tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post2374078047164657647..comments2024-03-06T05:17:31.852-07:00Comments on Integral Options Cafe: Abolishing the Electoral Collegewilliam harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13617569.post-17549767377197144962007-10-12T09:05:00.000-07:002007-10-12T09:05:00.000-07:00I disagree, Bill. The article is impassioned popp...I disagree, Bill. The article is impassioned poppycock. You could never have made the argument against the Electoral College this badly.<BR/><BR/>For starters, as a Californian, I feel the need to remind readers that the California Electoral College Initiative is NOT going to be on the ballot, it has been abandoned AND that it would never, ever have passed. <BR/><BR/>The idea that the electoral system was a terrible idea in 1787 is interesting. Does Garrett Epps really think the United States could have managed a national popular election for president from the beginning!? Up until about 1910, our country really was more of a congregation of states, with a lot of distrust between the states. The idea that a national, popularly-elected presidency would have worked from the beginning of our nation is downright bizarre. Such an circumstance would have accelerated the beginning of North-South strife and split the country by 1830.<BR/><BR/>Allow me to ignore half the article, then, and concentrate on the idea of a quick conversion to a popular election NOW and how horrible the Electoral College currently is.<BR/><BR/>Epps makes a big deal of a paucity of small-state presidents, but the impediment to small-staters becoming president mostly no longer exist, I would contend, and abolishing the EC wouldn't remedy whatever disadvantage small-staters might continue to have. 'Nuff said; this is a minor tempest.<BR/><BR/>While I agree that we need reforms to our national election to meet changes to our country, Epps chooses to highlight the problems of close elections, suggesting that had the popular-vote been in place things would have been smooth.<BR/><BR/>I would contend that corruption and vote tampering are magnified in popular elections, and that screwing with ballots anywhere can mess up the election with a popular-vote system, whereas the EC quarantines problems.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13718601770472939313noreply@blogger.com