The Electoral College

What is the Electoral College Anyway?

The View from the Middle

Wasn’t it just a few months ago that Democrats and Republicans alike where ridiculing Donald Trump for suggesting that the RNC change its primary election rules?  While these rules have changed through the years and are different by state, they have been in place “for years” according to Reince Priebus.  So, Trump was portrayed as a “whiney baby” who was just trying to change the rules of the game to his advantage. 

Now, we have Democrats ridiculing the general election process because Hillary Clinton won the nationwide popular vote but lost in the Electoral College.  I’m actually stunned that the hypocrisy is so thick and yet it goes undetected by the lamestream media.  Do these people think we have no videos, newspaper articles or even memories to refer to?  Before we talk about why Democrats want to terminate the Electoral College, let’s talk about what it is and why it was created.

The Electoral College is a collection of electors selected by the states to correspond with each state’s total of Representatives in the House and its two Senators.  That comes to 535 (435 House Reps and 100 Senators), but in 1960 the 23^rd amendment granted Washington DC the status of a state and thus three electors to bring the total to 538.  That’s why it takes a total of 270 electors to guarantee a candidate a majority and thus the Presidency.

If you read anything about the Constitutional Convention you realize that it was a very contentious affair.  Two of the biggest issues they debated were the balance of power between the state and federal governments and between big and small states.  The Founders, in their infinite wisdom, created two houses of congress, one based on population (the House of Representatives) and one with equal representation (the Senate). 

This configuration requires the federal government to be concerned about and work with all states and not just the big states to get things done.  The Electoral College is simply a manifestation of the same concept but expressed through an electoral process.

In the most current election, Hillary Clinton will win the popular vote by about 1.2 million votes.  She will win two states, California and New York, by almost five million votes.  That would mean that Donald Trump took the remaining 48 states by four million votes, which would be considered a landslide by most analysts. 

Do we really want to live in a country that can be so easily dominated by just two states?  New York and California account for almost 20% of the country’s population and they are extreme in their views and almost robotic in their voting habits.  A popular vote system would promote New York and California to positions of “capitals” and reduce the other 48 states to a status of colonies or districts.  If you throw Illinois and Massachusetts into the mix, which are similar in size and extreme partisan voting support, the Democrat party could control the entire country through just four states. 

So, if you live in one of the other 46 states, I would encourage you to read the book The Hunger Games to get a glimpse of what this “capitals” vs. “districts” relationship can evolve into.  New York and California would tell the people in Wyoming or Arkansas or Mississippi how to live and even think.  But, if you want to live in a country where every person in every state is free and considered important by our government, you will continue to support the Electoral College process.

Long live the “Flyover Country”.