The Electoral College and US.

I find it hard to understand the mind set behind the people who violently oppose the existence of the EC. Yes, it’s an antiquated concept from a bygone era but it served its purpose when it was created, 250 years ago. But not having it, especially today, would have dire consequences that most people calling for removal haven’t considered. Or maybe they wish to make the vote of anyone in the minority irrelevant.

Thought 1

The Founding Fathers did not want the tyranny of mob rule. We have seen, especially lately, how it can get out of hand. Mob rule is all about impassioned knee jerk reactions. Think about all the dumb things you have done when you give in to highly emotional reactionism.

With our shitty 2 party system, where elections are usually 49%-51% affairs. Where winning 6 states will give you the majority. Why would a candidate even bother acknowledging the voters in the other 44 states? Tell me I’m wrong. The people advocating this, the largest disenfranchisement of voters ever, is also the ones screaming about minority voting rights.

Thought 2

Think back to colonial days. You’re a farmer in the newly formed United States. You’re a hard working person, but can’t read or write. Doesn’t matter because news takes weeks sometimes to trickle down. But my friend,John Q. Publik, down the road is a smart fella. Your friends and neighbors decide to have John Q. go to Washington and help decide who the next president will be. We told we like the candidate Abey Deedee and he should vote for him. John heads off to carry off our wishes. A few weeks later while in Washington, John learns that Abey Deedee secretly wants to reunite with England. John knows that we, the people he represents, would be very against this and decides to vote for an alternative candidate. Because we trust John, we trust his decision.

This is the second reason the EC was created. It took way to long for information to move around. In today’s society this reason is no longer valid. Add to that the corruption of both parties in selecting electors and even more reason to get rid of it. But corruption aside, it still prevents tyranny of the majority.

So far we have: makes every state important, prevents mob rule and amount of time it took to spread news as reasons why we have the EC.

The biggest obstacle in the way of getting rid of the EC right now is that it benefits the 2 party, US vs THEM, political system. We need to get rid of both parties and establish 5 equal parties that are more representative of our citizens. With 5 parties it would impossible for any 1 party to have a simple majority. Yes, a coalition of 2 or more parties could form a majority. But the chances of that are very small.

In summary, get rid of the Republican and the Democrat parties, form 5 parties covering the 4 corners and center of the political spectrum, get rid of the EC and everyone can have all the popular voting they can handle.