The Electoral College was created for a reason

Larry J — 9/27/2004 8:45:21 PM (archived)

If memory serves, Tony, you said that you grew up in England. If that's so, you may never have had a class in American civics regarding the Constitution and why it was written the way it turned out. Sad fact is, many Americans didn't have such a class either.

When the Constitution was written, there were many compromises between the big states and small states. That's why we have the House of Representatives with proportional representation and the Senate with equal representation for each state. The Electoral College is a similar compromise. Without it, something like 15 states could effectively control the presidency because they have more than 50% of the total population. The result could be very bad for people living in smaller population states.

The Founders were well aware of the limitations of a pure democracy and made sure we had a representative republic instead. The Constitution isn't perfect, but it is perfectable. It has stood the test of over 200 years, longer than just about any other form of government currently in effect anywhere.

The whole thread (29 posts)

Something we could all work on together - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 6:02:27 PM
- Thanks Art, for extending the discussion, - jms - 9/27/2004 11:29:49 PM
  - Yes, agreed - ebnelson - 9/28/2004 7:06:58 PM
- A democratic website in Colorado is discussing this at length. - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 7:23:28 PM
- Good idea, but method of emergency replacement of Congress is higher priority - E.P. Grondine - 9/27/2004 6:59:33 PM
  - Tom Clancy says we'd survive and end up with Harrison Ford as President. Works for me. lol (n/t) - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 9:16:09 PM
  - re: We could survive 6 months without a congress. - Scott Evil - 9/27/2004 7:25:58 PM
    - We get hit that hard, and we will be worried more - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 8:52:25 PM
- Perhaps we should discuss the merits of the EC first? (n/t) - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 6:43:04 PM
  - Merits? - Tony - 9/27/2004 7:36:18 PM
    - The Electoral College was created for a reason - Larry J - 9/27/2004 8:45:21 PM
      - for a lot of reasons, many of which no longer exist - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 9:33:06 PM
        
        A representative republic is better at protecting the rights of a minority than a pure democracy - Larry J - 9/27/2004 9:48:14 PM
        
        It still would not be a pure democracy - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 10:34:06 PM
        
        It's hard to get over 50% of the vote if there's a strong 3rd party - Larry J - 9/27/2004 11:44:03 PM
        
        See merits of both arguments - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 11:52:29 PM
        
        Voter initiatives - Larry J - 9/28/2004 1:26:14 PM
        
        that may be so - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 9:46:39 PM
      - No amendment to constitution required - Tony - 9/27/2004 9:27:35 PM
        
        Ok, let's start with the biggest states... - Larry J - 9/27/2004 9:45:29 PM
        
        I was not aware taht it was being carpet bagged. - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 9:49:08 PM
        
        All votes do count today, and if you are a democrat, they often count twice. - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 9:45:18 PM
        
        Well the discussion was civil - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 10:04:49 PM
        
        Good point. - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 10:28:01 PM
        
        Jokes work for me. (n/t) - Art Martin - 9/27/2004 10:43:12 PM
    - re: Merits? - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 7:49:09 PM
      - re: Merits? - Marcia - 9/27/2004 8:15:20 PM
        
        A very good overview, thanks Marcia. (n/t) - jms - 9/27/2004 9:50:45 PM
        
        Very interesting. Thanks for posting the link. (n/t) - ebnelson - 9/27/2004 8:33:14 PM

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