What isn’t reasonable is that in “a Republic,” by which our framers meant a representative democracy, we would continue to cling to a system that systematically distorts the presidential election, by denying citizens anything like an equal role in selecting their president, with absolutely no sanction from the founding design.
Source: Electoral College confusions | TheHill
In many, many respects, the United States of America is a great example of how to overthink things.
Of course, in the interest of fairness and hearing things out and all, good ol’ Founding Father Tribe A negotiated with Founding Father Tribe B to figure out how to accommodate all these dang black slaves in our nation we buildin’. So we comes up with this here fancy tarnation (?) system of electoral colleges just to ensure that Jehosephat gets his way just right. The inevitable conclusion is that this fancy system will produce a very complicated set of rules that obfuscates the will of the actual people who are living in the nation
You know what?? From what I have read, it seems like the Electoral College is sort of neat. I like the idea of a collection of states that are arranged around a set of common ideas and principles. I like the idea that the states are then free to govern themselves so long as they conform to that common set of ideas and principles. What’s not to like?? Experiment! Doowutchyalike! Have at it!
I think the problems were these:
- There was never a solid recognition of the right of each person, every human being, regardless of sex, color, heritage, religion, etc., ad nauseum, to cast a vote.
- There was never a commitment to the idea of a citizenry that would universally participate in a rigorous, holistic public educational system.
So you put the power in the people, but not all of the people, just some of the people, and then you ensure that they don’t know everything they need to know in order to effect policies that benefit themselves. Why? Because the “you” I am talking about are the well-monied capitalists that are arranging the game that is stacked in your own favor, exactly like every other casino on the planet. The governing system of the United States of America even with its Electoral College and checks and balances doesn’t seem so bad on paper. The problem is that there is something that comes before that. There is something that rises up above in the order of importance. And that is money. Money is what corrupts this entire system.
Mark my words! 🙂 As long as American politicians solicit money from citizens there will be no true democracy in the United States of America.
