The Constitution, The Electoral College, Hillary Clinton and Thanksgiving
Even though the Electoral College is receiving a lot of bad press these days it serves a very important function; ensuring that the president, and the presidential candidates, consider the interest of all of the states of the union.
The nature of our country as a Republic of otherwise sovereign states seems to be lost in the current discussion.
The essence of the Constitution, is the definition of the rights of the Federal government and the rights of the states. Even though it vests more power in the Federal government than the Federation which it replaced had, it still maintains the basic perspective that, unless otherwise stated herein, all power rests with the states (Actually all power rest with the people, except if it rests with the states, except if it rests with the Federal government but that is an issue for another day).
One of the most significant differences between the Democrats and the Republicans is their perspective on Federal vs States rights; with the Democrats being much more inclined to think that a "Federal" solution is going to be best while Republicans feel that local government is in a much better position to meet the needs of a of people living in very diverse situations throughout the states.
A key example of this has to do with the issue of Abortion. While some Republicans may by anti-abortion and some Democrats may be Pro-Choice I'm sure that there are many examples of individuals of party affiliation who do not agree on that point. The essence of the political difference on this issue is not should abortions be legal but rather does the Federal government have the right to legislate on the issue. Roe vs Wade did not say that it was constitutional or unconstitutional to have an abortion but rather that the Federal government had no authority to rule on the issue either way. It is a state's rights issue as for example is the death penalty (within the context of the Federally guaranteed individual rights).
While the electoral college was one of the creative ways in which the rights of states were balanced in the constitution it is probably not the most significant.
The Bicameral Legislature is perhaps the best example of the way in which a compromise was forged by the framers of the Constitution which enabled it to be supported by the large and small states alike. The house of representatives is set up so that representation is based on population and the senate is set up so that representation is based on statehood regardless of population.
One of the most ironic points in the post election morass was when Hillary Clinton, speaking as a newly elected member of what arguably is the most undemocratic part of our government, The Senate, in her typical knee jerk "tell them what they want to hear" style of government called for the ending of the electoral college because it was not democratic.
I'm sure that there will be a number of senators who will be able to explain many of the finer points about our government to her though. Trent Lott's upside to her head response to her public statements about the issue, that freshman senators should keep their mouth's shut made this very clear.
While I can't say that I look forward to having to see her in the papers and on TV over the next years, I can't think of many roles in government that will be more frustrating for her than that of senator. I'm sure that she will enjoy her initial committee assignment as a junior member of the cesspool sub-committee of Human Waster Disposal committee.
They didn't do too bad a job on the constitution and luckily while they provided a method to keep it updated they did not make it easy to do so.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not I have found that feeling thankful is nice regardless of circumstances. I have also found that it is not always that easy. <GG> As a close friend recently reminded me - the fact that you are having a bad day does at least still mean that you are alive. |
