[EM] electoral college/Serious thoughts

[Alex Small]

Adam Tarr said:
> P.S.  Let's remember for a moment that the EC was not implemented as
> some  high-concept method of guaranteeing small states' rights.  It was
> a method  of abstracting out the vote so that the southern states could
> get some  credit for their non-voting slave populations.  Not exactly
> the proudest  legacy left in our system of government.

Although that was part of it, in the end I don't think there really was
any single concept or motive behind the EC.  I've read all sorts of ex
post facto explanations for the concepts behind the electoral college. 
Some are nefarious, most are lofty-sounding, but the accounts of the
Constitutional Convention make it seem like the EC was more of a
last-minute compromise that they agreed on because they were antsy to go
back home and see their wives and mistresses.

They didn't like the idea of a popular vote, so that was out.  And they
didn't like the idea of a parliamentary system, so that was out.  And,
well, somebody was going to have to elect the President, and if it wasn't
the population at large, and it wasn't Congress, then they'd just have to
form some other group to do the job, and that's what happened.  They
didn't really have a coherent vision of _why_ this particular group should
do it, how these people would be chosen (that was left to each state to
decide), or what (if any) grant principle would justify it, but that was
the only compromise that would get them out of there.



Alex Small