Montana doesn't seem to get much attention now, including most other states. Only swing states get attention.
But the complaint you have doesn't make sense because what you speak of is problems the states would have with how Congress works. The electoral college has nothing to do with law, only how the President is elected. Well, Vice President too, supposedly, but the choice of who to vote for is determined for us. To say that California doesn't have enough influence in federal laws because of the electoral college seems misdirected. California already has more influence over Montana right now because both the electoral college electors and House of Representatives are based on population count while the Senate is not. The only place that a small state has the same level of influence on the federal level is in the Senate. Therefore California's complaint about smaller states is partly caused by themselves and the other more populous states.
Why does the Senate exist? To actually give the small states a chance in deciding things on a federal level. If everything was decided by popular vote then small states might as well not bother. Notice that the Senate has more powers than the House, which is as designed because each state has equal voting power. If treaties, for example, were ratified in the House then small states would most often have to follow the lead of the most populous states. That would open the possibility of our country being led by mob rule, which the Founders were fearful of and you call a dick comment.
The only people who seriously push for everything being decided by popular vote tend to have an agenda to push that can only be done by mob rule, to the detriment of the minority for the advantage of the majority.
Also note that most often the winner of the electoral college also wins the popular vote, it is rare for the reverse to happen. So it seems that whether we use electoral college or popular vote for electing the President it would rarely make a difference, other than the focus of campaigning.
Want to have some real fun? Force the states to stop using winner takes all in determining electors. But even then it still probably wouldn't make much of a difference.
But the complaint you have doesn't make sense because what you speak of is problems the states would have with how Congress works. The electoral college has nothing to do with law, only how the President is elected. Well, Vice President too, supposedly, but the choice of who to vote for is determined for us. To say that California doesn't have enough influence in federal laws because of the electoral college seems misdirected. California already has more influence over Montana right now because both the electoral college electors and House of Representatives are based on population count while the Senate is not. The only place that a small state has the same level of influence on the federal level is in the Senate. Therefore California's complaint about smaller states is partly caused by themselves and the other more populous states.
Why does the Senate exist? To actually give the small states a chance in deciding things on a federal level. If everything was decided by popular vote then small states might as well not bother. Notice that the Senate has more powers than the House, which is as designed because each state has equal voting power. If treaties, for example, were ratified in the House then small states would most often have to follow the lead of the most populous states. That would open the possibility of our country being led by mob rule, which the Founders were fearful of and you call a dick comment.
The only people who seriously push for everything being decided by popular vote tend to have an agenda to push that can only be done by mob rule, to the detriment of the minority for the advantage of the majority.
Also note that most often the winner of the electoral college also wins the popular vote, it is rare for the reverse to happen. So it seems that whether we use electoral college or popular vote for electing the President it would rarely make a difference, other than the focus of campaigning.
Want to have some real fun? Force the states to stop using winner takes all in determining electors. But even then it still probably wouldn't make much of a difference.