Re: [EM] The Rotted Electoral College (was Action)

[Alex Small]

Paul Hager wrote:

>I'm rethinking my support of the EC. Perhaps the best way to protect
>state interests is to repeal the 17th Amendment -- direct election of
>Senators -- conditioned on direct election of the President.

The Founders had a nice idea:  Put the selection of Senators and Presidents
in the hands of specially chosen people.  The problem is that most people
say "Why should I choose you to choose somebody?  Why not decide whom _I_
want and choose electors who agree?"  That resulted in pledged electors
almost from the start, acting as proxies for candidates rather than
independent agents in most cases.  Also, many states started to have
unofficial Senate elections, which the legislature would ratify.

In principle I would support electing the President by a deliberative body
of specially chosen sages, convened for a weighty decision.  Who could
object to sending our wisest people to make a great decision?

The "problem", of course, is that people won't surrender their authority
over their government, so electors become proxies for national candidates.
The result is that the Electoral College is a crude accounting scheme
rather than a wise conclave.  If we can't have a conclave of sages I'll
take the consensus of the American people over any crude accounting system.

Alex