sw00735st53-electoral.college

Our nation's forefathers were highly intelligent, but they created 
a structurally-flawed nation.  It is a democratic republic, and 
republic is the key word.  For many years I have maintained in
one-on-one conversations that this country may well be "the 
home of the brave" but it has never been "the land of the free".
"These United States"--see the morrisonhimself comment--need  
to be reconstructed.  However, this post will only address the
Electoral College issue because it is the core reason so many of
this nation's citizens do not vote.  The Maine-Nebraska method
is an insufficient improvement.  Inherently, the Electoral College
cannot be fixed.  The Electoral College idea subverts democracy.
(Of course, "democracy" is a dirty word; and "of the people, by
the people, and for the people" is a pile of doo-doo.)  "Politics
is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which
properly concern them."  Paul Valéry Tel Quel 2 (1943).  See
Quotation #163.  Before any other federally-mandated institution
is, the Electoral College must be garbaged.  There is not one
argument in its favor that stands up.  The distribution of US
citizens cannot be accurately accounted for by even a census
every year.  Circumstances, natural and otherwise, constantly
keep people on the move.  Giving a state to a candidate who
won by 70% is not the same as giving a state to a candidate
who won by 55%, even if the population in each is relatively
equal.  Red states, blue states, purple states: the conception
itself is anti-freedom.  Wyoming gets 2 senatorial votes and
California gets 2 senatorial votes: what kind of crock is that?
What I'm saying is not that California ought to have more than
2 senators, but that the supposed checks and balances the E C
provides is untenable.  There are other problems:  1) the voting
age     2) citizens who don't vote (for whatever reasons) are
automatically disenfranchised     3) balloting systems are too
diverse and unreliable     4) the ways in which campaigns are
conducted, to say nothing of the cost of them.  About point 1:
The age at which one is allowed to vote should be the same age 
in every state.  Sometimes states' rights = states' blights.  Maybe
each state should be its own country.  Wouldn't that be the cat's
diapers.  Have so far not founda state-by-state voting age chart.
Read this pertinent cogent argument for lowering the age to 16.
About point 2:  Say that in a general election 30% vote for Bluu,
25% vote for Redd, 5% vote for Purp, and 40% vote for Nota.  I
think every ballot should include a "None-of-the-above" option.
I think such an option would encourage more citizens to vote, 
especially if it were accorded its rightful power.  That is, if the
majority of citizens chose that option, then the election in which
it occurred should be considered null-and-void.  Well, do you or
don't you want a democracy?  & what about Americans who are
in prisons in this country?  About point 3:  Every ballot across the
land should have the same look.  None of this filling in an oval or
punching this or that with a machine.  A simple X to the right of a
name, of a yes, of a no would suffice.  Special assistance should
be given to those who are handicapped but are able to choose. 
About point 4:  We live in a capitalist society, a fate which is
both good/ and evil.  How/ many/ of our leaders are poor?  We
persist in a veritable oligarchy which, if it had its way, would
happily become a tyranny, if it hasn't already.  Alexis Tocqueville
saw this coming.  The birth of These United States was marked
by an undesired but necessary violence.  Nothing prevents it
from being reborn by a similar undesired but necessary violence.  
Our own Declaration of Independence recognizes that possibility.

         We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
     are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
     with certain inalienable rights; that among these, are life,
     liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That, to secure these
     rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving 
     their just powers from the consent of the governed; that,
     whenever any form of government becomes destructive
     of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to
     abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its
     foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers
     in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect 
     theirsafety and happiness.

And it goes on, though in a more cautionary tone.  Read it.
-
This is an annotated text of the Declaration.  Scroll down to it.



-
Brian A. J. Salchert