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On the Electoral College

With all due respect to the wisdom and genius of the Founding Fathers, I believe they got one thing wrong: the electoral college.

It is completely understandable.  I sometimes forget that there were no other democracies at the time; they were breaking new ground.  Whenever I hear politicians or pundits dodge hard questions by saying they don't want to engage in speculation, I think, "What cowardice."  The Founders had no maps, no manuals, no precedents to inform them other than the ancient Greeks, whose democracies were only for a small minority of the people, or the democratic principles practiced by some Native American tribes.

So, it is understandable that they were hesitant to turn over all the power to all the people.  Even today, I think if we're honest, not many of us are completely comfortable with 100% suffrage.  I know I've felt that democracy is good, but I'm a little nervous about "those guys" voting.  "Those guys" might be different guys for all of us, but I think, if we're honest, we all have some trepidation about "some guys".

And so, it seems to me, they came up with a democracy that was limited to those whom they thought would best be given the franchise to vote: white, male property owners.  And not only that, but they put in what they thought would be a hedge against the radicals even in that select group.  They created an electoral body that could overrule the popular vote in the case that the majority went off the rails and wanted to elect someone too far outside the bounds of rationality.

I am not a presidential historian, so I can only guess as to the qualifications of all of our presidents.  But if ever there was a candidate who was obviously unqualified, but extremely charismatic to enough voters, it would be Donald Trump. If ever there was a candidate who, if in spite of garnering the popular vote, should be disqualified by the one safeguard the Founders created, it would be Trump.

Yet, exactly the opposite happened.  The unruly, sometimes ignorant or disinterested public, which now included not only white male property owners, but all adults of all races and backgrounds, including women, voted against Trump, while the electoral college put him in office.

For various reasons that the Founders could not have imagined: the size of  the country, the diversity, the technology, the vast sums of money spent in elections today,  the Electoral College failed in its only duty, and, therefore, should be abolished.
                                       
PeteBarkett.blogspot.com
August 7, 2019

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