The Electoral College Is A Bad Product
New York City, March 12th, 1788
Today, ‘Publius’, widely believed to be the pen name of statesman, lawyer and banker Alexander Hamilton, has published the 68th essay in the series of Federalist papers, entitled “The Mode of Electing the President”.
Readers of The New York Packet will be familiar with Mr. Hamilton’s essays, begun last year in an effort to convince his fellow New Yorkers to ratify the U.S. Constitution, a document drafted last summer in Philadelphia. Hamilton, along with other authors like John Jay and James Madison, hopes that these essays will serve to add some additional context to the ideas and principles put forward in the Constitution.
“Ultimately, we felt that if we wanted to get people onboard with the idea of a United States, we needed to offer them a sort of behind-the-curtain look at how the sausage was made.” said Hamilton. “James had some really good ideas, and John-- God love him, but he’s kind of the Ringo of our group...and no, there’s no George-- certainly shares our broader goal. But in two hundred and twenty some-odd years, will they be the subject of a blockbuster Broadway musical? No.”
When pressed to explain some of his references, Mr. Hamilton simply asked that reporters “wait and see”.
“The Mode of Electing the President” argues that the system presently in place for selecting Presidents, introduced in Article II Section 1 of the Constitution, is better for being an indirect electoral process, rather than a direct, popular electoral process. “James Wilson had initially proposed that the winner of a popular vote become the President, right?” Mr. Hamilton explained. “But Madison--and, really, this is why we love him, he’s always coming up with an angle, he’s always outside-the-box with this stuff-- wisely pointed out that in less populated states, the slave-holding states, fewer people means less representation. How do we include all Americans, so long as they’re white, male and land-owning, in the process?”
When asked what this might mean for the very same future in which he claims there will be a biographical musical, or its significance for a new republic that is at once yearning to be free from tyranny while also continuing to encourage, practice and promote slavery, Mr. Hamilton declined to comment.
In his essay, Hamilton explains that by having electors, “...men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice,” it will not only spread the power of representation to less populous states, it will create a check on populist impulses, such as electing a demagogue to the land’s highest office.
But what if a demagogue is delivered unto the presidency not by the will of the people, but by the electors? And what if, one day, the population of the United States is so uneven from state to state, that electors serve as a cancellation of the popular vote, rather than a check on the popular vote’s power?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to opt for a truly representative democracy, a legitimately popular process, where the winner of the most votes won the Presidency?
Hamilton declined to comment directly, pointing only to a paragraph in his essay:. “Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States.”
The electoral college, then, appears to be a feature and not a bug.
It is the New Coke of American democracy. The Zune of the late 18th century.
It is a bad and outdated product. And when asked what to do to if, one day, millions of Americans were still baffled and enraged by the electoral college, Hamilton smiled and suggested that they “do something revolutionary, then. It’s worked before.”
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Mission complete - March 29th Vietnam War Veterans Day is Public Law 115-15 President signed 03/28/2017
3yOne significant invention of the 19th century that catapulted America into the industrial revolution in the 20th Century was the Hulett Ore Unloader, and only two of these 10 story high and 880 ton machines are left in Cleveland Ohio taken down in large sections - details on the history and significance can be found at asme_huletts.pdf (citizensvision.org)
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3yWRONG! On so many counts...the electoral college was put in place to prevent the Tyranny of the Masses. And that is EXACTLY what is happening now which means the electoral college is more relevant than ever. You keep forgetting that the United States is NOT a pure democracy. It is a Constitutional Republic. Maybe if you would have taken civics instead of gender studies you wouldn't have written such drivel.
Founder & CEO Madoff Productions, Adjunct Professor @Parsons, Author "Creative Careers", Keynote Speaker, Lead Producer & Playwright
3yOne of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who most of us know about because of his invention of the breath saving mint, (dubbed, "The Franklin Mint"), also discovered the Electrical College by flying a kite with a key attached, during a storm. In 1791, a year after Franklin's death, Michael Faraday was born. He built on the idea of electricity by actually doing something with it, he built the first electric motor. The Founding Fathers, upset that one of their own was losing the credit, continued to spread the myth of Franklin's discovery. Their concern was the general populous needed a backstop so they wouldn't make decisions simply based on majority rule, hence the Electrical College was born to keep the myth that they knew better alive. The irony was that Franklin voted to uphold that decision, although he was dead at the time, thus leading to rumors of voter fraud that persist to this day. Another brilliant, fun and informative article Matthew.
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3yThe electors had multiple reasons to be. Without the electoral college we have that thing called "mob" rule. The electoral college enables the considerations of diversity in states. It does indeed support as a a republic for we are not a pure democracy but democratic in nature. A real reason for the college was also as a check relative to problems within an election. It's a good thing. As Elbridge Gerry said "The people are uninformed, and would be misled by a few designing men." That statement by one of the delegates in 1787 is as true now as it was then due to non-objective news reporting and stilted rhetoric in the leadership of most any politician on the state and local stage.
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3yMy most esteemed Mr. Hooper. You suggest it is the New Coke. Perhaps the unfortunate truth is that it is the New Koch?