Safeguard: An Electoral College Story (2020) User Reviews

Interesting

[rkabma · 5/10 · 21 October 2020]

An interesting history of the electoral college. It was billed as a non-partisan documentary, however, I started to question its slant after showing highly flattering footage of republicans and awkward unflattering footage of democrats.

The discussion on whether or not to abolish the electoral college was one-sided in favor of keeping it in place. The arguments for eliminating it were not even presented explicitly, but only mentioned negatively in talking points for keeping it.

It also never delved into the question of updating the number of electors each state gets based on current populations. It didn't even present it as a potential option.

After questioning its impartiality, I came here to find it was apparently funded by a right wing group. In the future, they may not want to be obvious in their propaganda.

cons and pros, pos and neg, electoral system

[ops-52535 · 7/10 · 24 September 2020]

For an outsider living in a country with a multitude of political parties, but just one state in one nation, its easy to see how a democratic system should work. ive always found the american election system unfair and undemocratic, until i saw this documentary, that really solved some of the clues, whats easy to forget is that usa is a FEDERATION OF 50-51 SOVEREIGN STATES, and therefore completely impossible to manage with a system of election as for example here in norway.

so this is a comprehensive look at a nondemocratic but comprehensive system of election of a federal president of the united states of america. so the solution for every wailing and angry democracy for all fighters, must be to dissolve the federation, and elect prime ministers for each and every state, based on a multipartysystem as in norway... but now the grumpy old man sees that this will lead to chaos. a dull but informative documentary it is.

Compelling arguments with a Conservative bent

[mkrushat · 7/10 · 7 November 2020]

I am a liberal, always have been. I started watching this and noticed that all the commentary was from talking heads at conservative organizations. But I finished it and I am glad I did. I understand their points, historical and theoretical, and I see in this the basis of the States Rights argument, which was presented in a compelling fashion.. However, two issues. First, they gloss over the Bill of Rights as it pertains to the States. This is where they miss the point on the slavery issue. States do not have the power to deny the first 10 Amendments to any citizen. The majority do not rule in such instances. Remember, all men (and now persons) are created equal. Second, they had me going until they showed the clip of Bill Barr. Which came at the end. What he said may be consistent with the principle behind the Electoral College, but I don't believe a word that tool says. He was just telling people what they wanted to here. I would recommend it as instructional and the basis for some good discussion and education on the American Federal system.

Yet another film purporting to be a documentary that is actually a con job

[jake_fantom · 1/10 · 23 September 2020]

If you are looking for a balanced, apolitical explication of the electoral college and its history (as I was), you will not find it here. Presumably bankrolled by, and featuring "experts" from, the ultra-right-wing Heritage Foundation, this film is simply a transparent attempt to justify the relevance of the electoral college in a modern democracy, and downplay the importance of the popular vote in protecting our democratic institutions. As such, it joins a long line of recent films that masquerade as fair and balanced documentaries while in fact delivering one-sided propaganda strictly focused on supporting a particular point-of-view -frequently a far-right one. So if you're a right-wing acolyte looking for snarky factoids to post on Facebook in support of your political positions, this clumsily packaged bag of flawed arguments might just be your cup of tea. If you're anyone else, keep moving please - nothing to see here.

Propaganda

[pebsdad · 1/10 · 23 September 2020]

Albeit an excellent history lesson about how the country was formed and how states interact with the Federal, it takes the stand that the electoral college is good because the founding fathers set it up that way. They even try to convince that the one person - one vote is alive and well within the electoral system without allowing any alternative views, which are hotly debated these days, to even try to balance the discussion. The argument is made that a majority vote system will make candidates concentrate on high-population areas but completely ignores what is going on now...that all the presidential race's focus is on winning swing states while ignoring the rest of the country. This is another pro-Republican documentary from the director who went after the Clintons and Joe Biden with false and misleading facts.

Historical Educational Convincing

[jnnyb · 9/10 · 5 October 2020]

I am disapointed, but not surprised by the poor reviews of this documentary by neophytes that still believe America was founded on flawed beliefs and systems that are outdated and unfair. The movie lays out clearly the intellectual compromise that created the "United States" and why the Electoral College is still relevant and necessary. Of course if you dont give a damn about your state's vote, or more likely dont care about the concerns of the electorate in Wyoming or Nebraska, then throw it away and allow LA, Chicago, Houston and NYC, choose presidents. The picture makes the arguments on both sides but clearly shows the popular vote option is the least "fair" and most divisive.

Oh Dear..

[bluefoxniner · 1/10 · 24 September 2020]

Great study of how the founding fathers wanted the set up to be, but ultimately this serves only as providing one sided, without context "factoids" for right wing nutters to use on Facebook. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

More fair and balanced than some reviews say..and I'm not a Conservative!

[psevbrite · 8/10 · 31 October 2020]

There was a lot of historical foundation to this documentary and a good explanation as to how the Electoral College is supposed to work. That's what I was looking for, and that's what I got. I was previously registered as a Democrat and now I register as Independent. I can say that even though this was influenced by the Heritage Foundation, it would be nitpicking to say they pooped on all the Democratic side of things. They clearly showed Obama's wins and positive message, and Howard Dean's influences on the all state party movement and not his weird yell. If anything, this should motivate people to not only vote but get their out of state friends to vote.

actually does breakdown history, pros and cons

[dcmackdon · 6/10 · 27 September 2020]

Excuse the fact this doc is made by a person who has made right-wing docs before. This doc does a good job of breakdown the history of our electoral system and it does breakdown pros and cons, but of course people will not like it. The biggest and seemingly only argument I see is that majority (popular vote) is suppose to always win. I personally would like more real debate on both sides but those days are gone. They breakdown why the founding fathers did not want that and it actually does make sense. They talked about Lincoln, but he won because there were more voters in the north and electoral votes in the north. I already know some folks won't like it cause the already have it in their minds the system must go, but it is true if you complain about the 1%, then you know the 1% can buy votes for majority, even though it is hard if not possible to trust the 'body of electors'. Another thing is true, if they get rid and still don't get what they want, they still will scream 'rigged' and 'corrupt'. So honestly what does it really matter...

A conservative con job

[alanhaynes · 2/10 · 25 September 2020]

First of all, this is not about the workings of the electoral college. It's a 77 minute commercial defending the continued existence of the antiquated electoral college.

Their arguments don't even make sense. They say that without the electoral college a candidate could win without a majority of the popular vote and that wouldn't be right. Then they claim that Lincoln only won because of the existence of the electoral college. But he also won the popular vote with 39%. So, even WITHOUT the electoral college, he would have won. They are contradicting themselves because they can't keep their "alternative facts" straight.

Perfect our naive young people

[joaquinavaldez · 10/10 · 1 October 2020]

Excelente documentary that explains the beginnings of our system of government that has kept dictators away for more than 200 years

A must watch for today's youngsters and other ignorant a that follow even more naive politicians

Propaganda

[gotpez97 · 1/10 · 25 September 2020]

The first 20 minutes is a middle school civics lesson. The rest fails to agure why it is actually good that we elect a shadowing cabal of peopleto pick the president. With the cheapest royalty free music and images they could find

Propaganda Paid for by the 1%

[jarch-99944 · 1/10 · 24 September 2020]

Imagine you just got a job at Walmart. This would be the movie you would watch on your first day on the job, starring Sam Walmart himself, welcoming you to the Walmart Family.

Propaganda of the Right, plain and simple.

[Dangermouse0 · 1/10 · 3 October 2020]

After listening to a decidedly undiverse cast of speakers unanimously praise the electoral college while espousing some factual inaccuracies, I decided to do a little research.

The film is produced by Save Our States and the "cast" is comprised entirely of Republicans with ties to other neo conservative think tanks, organizations, and the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Many of these organizations, and by association the people within them, desperately want to maintain the electoral college for its continuing ability to give rural states, formerly slave states, disproportionate representation in Congress.

By doing so they can continue the glorious battle to make America white, er uh, great, again.

Great

[robertbg3 · 10/10 · 17 October 2020]

It is very very hard to argue against the points that are being made in this documentary. Most of the reviews that are below a 5 must have muted the entire film. It is called pride and or ignorance if you can't see how the electoral college benefits all Americans. I appreciated they multi varied stance they took on defending the EC

conflicted

[garrett-828-74087 · 4/10 · 24 October 2020]

This documentary made a number of factual errors, and, to me, made a stronger case for eliminating the electoral college than for keeping it.

1 Star Raters are just radical haters - this is objective, quality explanation whether Dem or Rep. Balanced and very worthy.

[donlandstl · 9/10 · 12 October 2020]

Watch this movie yourself and you decide whether or not you think we have a fair electoral college system. Don't believe the one star raters, watch and learn and make your own choice. Do the work. 9 out of 10 stars from this moderate.

Factually Challenged

[RDNewYork · 1/10 · 1 November 2020]

Read the Federalist papers, in the context and time they were written. This is a partisan commercial, in another word, propaganda. Look up the people in it and their associations. Do your own research if you want to safeguard democracy.

A must watch for every high school student for all 4 years

[DoSiDoe · 10/10 · 25 October 2020]

This film clearly explains the electoral college and gives the history behind it. The how and why it was instituted, and why it is still important today.

I thought the World Series analogy was a perfect explanation of the Electoral College. Team A could get more runs than team B through the 9 games simply by drastically outscoring team B in 3 games. Team B, however, wins the series because they won 5 of the 9 games even though the scores were close in those 5 games.

This is how a President is elected, 50 individual "games" called elections, with the candidate who gets the majority of the popular votes in each state winning that "game". (With the exception of 2 states who split the EC votes). Those who win the most games (states) wins the Presidency.

There are still some things for me to think about. For instance, the election of 1860. Lincoln did win with 39% of the popular vote, and he did have more votes than any other single candidate. The EC did work as "expected" and Lincoln got the most EC votes, thus the Presidency. However the point that the film was trying to make is that there was a 61% vote AGAINST Lincoln and that without the EC it is quite possible that a candidate winning with far less than 50% of the vote would be common instead of an outlier. That a candidate could target the 5 to 10 largest cities and get more votes than any other candidate (even in the teens to 20% of votes cast) and win the election. We see how well Lincolns win in 1860 turned out, states leaving the union (or trying to) and a civil war.

This is a Partisan Propaganda Piece

[rebeccadwinn · 2/10 · 19 October 2020]

This documentary sells itself as nonpartisan. That is a lie. It is produced and funded by extremely partisan, hard core right wing conservative groups. Should you watch it? Sure. It is healthy to consider the ideas and arguments from across the political spectrum. But, it is not healthy for a film to not disclose is purpose = to garner and persuade public opinion to support an institution that serves the conservative agenda for the foreseeable future. It is also important to note that this film plays "the race card" in that it sells the Electoral College as an institution that benefits communities of color. Not only is that a lie. It is low key offensive that they included this point. In fact, the Electoral College drastically gives far more power to the single vote of a white American as compared to the single vote of an American of color... in fact, this is the primary issue that many modern critics of the Electoral College have-that is, that it concentrates power in white people, and systematically disenfranchises people of color. Of course you should watch it to be familiar with arguments that you may hear, but don't let these folks lie to you and provide you with false information without knowing what you're watching.

Unbalanced polemic disguised as a documentary

[janos-758-468445 · 1/10 · 2 December 2020]

While their arguments are rational, this is not a documentary but rather a polemic from the likes of the Federalist Society. There are valid arguments for maintaining the electoral college and this film makes a pragmatic case for it.

However, there are equally valid arguments against having the electoral college and, far more importantly, there are refutations to the positions proposed in this film. However, there is no healthy debate, simply a one-sided presentation. It's somewhat ironic that the presenters consider that the electoral college is the most democratic way in which the framers solved the various valid and complex problems that the construction of our government faced and yet offer no opposing views to those assumptions.

Just to note two simple, general refutations. They argue that without the EC, candidates would ignore states where they are not competitive. I could not disagree more. For most of our history, candidates have ignored certain states and regions. Concurrently, a voter supporting a minority position within certain states see their votes wasted. The abolition of the EC would mean that a Republican voter in Fresno or a Democratic voter in Cheyenne suddenly has renewed power and will be catered to by the candidates, whereas before then their presidential vote was meaningless.

The film also argues that fragmented, balkanized, extreme, and single issue parties could eke out a pluraity and win. For a variety of reasons that's not likely, but even if it were the safeguard against it is blindingly obvious--require a runoff if 50%+1 is not achieved. Numerous states and localities already do this as do other democracies, notably France. This guarantees government that does not stray too far from the center since a limited scope position is untenable in our large and diverse country.

The on the ground effect of the EC is to protect rural views--really nothing more.

All in all, DO NOT take this film's conclusions at face value.

A one sided often ridiculous argument

[Kenb1960 · 1/10 · 1 December 2020]

This was not a look at the Electoral College but a 100% argument to keep it. Some of the main reasons that the founders created the EC were never fully explained - such as the inability for someone to really know a candidate from a different state. A few of the reasons to keep the EC did raise some valid issues but failed to even consider a solution to the issues. The majority of the arguments to keep the EC were justified by far fetched excuses that have nothing to do with the EC but more the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Overall this is not worth watching unless you were attempting to be on the loosing side of a debate.

Very educational

[jody_rs · 10/10 · 16 December 2020]

Talks about the history of our countries founding and why the electoral college is important.

Incredibly misleading, obvious conservative perspective

[mah4565 · 2/10 · 9 November 2020]

This film claims to be a non-partisan look at the electoral college system and its history. About 30 seconds in to Safeguard, its obvious political leanings were extremely evident. I was looking for some historical perspectives on the system as well as pros and cons of said system but found what felt to be a propagandist look blindly defending a system that has essentially made my vote irrelevant in every presidential election I've taken part in

Not impressed

[ddbtdd · 1/10 · 13 November 2020]

This documentary is not unbiased. It wants you to believe our Electoral College is best in it's current form and preserves democracy for everyone. The world today is much smaller than the days of it's inception so the EC simply helps preserve minority rule.