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m II wrote in message news:bzdrd.15127$cE3.9140@clgrps12...
-=jd=- wrote: Ever hear the phrase "The majority rules"? x The Electoral College was installed to prevent just that from happening. In that way, New York can't push North Dakota around. Actually, there were two primary reasons for the electoral college. One was similar to your argument, to ensure that populous states could not automatically dictate to the less populous states what the federal government would look like in the executive branch. This, back when individual states were a lot more likely to reflect autonomous patterns of government. Nowadays, things like slavery, which really set apart states one from another, are much less common, and homogeneity means that, except for patterns of industry, most states are becoming more or less alike (if not there yet). The other is that, back then, communication between states and the federal government was slow, and persons from one area might not be familiar with the candidates from another area. The electoral college idea was thought to be a way of softening the effects of slow communications and provinciality (I'm sorry, I am not able to explain this well without a review in front of me), but in the 21st century, with mass media controlling everything and information at most everyone's fingertips (something the founding fathers could not envision), this has become something of an anachronistic rule as well. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution were written in such a way as to protect the minority from the abuse of the majority. ....true, but noting always that the majority still decides the overall course of action. Ultimately, majority does (in most cases) rule, with concessions to the minority. Frankly, this is sensible - it attempts to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number, without walloping those who may otherwise be on the short end of the stick. Whether the electoral college is still necessary to ensure this is debatable. Like the man said: Real Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch. Added to by Edward R. Murrow: A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. Both rather cynical, but then these are cynical times in which we live. Bruce Jensen mike |
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