Texas is not a full on red state anymore. They're more and more in play as immigration has changed their profile.The electoral college is a vestige of slavery, I assume you know that, right? People in rural states cling to the notion that it prevents states like California, NY and Texas from deciding the outcome of presidential elections, but they ignore the fact that it gives undue weight to some rural states over more populated states. In other words, one vote from a Nebraskan is the equivalent of several dozen votes of a Texan. If that still seems like a reasonable system, then consider that it wasn't always the Democrats winning the popular vote. There was a time not so long ago that the situation was reversed. The point is, you can't argue out of one side of your mouth that we live in a democracy, while celebrating the manipulation of that system to benefit a minority of voters. Why, because it won't always be as it is now. Roles reverse. Furthermore, your point that family and friends of yours have stopped voting because they're convinced that California is blue and will remain that way. For what its worth, the same is true in Texas for Democrats. I would argue this is yet another failing of the electoral college. People who live in states that reliably vote red or blue rightly understand that if they are in the minority their vote is for naught. How can you argue that this is a functioning system? And lastly, Roberts has been consistently conservative in his opinions with very few exceptions. Why are you focusing on just the handful of opinions you don't like? A court that leans too far one direction or the other will eventually lose credibility with the public. I realize you are a very conservative person, but not everyone in this country shares your views. Compromise is the genius of the American system. The one time compromise failed we had a civil war. You can scream at the top of your lungs all day long that this country has veered hard left, but the fact of the matter is power has shifted between the two parties for decades. Social issues have shifted to the left, then again what is your basis for comparison? What period of time in American history was better socially, according to you? Of course politically, conservatives have dominated the state and local landscape and largely redrawn the maps to ensure their dominance. You engage in nonstop whataboutisms. What about the dems? What about Hillary? You condone extremism on the right because you've made up your mind that liberals either have or would do the same given the chance. You claim to be a religious person, and yet in life you argue in favor of doing as much damage as possible to others just in case they might do it to you first. That's a paranoid way to live your life, man.
The electoral college is not a vestige of slavery. It's a conscious effort to give states with fewer voters a fair voice in choosing a President. Nothing more and nothing less. It had nothing to do with slavery. Anything that indicates otherwise is revisionist history.