RE: Republican Lies

[levien@cc.gatech.edu (Levien de Braal)]

Hello all,

"Scott Weikert" <scott@alphageek.com> wrote:
>I've always found the electoral college system to be flawed... why should
>one candidate or the other get ALL the votes for a particular state when
>they may barely get a real majority? I'd prefer seeing state votes divvied
>up by district... it'd be more accurate. Or (perish the thought!) go with
>a popular vote system...!

The system of a popular vote was actually considered initially, but preference
was given to the current electoral college system. There are several reasons
for this:

1) It specifically recognizes the power of the States. After all the US is a
   Republic of States, not a Democracy of People. I know the preamble to the
   constitution sounds like it's a "power to the people" document, but in
   reality it comes down to limiting the power of the Federal government in
   favor of the States (and, so the theory goes, hence the people of those
   States...)

2) When the time arrived for individual States to join the Union, the smaller
   States needed extra incentive to join. They were particularly worried that
   they would be overpowered by larger and more populous States. Instead of
   giving small States an advantage by counting the votes there as having more
   weight, the electoral system masks this advantage somewhat. There's still
   about a factor four difference for the number of votes per Electoral
   College member between small and large states.

A popular vote system has its own troubles, BTW. Imagine a nationwide
difference of a few hundred votes. What then, recount the whole country?
At least the mess is now limited to one State, and because Bush opted to not
ask for a recount (well, ok, he did get a recount in Republican counties, and
he is asking for a recount of some of the overseas ballots) it's actually
limited to four counties. Two of those (Valusia and Broward) are handled, so
there's now only two left: Palm Beach and Miami-Dade. That simplifies things
a lot. Also keep in mind that if Bush and Harris hadn't been opposing,
obstructing, and even halting the recounts over and over, those two counties
whould've been finished already and there'd be a lot less to argue over.

Yes, a national vote has its advantages, but there are bigger things to
consider than that. I personally think that the Congressional District system
(as compared to the system of national party slates) causes much more
misschief. It really supports a two-party system that thrives on confrontation
and a 'big winner' instead of representation, negatiation, and cooperation.

Levien
-- 
"Do you hear the people sing, Lost in the valley of the night?
 It is the music of a people, Who are climbing to the light.
 For the wretched of the earth, There is a flame that never dies.
 Even the darkest night will end, And the sun will rise." -- Les Miserables