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Electoral College or Tyranny                                                                                    

Posted at: Oct/23/2024 : Posted by: Mel

Related Category: Politics & Gov, Watching America,

With another election season approaching a crescendo, we again have a major candidate who is demonstrating a complete lack of understanding for the US Constitution. Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz publicly questioned the preeminence of the Electoral College. “I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go,” Walz said while speaking at a fundraiser hosted at California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s home. Unfortunately, this utterance is not unique to Tim Walz. Instead, it seems a common theme among state officials when they enter a national race.

Many Democrats describe the Electoral College as undemocratic, arguing that it diminishes the vote of the individual. In contrast to the archaic Electoral College system, democratic opponents idealize a pure democracy that elects the president by a national popular vote. This invites the question: Is election by popular vote the original intent of our founding documents? And, for that matter, is the original intent of our Founding Fathers worth following today?

It is important to understand that the U.S. is not a pure democracy. In a pure democracy, every issue would come up for a national popular vote. Instead, our framers set up what is called a constitutional republic that protects individual rights even from the will of a simple majority.

In electing a President, the Electoral College acts as a safeguard to one of the primary fears of the Founding Fathers: tyranny. James Madison argued in the Federalist Papers that a pure democracy paves the way for tyranny. Madison wrote, “In a pure democracy, common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

This effectively means that a simple majority can at any given time become enraged, like a crowd of peasants with torches pursuing the monster. When this crowd becomes enraged, personal security and property are at risk for those who disagree with the mob.

Our Constitutional Republic provides the necessary framework for a smaller decentralized government, which gives equal power to the states that the Electoral College protects. By giving power to the states, individuals are represented more fairly than they could be by an overarching and potentially overreaching disproportionate vote. This means that the large population of California cannot impose its political will on the peoples of Arkansas, Alabama, and Ohio whose regions may have different priorities. Obviously, this may periodically frustrate the more populous state of California.

The Founders spent a great deal of time composing the framework of the Electoral College in the Constitution, specifically in the 12th Amendment which was approved in 1804. The 12th Amendment states, “Each State shall appoint … a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.” In other words, a state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its congressional delegation: one for each member of the House of Representatives plus two for the senators. Today, the Electoral College consists of 538 electors. As a result, a majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president. In fairness, the 1804 revisions to the 12th amendment creating the current version of the Electoral College were in part driven by the constitutional crisis of the Aaron Burr affair.

There is no doubt that slavery was one of the drivers for crafting a republic style democracy. Nevertheless, as America has expanded across a continent and matured, the variety of our regional states has become a critical part of our national identity.

From our revolution forward, one of the biggest challenges to the United States' form of democracy has been recognizing the unique needs and identity of each colony/state. While visiting London years ago a hotel concierge commented on the fact that there was so much variety in the Americans he had met over the years and wondered how we could be one country. The only answer I could offer is that it is our biggest challenge to find a way to respect each other. There is a reason that uniquely, Nevada is allowed to have legal prostitution and gambling.

Without the Electoral College, a candidate for President would only have to win a handful of large states to attain the votes necessary to win the highest office of the land. The Electoral College, however, safeguards this great country by forcing each candidate to build a national coalition of individuals who have the same aspirations. Or at least a mediated list of mutually acceptable ambitions. The Electoral College also ensures that every state has a voice no matter the population. This means, for example, Alaskans though their economy and livelihoods are different than that of Floridians, yet are still represented and protected regardless of the size of the state. Just because a voter doesn’t agree with the majority population does not mean their voice should be drowned out by the will of the masses.

During the campaign season, a national popular vote would cause Presidential candidates to focus on just a handful of states while disregarding others, even though the President would represent the entire country.

Currently, 17 states and Washington, D.C. have joined what is called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. These jurisdictions, all left leaning, include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. In 2023, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed the compact.

When a state passes legislation to join the National Popular Vote Compact, it pledges that all of its electoral votes will be given to whichever presidential candidate wins the popular vote nationwide, rather than the candidate who actually won the state. These laws will take effect only when states with a majority of the electoral votes pass similar legislation and join the compact. These governors are willingly giving up their state’s 12th Amendment rights, rights that constitutionally protect and represent the unique identity of their state.

The National Popular Vote Compact sounds initially like a means to eventually circumvent the Electoral College by gaining strength in numbers. The problem with this proposal is that it challenges the notion of regional change in the future. By example, Vermont is currently considered a very democratic state. If at some point in the future, the desires of the population become much more conservative, their Electoral College votes will be potentially pledged to a candidate or cause that is not representative of them.
The essence of being an American is the ability to think freely and pursue the American Dream. The American Dream is not specifically a home with a white picket fence. It could be a family farm, a small business, the chance to send your children to college. The American Dream is the idea or opportunity for upward mobility, protected by equality and achieved by hard work and success.

A warning for the free people of this nation is this: One’s voice will be drowned out if the Electoral College is dismantled, because America will no longer protect every citizen’s freedom, but only the majorities.?The American Dream will only come in one form, regardless of where you live.

If you believe that the people who choose to live in Wyoming may have different versions of the American Dream than those who live in Miami, then we need to protect the Electoral College.

Diversity is currently a popular word. The Electoral College as it has evolved celebrates and protects diversity across our country. It’s a shame that someone running for one of the highest offices in the country doesn’t understand this.

Then again, maybe they do understand, and are threatened by people who do not think in lock step with them.

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