Yes, my friends we do not live in a democracy. What?! I can hear it already. There
goes Eddie again.
We live in a representative republic. You may have to do some study and research to
understand exactly what that is, because I’m not going to go into the details, but
that is how the United States was intended to be governed.
If we had a simple democracy, then we’d be ruled by 50% plus
1 … or in other words “majority rule”. By
and large, that’s how our “democracy” works. Most of our elections work in this
way. Not so much when laws are passed in
Congress, or when the constitution is changed.
Sometimes there has to be a “super majority” (more research for you to
do).
The more I learn about the framers of the constitution and
how well thought out the document is, the more impressed I am with them. It is
the longest lasting document of its kind on earth. Why is that? Because it works! … that’s why! And it will continue to work as long as we elect
“representatives” that honor and respect it.
I happen to believe that all of our elected officials (including the President
of the United Stated) are first and foremost “representatives” of “We the
People of the United States of America”.
I also believe the same is true about unelected judges (but I’m not
going to talk about them right now) and other holders of high office.
We should be glad and feel blessed that we do not live in a
true democracy where we might be subject to rule of a “simple majority”. Have you ever seen a mob? It isn’t pretty. The framers knew that. They studied history, knew human nature, and
had seen firsthand the terrible results of what an all too powerful government is
capable of.
Today we are living in a land where we choose our
leaders. Some people don’t agree. They say we do not. Simply because they don’t understand the wisdom
of the how the most powerful elected official in the country comes into
office. The Electoral College is the how
the states elect the President. That’s right I said “the states”. Not the people, or the majority, or this
party or that party, it is decided by the states. The states choose their electors
and they have their own rules that vary from one to the other … that’s their right.
The electors usually vote along with the popular vote of the state they reside
in. As far as I’m aware, the states electors have always voted along with the
will of the people of their states.
Why do we have this system? … to protect the week from the
strong. It is as simple as that. Don’t get
philosophical on me, this is politics. The framers built in a way to keep us
from having a 50% plus 1 debacle. Take a look at a “red state-Republican”, “blue
state-Democrat” map broken down by counties from the 2016 election (or any of
the past elections) and you’ll see that there’s a lot more red than blue in
this country. If you were to look at the actual number of votes, you’d find
that they aren’t that far apart.
Out of a population of around 300 million, roughly 130 million
votes were cast in 2016. Of those, there was only a difference of about 3
million votes. That’s a very evenly divided
population … or so it seems. Many people
are complaining that the winner of the popular vote should have won the
election since we are a “democracy”. This
is true if math were the only thing that matters … that is also where the framers
wisdom shines through and their understanding of our republic is dim.
Have you looked at the maps yet? You should.
Sheer numbers would not fairly represent the nation in the White House
and the Founding Fathers knew that. The
process has been changed over time but has never been (and never should be)
left to a purely popular vote. Otherwise
we would be left to the will of the people from concentrated areas with similar
ambitions, thoughts and ideas, wishes and beliefs, prejudices, political
leanings, and economic conditions dictating to the rest of country who the
President will be. That would lead to
disaster.
To become President of these United States requires winning
the states through the Electoral College. The Electoral College provides the
larger states a greater number of votes than the smaller states (each state
receives the same number of electors as they have members in Congress - 2 for
each Senator and however many Representatives they have). The system is fair in that it forces candidates
to win each state at the polls. Winning
the most states will normally bring in the most Electoral College votes and the
Presidency.
I support the system, but that doesn’t not mean I’m not open
to altering it. I don’t think the Presidency
should ever be left to a popular vote, but I wouldn’t be opposed to eliminating
the Electoral College. I’ve been thinking
about the framers of the constitution’s original intent. I believe that winning the states was the
key. Here is my compromise: let the
person that wins the most states by popular vote win. Each state would count as one. No more magic 270. The candidate that wins the majority of votes
in a state wins the state. The candidate with the most state victories (not the
most popular votes) wins the White House. What do you think about that?
There you have it, Eddie
