[molsen]

this is about politics, but maybe there's a chance it'll stay open.

What are your thoughts on the U.S. Electoral College system? Good? Bad? Was it perhaps a good idea when the Constitution was originally drafted but a bad idea now? Or has it always been a good/bad idea? I'm curious to what people think about this.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, here's a quick rundown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_college

I don't see any reason why there should be any flaming here, but if it does occur, I expect this to be closed.

[Jorsoft]

Maybe a good idea then to maintain states' rights but it's a bad idea now. It means that the will of the general populace is not always reflected. For example in the 2000 election Gore had more votes than Bush but Bush secured more electoral college votes.
I don't believe we should have this system any longer.

[thebleakness]

When someone votes, they are not actually voting for their choice president but the elector. The electors dont even have to vote for the popular choice by the people either, which ruins the peoples choice president. I dont think this system is right at all, in the beginning it might have been a good idea because the framers beleived that the general public was uneducated and couldnt make a sensable decision. Today though i beleive people can make their own decision due to the fact they are exposed to the candidates and the candidates individual morals/stances.

In short, i dont think the electoral college should be continued to be used. The U.S. should become a true democracy like the one it was supposed to be.

[molsen]

well keep in mind the U.S. was never meant to be a democracy. it's a constitutional republic. the fact that our political leaders constantly call the U.S. a democracy is a misnomer. we are more "democratic" than many other governments but we're just a representative democracy, not a real democracy.

buuuuut, eliminating the electoral college would put us a step closer to being a direct democracy, wouldn't it?

[Vybuni]

The electoral college is outdated. Simple as that. It was useful before, but today in the information age, it is no longer necessary. It should be removed and there should be a direct election of the President.

A true democracy relies on the people being educated about the decisions they make and with 300 million people it simply cannot happen. Democracy really can only successfully occur in a small group, not a large nation. But yeah, every small step is important.

[molsen]

i agree with most of you, in that it doesn't represent the popular vote accurately.

so can I propose that perhaps it was never mean to represent everyone equally? maybe the founding fathers created the electoral college in an attempt to purposefully give the states for voting power. back then, the general public didn't know very much about politics, as information didn't move very quickly.

some quotes:



"A popular election in this case is radically vicious. The ignorance of the people would put it in the power of some one set of men dispersed through the Union, and acting in concert, to delude them into any appointment." -- Delegate Gerry, July 25, 1787

"The extent of the country renders it impossible, that the people can have the requisite capacity to judge of the respective pretensions of the candidates." -- Delegate Mason, July 17, 1787

"The people are uninformed, and would be misled by a few designing men." -- Delegate Gerry, July 19, 1787.

[thebleakness]

Exactly what i was saying. ^^

Most people dont even know that the electoral college exists. They belive that they are voting for "their" president. This is just proving the point that the public is misinformed about the whole election business and reinforcing the use of the EC. First thing should be that everyone is educated on the political workings (i.e. the electoral college) of this country and then I think they would be better prepared for a democratic government. It will take time but much better in the begining. I still think Americans are much more knoweldable about politics today than during the framing times but i think some details are not beign taught.

[Vybuni]

Let me clarify my view. I want it to be removed, so we can directly choose who we want to lead us. We will never be able to discard the electoral college, however, because as you said, people are stupid (maybe not exactly what you said, but close enough). We will need impartial news media and a much stronger educational system then we have now to be able to get rid of the electoral college. I personally think that we should have some minimum requirements to be able to vote, i.e. that a potential voter must know each of the candidate's positions, opinions and biases, as well as some kind of basic intelligence test and have a certain level of education to participate. (yay for run-on sentences.)

[molsen]

yea, that'd be good....some sort of qualification other than age and citizenship. but we're talking about some major changes to the constitution. i'm okay with that, but washington isn't

[Crysalis]

Agreed - its a waste. Normally, i stay out of politics and really don't know much about it. I do know that we could do fine without the electoral college, and as said above, do direct voting.