The topic of discussion for this
Constitution Monday is the Electoral College. The Founders wanted the power of
the government to come from the people, but they were concerned about giving
the power directly to the people in certain circumstances. One of those
circumstances is the power to elect the President.
There were several proposals
discussed at the Constitutional Convention about the election of the President.
One idea was to allow Congress to elect the President, but this idea did not
sound good to those people who wanted to keep the power of the federal
government separate and contained in the three branches. Another idea was for
the state legislatures make the decision, but this idea concerned people
because they thought the President would be obligated to state interests. All
of them seemed concerned with the idea of the people directly electing the
President. James Wilson proposed the Electoral College, and his idea was
accepted.
The term “Electoral College” is not
found in the Constitution, but the electors chosen to choose the President “are
traditionally called a College. In the context of the Constitution, the meaning
of college is not that of a school,
but of a group of people organized toward a common goal.”
The Electoral College is one of
several concepts in the Constitution that are republican principles. Another is
the original idea for state legislatures to elect the Senators for each state.
These are republican principles. When the procedure to elect Senators was
changed from state legislatures to the people voting directly for their
Senators, the principle changed from a republican principle to a democratic
one.
There is a movement in the United
States at the present time to change the procedure of electing a President. The
people involved in the movement want to get rid of the Electoral College and
have the people vote directly for the President. This movement is called the “interstate
compact,” and it is designed to “sidestep the Electoral College system defined
by the Constitution.” Colorado legislature to pass a bill to join the compact,
and the governor says that he will the bill. Jarrett Stepman at The Daily Signal says that the Colorado electoral votes will bring the total to 181 out
of the required 270 for the compact to become effective. He then explains how
the compact would actually affect elections.
While the Constitution, intentionally,
gives wide latitude to states to create their own electoral systems, the law
passed in Colorado, along with the rest of this effort, would be unprecedented.
It would be the first time states potentially outsource their Electoral College
votes to the will of the nation as a whole, rather than having elections
determined by their own voters. The result of this, ironically, could be very
undemocratic.
For instance, if the people of Colorado
vote overwhelmingly for a Democrat, yet the total popular vote of the nation
goes Republican, all of the state’s votes would go to the Republican,
essentially overturning the will of the people of Colorado.
The Electoral College is already fairly
democratic. Nearly every state switched to direct, democratic elections of
electoral votes in the early 19th century, as opposed to selection
by state legislatures. What the national popular vote would do is overturn the
concept of federalism, which recognizes that states have unique interests that
deserve representation in the electoral system. We are not just a nation of
individuals, but a nation of communities and states.
Some have dismissed the Electoral
College system as outmoded and unjust. But they are mistaken – the Electoral
College system remains highly relevant and necessary today. The 2016 election
actually demonstrated that.
In 2016, states that had done Democratic
in presidential politics for a generation flipped to Republican, in large part
because of a unique candidate who appealed to their interests. While one
candidate capitalized on their support, the other took them for granted and
focused elsewhere. The result was a startling upset that demonstrates why the
Framers wanted an Electoral College.
Without an Electoral College, candidates
could more easily write off certain constituencies located in limited areas.
The Electoral College binds those votes up with a larger mass of votes so that
in order to win the whole, candidates have to appeal to the interests of more
constituents.
Under a popular vote system, candidates
could ignore entire localities and focus on driving up votes among their
natural supporters.
The numbers of Electoral College votes
already tied into the compact shows that our nation is heading for trouble.
Under this compact the states would give all their electoral votes to the
presidential candidate that wins the national popular vote.
The legislation has been introduced in all 50 states. As of this month eleven states and the
District of Columbia have adopted the compact with Colorado joining soon. One
legislative chamber in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Maryland, and Hawaii passed the legislature in 2007 when the compact
was introduced in 42 states. One chamber in the following states has adopted
the legislation: Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, and Oregon. New Mexico passed it in both chambers but in
two different sessions. Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington have attempted to
repeal the compact, but their repeals failed. The twelve states that have
adopted the compact have 172 electoral votes – 32.0% of Electoral College and
63.7% of the 270 votes needed to give the compact legal force.
The compact is not good for America,
and it is a part of the effort to turn the United States into a socialist
nation. If it had been in effect for the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton would
have become President of the United States. She would most likely have
continued down the same path that Barack Obama was taking us. Therefore, we
would not have had the roaring economy, low unemployment rates, recognition
that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and US embassy moved there, and
approximately 70 other great things that have happened under the direction of
President Donald Trump.
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