The Electoral College is one element of the Great Compromise between small states and large states that was essential to the adoption of the Constitution. The Electoral College assures that each state, no matter how large or small, has exactly the same vote to elect the President.
News commentators today in the popular media don't mention that fact because they don't understand it. So they give an inane explanation, that this will ensure that the people who want to be elected President will campaign in each state. That's not what it's about.
There are roughly 275 million Americans - roughly 190 million are eligible to vote - roughly 70 million are registered to vote. Assume for the sake of the argument that of those, 36 million lived in the coastal SMSAs, e.g., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Detroit and Chicago SMSAs, and the rest lived in rural areas. If we did not have the Electoral College, the residents of a dozen or so cities would elect the President.
You probably would have no trouble with that, because you think like the people who live in large metropolitan areas and tend to vote Democrat. Your idea of American culture is formed by what you see on TV, what you see in the movies, what you read in the newspapers and what you read in mass market books. These all reflect the perspectives of people who live in large cities - or what people who live in large cities imagine the rest of the country to be. A President who identifies with that culture makes you feel comfortable.
The rest of the country would not like it one bit. What you call "national unity" isn't. It's unity among those who live in large cities, and share a popular culture. The cultures of those who don't live in large cities are different, and they are not homogenous, either.
I know you don't understand this. I expect that you can't understand this. Nevertheless, it's true, and it's as important today as it was 200 years ago.
Try to remember - Virginia was founded by Protestants - Maryland was Catholic and tolerant - Pennsylvania was founded by the Quakers - Massachusetts was founded by the Pilgrims - New York was founded by the Dutch - Louisiana was founded by the French - the people who lived in the states didn't want to lose their identity. Each state approaches state government in a different way.
Proper government of a country as large and as populous as the United States must be decentralized - otherwise, the big cities will control the rural areas in such a way as benefits the big cities at the expense of the rural areas. This is unacceptable to the rural areas, and that's why the Electoral College was adopted, and why it will never be abandoned. |
