Nationally Recognized Author Tara Ross on the Importance of the Electoral College

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Tara Ross, the nationally recognized author of Why We Need the Electoral College. On the eve of the 2020 election, they discuss the critical and controversial role of the Electoral College in determining which candidate will become the next President of the United States. Tara explains how the Electoral College functions, why the Framers established it, and why this key feature of the U.S. Constitution and electoral system has become such a lightning rod. They explore its historical role in balancing power between small and large states, encouraging candidates to build wide coalitions across numerous states and regions, and checking the excesses of popular passions. They also discuss the role of the Electoral College in helping to isolate closely contested elections to specific states, such as in Florida in 2000; and Tara shares thoughts on the current political landscape.

Stories of the Week: Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show troubling declines in grade 12 reading performance – will the results reinforce arguments to end testing? Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced she will no longer enforce the prohibition against religious organizations applying for federal funding for charter schools – opening charters to criticisms that opponents have long leveled, that these schools are not truly public.

The next episode will air on Wednesday, November 11th, 2020 at 12 pm ET with guest, Jason Riley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Tara Ross is nationally recognized for her expertise on the Electoral College. She is the author of Why We Need the Electoral College (2019), The Indispensable Electoral College: How the Founders’ Plan Saves Our Country from Mob Rule (2017), the children’s book We Elect A President: The Story of Our Electoral College (2016), and Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College (2d ed. 2012). Her Prager University video, “Do You Understand the Electoral College?” is Prager’s most-viewed video ever, with more than 60 million views. She earned a B.A. from Rice University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

Tweet of the Week

Get Updates On Our US History Initiative

Related Posts

Steven Wilson on Anti-Intellectualism in K-12 Education

/
Co-host Bob Bowdon talks with Steven Wilson, Founder and former CEO of Ascend Learning, a charter school network in Brooklyn, New York. They discuss the emergence of anti-intellectualism in K-12 schooling.

Jason Bedrick on Religious Freedom & Private School Autonomy

/
Bob and Cara talk with Jason Bedrick, EdChoice’s director of policy, about New York’s controversial “substantial equivalency” proposal that would give the state Department of Education oversight of school curricula at yeshivas and other private and parochial academies.

Dr. Lindsey Burke on LBJ’s True Education Legacy

/
Dr. Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation talks with The Learning Curve co-host Bob Bowdon about her new book, The Not-So-Great-Society, co-edited with Jonathan Butcher, and why the LBJ era is an inflection point for federal intervention in local school policy.

NH Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut on State-Driven K-12 Reform

/
New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut joins "The Learning Curve" podcast this week, plus Bob & Cara break down the new NAEP results, and share education stories out of Denver and Detroit.

The Learning Curve: Andrew Campanella, President of National School Choice Week

/
This week on The Learning Curve, Bob talks with Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week and author of the new book, "The School Choice Roadmap: 7 Steps to Finding the Right School for Your Child."

Dr. Howard Fuller on School Choice & Presidential Politics

/
Cara and Bob talk withthe the great Dr. Howard Fuller, Distinguished Professor of Education, about his passionate activism on behalf of education reform, his concerns about the lack of support among Democratic presidential candidates for charter schools & more!

The Learning Curve: “Wilfred McClay on his new book, Land of Hope”

/
Wilfred McClay, University of Oklahoma Professor, discusses his new high school textbook, "Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story," that seeks to provide an account of this nation's rich and complex story that puts it in proper perspective, and that is both honest and inspiring.

This Week on “The Learning Curve”: Natalie Wexler on her new book, The Knowledge Gap

/
Bob & Cara talk with Natalie Wexler, author of "The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–And How to Fix It," about the shift in K-12 education, even in the Common Core era, from an emphasis on academic content to empty skills and strategies.

The Learning Curve: National Education Podcast

“The Learning Curve” is where you’ll find straight talk about the nation’s hottest education stories - news and opinion from the schoolyard to the 2020 campaign trail.