Posted by
runnerredneck on Monday, January 01, 2007 3:59:16 PM
Essay arguing for the continuation of the Electoral College. I wrote this for my Writing Class.
Article II, Section 2 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… The electors shall meet… and vote by ballot for two persons… The person with the greatest number of votes shall be president… after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be vice president” (Smith & Barnes 43-44). Otherwise known as the Constitution this document sets up the basis for the Electoral College which most Americans are familiar with, if ever having voted for president. Article II summed up declares every state receives so many votes determined by the equation; two senators plus “x” amount of House Representatives. Votes of the people of each state are tallied up and the presidential nominee whom wins will be voted for by all electors, who were elected by that parties assembly to ensure their vote is in line with the winning party, in that state; a not so difficult task that has been played out by advocates against the electoral college as a complicated process that the mass of the population dislikes. However, is it really all that bad for America and what really are the true arguments against the Electoral College that demonstrators don’t want the public to know about? The Electoral College must be kept, alas; since it is already implemented supporters do not feel obligated to protest for the continuation of this important institution. Given that this is the case it must be discussed what the founding fathers were contemplating when they created a system that had never been tried and tested, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College, and the arguments to keep as well as the arguments to eliminate it. Through reason it is hoped that that people will be able to see how much the Electoral College is truly needed in the American political system and how without it our nation “is one nation gone under” (Ronald Reagan).
American Politics began after the signing of the Declaration of Independence soon after which the revolution ended and the hard work for the framers began; to create a form of Government as dissimilar as possible Britain’s while ensuring the freedom of the individual and the power of a State. Initially the Articles of Confederation were written and voted on but it was seen as inefficient for a central government to operate, the articles created states as basically separate Nations, and the only way to enact the articles was for a 13 out of 13 vote for; if any state abstained or voted against the articles they would fail. After more conferences and many compromises later the Bill of Rights and the Constitution were created to secure individual freedoms and create a strong Federal government with strong separate state working underneath; the Federal Republic was thus created. Concerning the president the reason for such a week initial plan was the people did not want another King; the reason they had just succeeded from Great Britain. The Federal government however did not want a week leader or group that would be inefficient dealing with other nations, crises, and local problems. The framers such as Gerry, Sherman, Pickney, and Mason saw “the people [as] uninformed and would be misled by a few designing men” (Peirce 42) and new they could not be trusted in governing a nation. “Three major proposals for electing the President were debated…: election by congress, election by a direct vote of the people throughout the nation or election by intermediate electors” (Peirce 39), since the direct vote option was ruled out and the colonies did not want an appointment through just congressmen the only option to ensure that a democracy would not take hold and destroy the nation was to create voting representation for the House as well as for the president. Voters could now vote for a representative to either cast their vote in congress or cast the vote on behalf of the will of the people on the president. No such proposal had ever been enacted before in any democracy let alone any republic.
The problem with such a new system in government is the possibility of flaws. When initially created the Electoral College required each member to cast two votes; one for President and one for Vice President. The goal was to have two members of the executive voted in by the people and for the people. Another hope was the Vice President would be a bonus to the nation and help the president in crisis situations or just solve every day American problems. However, the reality of the situation proved otherwise. Even if the president was elected in as a promising member of the government odds were the Vice President was elected in to be a thorn in the Presidents rear end because many times it was an opposite party presidential candidate. Imagine John Kerry being George W. Bush’s VP or perhaps even Ross Perot as Clintons VP? As one can imagine nothing would get done. The other reality was the president and the vice president would generally be elected under a corrupt deal. The election of 1824 was just such a case. “…the election was narrowed down to 4 men: John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, William Crawford, and Andrew Jackson” (Peirce 82) with all four very qualified and known in their areas very well for their accomplishments. After the election and the votes were counted Jackson had a decisive lead of ninety-nine electoral votes over Adams eighty-four but since neither obtained the amount needed to win, the vote went to the floor of the House. Clay, who had no chance, despised Jackson and pledged his voters, in congress, would go to Adams in exchange to become secretary of Defense. Therefore, Adams pulled out the leader despite initially losing the electoral vote as well as the majority vote (pierce 84-86). All fun and games in a government that once believed party politics would tear it apart.
Despite the flaws in such a unique system there are good reasons for such a plan. A main rationale for the Electoral College is to outweigh the ignorance of the electorate. At the time of the creation of the constitution few people had little education and a vast majority did not even go to school. America’s governing body feared the uneducated for “Our Founding Fathers, who are cited so frequently and appropriately on this floor, believed deeply that a successful democracy and a viable democracy require an educated and engaged citizenry” (Bill Frist). Today one may argue all of America is educated therefore the Electoral College is outdated. On the contrary, in today’s society with boundless information available at each individuals finger tips ignorance has increased. Few people pay attention to politics; as can be seen in the less then 40% voter turnout. Even for the individuals that do vote few can even explain who they really are voting for. So in other words ignorance has increased since the signing of the Constitution. Another reason for the Electoral College is to better represent the citizenry. Advocates against the Electoral College argue the citizen’s vote is not heard and is worthless and a direct voting system would work better. The opposite is true in that with a popular voting system each vote counts as 1/300,000,000 if everyone were to vote. In the Electoral College each vote can count 1/689,655; give or take a few thousand based on population. Since not everyone does vote this figure is far lower, so if only 40% voted then only 120,000,000 people would vote, so each electorate represents 275,862 votes. To break it down even further the people who are most likely to vote are elderly(in many cultures wiser) citizens, with higher education (what the founding father wanted), and rural (the men and women Jefferson thought our nation should function around) in other words the minorities of the nation. The individuals who do not vote are simply the opposite. Therefore the election can be as balanced as possible rather then skewed; elderly citizens can have equal representation with the younger generation, higher educated citizens then have a larger voice in a society that demands knowledge of politics, and the rural population that is so much a large force in America yet few people even acknowledge their existence or well being now have larger roles.
Being that the Electoral College system was created over 200 years ago and is now the oldest living constitution in the world, never to have its original wording changed (although interpretations have changed vastly) so can this document still be trusted? The arguments against the system include: it does not represent the will of the people, a more accurate vote counting system is in place today then there was in the 1700’s, and the electoral college promotes a two party system. A prime example inaccurate representation from the College was the election of 1860 for Abraham Lincoln; “Stephen Douglas was second in popular votes, he was fourth in the electoral college in this contest” (Longley 131). A recent example is George W. Bush’s presidential victory in which he lost the popular vote, but won in the Electoral College. People who use this argument feel cheated because their candidate had the majority individual votes, but did not win. Therefore, according to this system the democracy has failed. This is true, the democracy has failed. The democracy that so many Americans believe in has been bombarded by politics and is in a decaying and crumbling state with no hope for recovery (unless politician b is elected). The problem with this assumption is there would need to be a democracy at one point or another in American History for it to fail at all; therefore the assumption of a failed democracy is a good thing. The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Bill of Rights never once have the word “democracy” (Peirce, Longley, Farrand, Barnes, and Internet 1-?). America was founded as a republic so a system of representation shows a perfectly functioning system. Arguing against the system of the Electoral College is like arguing against the Congress based on how their representation works. Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund depicts a future in which the representation of America was completely wiped out. A Senators aid was trying to push a new amendment that would entitle citizens to vote congressional members out of office at any moment and any time for any reason. This would create a democratic system where the elected officials could do nothing but throw money at the citizens to keep their job putting the nation in a bankrupt state and divided state. Such a policy would eliminate the foundation of a representative legislature and eroding away the Electoral College would be the next step. Democracies in the past, such as Greece, have failed once the masses discover they can vote to give themselves money or free public projects. Another example was of the German democracy that elected Hitler. Democracy on paper and in real use is one of the worst forms of government because it puts the well being of the nation in the hands of the uneducated and ignorant as previously discussed. Technology has grown so much since the constitution that today millions of votes can be counted overnight. If electronically cast, the votes can be counted and tallied up the very second the voting is over. In today’s elections the margin of error between candidates could be merely a few hundred and human error in casting ballots or hackers on e-voting machines can happen any time and in Florida has been shown to happen. This means that there will be even more hotly contested battles across the nation. For instead of one state having a problem the entire nation will be under pressure to make sure every vote is counted. The president that is known throughout the world today was directly shaped because of the way the president was chosen for the position; “…on the assumption that a satisfactory method of electing the president had been discovered, the committee further recommended that the president now be given power… to make treaties, and to nominate and appoint ambassadors and judges to the supreme court… “(Farrand 165).
Of the major arguments against the Electoral College the injustice of a two party system is the most used. Because the Electoral College is a winner takes all system, it promotes a system for only two parties to have a chance. The major question to this is simply; how? How does a winner take all system promote a two party system? If there are three candidates that are all three qualified could there not be a 3 way race, and then in the end one win? The fact is the party’s themselves are why Americans believe there are only two choices (Somewhat hard to prove and perhaps a controversial statement for I am the only one I know to propose it). During election years the common belief is a vote for anyone else besides democrat or republican is throwing away a vote and when choosing between the two it is merely a choice of the lesser of two evils. Another theory is because of the ignorance in America no one knows what the two parties stand for (I can back this up when a Reagan quote was mistaken for a democratic ideology), so why would America want to take the time to figure out one or two more parties and what they stand for. Also the theory of if there really is a better choice why not vote for that choice? When confronted about what would happen if the winner take all system were eliminated and a state could cast its electoral votes more then one way the answered can surely be there would be more choices for president. Would there really be a larger selection? Is there not any party imaginable on the ballot including communists, socialists, Libertarians, Green, Constitutional, and so many more? Why these parties are rarely voted for? The answer is they are too far out of mainstream politics in America they would make poor leaders and perhaps destroy either the American economy or the morals of society (granted Libertarians are ever growing in popularity). If Americans do not already vote for a vast array of candidates then why would a change in voting make a difference? Even if a party could gain ground if they had more money, which generally is the theory that would happen if more attention were paid to them, then that proves the only way to win an election is through propaganda aimed at the ignorant and uneducated thus proving once again the Electoral College is needed to cancel out the easily swayed by propaganda vote.
America has risen to great success in the past 200 years as one of the youngest nations in the world along with the oldest living constitution. There then must be something right with content and the wording of the documents that govern our nation, in fact not one part of the original writings have been changed (except through interpretation within the second). The Electoral College is apart of these documents as well and should the success of the nation not be attributed as much to this as it is the second amendment or the first? The reason for wanting change is clear when the party that supports such a measure has the majority of the population in the nation as a member, and relies on the uneducated poor and most ignorant as their voting base. The fact of the Electoral College is it will allow any presidential candidate in as long as he (or future she) supports the nation as an entire whole. I challenge America next election to disregard the ignorant saying of throwing a vote away and go out and cast your vote for the person you want disregarding parties perhaps even run for office if your ideology is that important. This would mean one would need to be educated in what each presidential candidate stands for and actually thinking about what each person as a voter stands for. Even if one of the original two still win they will need to rethink their campaign strategy in the future to better represent America. This will probably not happen and probably will never happen so until it does the Electoral College is the best option for the United States of America.
Annotated Bibliography
Farrand, Max. “The Framing of the Constitution of the United States.” New Haven and London. Yale University Press. 1913
This book covers the events leading up to what the founding fathers decided to implement into a government and the thought process that the founding fathers were in during the creation. It also gives the exact wording of the documents that America is founded on.
Longley, Lawrence D. & Peirce, Neal R. “Electoral College Primer.” New Haven Conn. Yale University Press c1996
This book dives into the reasons the founding fathers decided to create a electoral college after the revolution and how it was intended to work. Furthermore, it also explains in detail how the Electoral College system works in today’s America. He uses evidence and support from the past as well as from the 1996 election to show the reader what the Electoral College really is and what it means for Americans.
Lund, Gerald M. “Freedom Factor” Desert Book Co. 1987
Nathaniel Gorham, one of the signers of the constitution, shows upas a ghost and takes Bryce Sherwood to a world where the constitution never happened and the form of representations were never enacted. It is a fictional book that depicts a world devoid of the bill of rights and the constitution. The reason for the ghost is to show the Senators aid what would happen if direct representation were implemented in the American Society.
Peirce, Neal R. “The Peoples President: The Electoral college in American History and the direct vote alternative.” New York Simon & Schulster. 1968
Peirce uses this book to explain what the history of the Electoral College has been as well as where he thinks it is heading. The direct vote system is also brought up as a counter example and goes into how this would affect the American Voter. Other issues brought up are the efforts to reform the Electoral College including ones that have passed such as the twelfth amendment and other that have not done so well.
Smith, Edward & Barnes, William. “The Constitution of the United States.” New York, Barnes and Noble. 1972
Smith and Barnes explain the fundamental papers that have shaped this nation from the very beginning. They analyze the “Declaration of Independence” and why it was written, “The Articles of Confederation” and why it failed as a document for an effective government, and the “Bill of Rights” and “Constitution” and how they have lasted throughout the years. The articles themselves are written out for quick and easy access.