huge increase in voting by mail and early voting in person. 2016 we saw 41 of the population voting for election day. 17 by early in person voting. We are seeing another explosion beyond that in this election. We have already seen 92 Million People vote early this as of last night. We are going to see more before election day. Deservescdonald really credit for keeping these numbers which keep expanding. We will see on most 50 of americans voting by mail. The average for the 4 voting early. Just a little bit voting on election day. 23 or 25 . It means changes in states doing very different things. Some of them casting ballots in a new way. One of the thing to note is in the past a lot of votes and in person votes were very close to election day. This started early. As e
Congress and the books they are reading. Throwing up again on tv, democrat, give an update on your reading list. As you know, i read at least a book a week and since the last book of the, there will to ill start with. When is this monumental biography, probably the definitive biography of douglas and especially whats going on in the u. S. , nobody was more consequential and has been more consequential on question of race in america. What ahead of his time. This not only an abolitionist and passionate as a former sla slave, he insisted on the earliest time in the 1840s right through his death for the end of the 19th century was the goal is no deviation from that. It is very clear what the goal was. So many words went through the recommended by girl, it is long but very powerful. One thing i learned about douglas this year, hes very active. Yes. Very consistent and had a distinguished career and able to talk to a mixed race audience, it was unusual, his belief. It was powerful when they