Progressives are now complaining that the Electoral College prevented the candidate with the most votes from winning. They argue that it’s not democratic and that it’s out of date and a vestige of slavery.
But America is not a democracy, it’s a republic, and the Electoral College is not out of date, nor did it have anything to do with slavery.
The counting of slaves as three-fifths of a person was about the number of members in the House of Representatives, not the College of Electors.
Our Founding Fathers wanted to ensure individual freedom, and you can’t do that in a democracy because the majority rules. Any minority is at the mercy of the majority.
A republic has a different purpose: to protect the individual from the majority and thus protect minority rights and the liberties of people in general. It’s a balancing act kept in place by a written constitution.
That’s what the elector system is all about: It prevents mob rule at the top.
At some point during the election, you probably saw a map of the results by counties or voting precincts. Although the majority vote was blue, the map was red with only some small blue areas, primarily along the coasts.
If majority vote elected the president, three or four states would be so strong, they would determine every issue and elect every president. As it is now, swing states vary from election to election, depending on the leading issues of the day.
Mike Keegan,
Port Angeles