Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I mean...have you seen the president?  Comical and amateurish is all the rage these days.

My brother, who is not crazy, believes that Trump entered the race in late-2015/early-2016 at the behest of, or on the suggestion of, his friends the Clintons, for the purpose of destroying the Republican party and discrediting conservatism for a generation.
And then the totally unexpected thing happened--he won!
It seems far-fetched, but, if it were true, would he have behaved any differently than he has?

I mean, it still just would empower some theoretical producers of imaginary voters, just ones in different places. If you could find a way to be corrupt in Cincinnati Fort Myers, you could swing the presidency.

It's been interesting because I've lived in one state where candidates go in general elections and three others that only get primary folks. Just strikes me as redistribution.

The folks in Cook County have had more and longer practice at it.  As have some rural counties in Texas where in the past there have been more votes counted than registered voters.
Ever heard of "Landslide Lyndon"?
I absolutely do not understand what you are saying in your second paragraph.  Did you omit some words?

I don't put much trust in the national government, but I don't mind when a more general electoral system has a direct tie to the people. That's just me. I think direct mechanisms aren't bad.

It's not really a matter of trusting national over state. It's a matter of trusting the people over the state government with one sixth of the three branches. And perhaps I don't trust the people all that much (I don't), but I trust most state governments less.

But "the people" elect the state governments.  And state governments are generally more "democratic" than is the federal government.  Elected judges and state supreme court justices is an example.

IMO, perfection in a human instrument is impossible.
Our adherence to the 6th Amendment is not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was 50 or 60 years ago.

It is impossible, and thus we and our governments evolve.

To the first part, so would we argue swing states are relatively free of someone putting thumbs on scales?

The second paragraph was basically meant to say this, in general elections, candidates go to Wisconsin (most of the time), Ohio and Florida. They don't go to Ca. or Georgia for the most part. So if they go to places with more people rather than places with people whose votes are considered more valuable, it just strikes me as redistributing empowerment rather than creating more empowerment. And if the end point is rural Ohio folks deserve more focus than rural folks from the Dakotas, I guess that is what it is.

No, I was jesting with the comments about Cook County, etc.  Pols are crooks for the most part.  They want money, and/or they have other desires--for sex or for power over their fellow citizens--that being in politics lets them satisfy.  That's why the Constitution placed such limits on them, and why the checks and balances so that their crookedness might cancel out the crookedness of the other ones.  But you believe that one of the checks on their crookedness--Senators being elected differently than Representatives--being removed was a good thing.
Again, I don't understand why you trust the U.S. Congress more than you trust your state legislature.  The same "people" elect the members of both.
I didn't follow that you were talking about what candidates for the presidency do.  Now I see.

I'm just glad I don't have to quarter troops, except in time of war.

No, I was jesting with the comments about Cook County, etc.  Pols are crooks for the most part.  They want money, and/or they have other desires--for sex or for power over their fellow citizens--that being in politics lets them satisfy.  That's why the Constitution placed such limits on them, and why the checks and balances so that their crookedness might cancel out the crookedness of the other ones.  But you believe that one of the checks on their crookedness--Senators being elected differently than Representatives--being removed was a good thing.
Again, I don't understand why you trust the U.S. Congress more than you trust your state legislature.  The same "people" elect the members of both.
I didn't follow that you were talking about what candidates for the presidency do.  Now I see.

It's Crook County, OK? Get it right already.

I should know. I just fled it after 53 years there.