Electoral College
9 June 2004 16:54![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kmusserThere seems to be a widespread belief that the electoral college was established because our founding fathers didn't trust the general public enough to vote directly for the president. I just want to say for the record that that is complete bullshit. The electoral college was established because the states didn't trust each other or the Federal government. The college's purpose was to ensure the president had support across a broad geographic range.
I dug up an excellent article that gives a detailed history of the college and pros and cons for the college in today's political climate here:
http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf
Anyone at all interested in electoral politics should read it.
That said I'm all for abolishing the college for two reasons.
One is purely partisan. The college has a bias in favor of less populated/more rural states that tend to be more conservative and I'm a liberal.
Two is that I don't like the two party system and the winner-takes-all aspect of the electoral college makes it pretty much impossible for third parties to be heard. I think having more viable parties would be a good thing and offer voters more real choice.
I dug up an excellent article that gives a detailed history of the college and pros and cons for the college in today's political climate here:
http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf
Anyone at all interested in electoral politics should read it.
That said I'm all for abolishing the college for two reasons.
One is purely partisan. The college has a bias in favor of less populated/more rural states that tend to be more conservative and I'm a liberal.
Two is that I don't like the two party system and the winner-takes-all aspect of the electoral college makes it pretty much impossible for third parties to be heard. I think having more viable parties would be a good thing and offer voters more real choice.