The Education Wonks
It is absolutely insane that Iowa and New Hampshire have all the pull they have-- especially since they are so unrtepresentative of the nation as a whole.
The caucus should go the way of the dodo (Ever done one? It takes forever and results in even fewer participants from an already sparsely populated voting pool). All primaries should be on the same day-- and certainly should not be taking place in January.
Then again, the electoral college should be axed, and voting over the weekend might not be a bad idea, either, if we really want to encourage voter participation. That certainly is NOT the goal of the current system, however.
The electoral college is a necessary requirement of the representative republic in which we live. The United States is NOT a direct democracy, and has never been one. This situation (since the major influences of the voting procedures are the French - Borda, Condorcet - among the other influences on the founding of the US) is necessary to the balance of power between the federal power and the state power (see the 10th amendment). The US uses democratic principles to operate the republic, but it is not a democracy.
If we were a direct democracy, the entire country would be controlled by the people of New York, Florida, and California. I find that completely unacceptable (I live in Pennsylvania); this is the reason that senators were originally elected by the state legislature to the Senate, not directly (17th amendment) - to act as a check on the House of Representatives.
Disclaimer - I am not a political science teacher, I am a math teacher who has just finished a semester of teaching voting methods and methodology to one of my classes. I used Saul Stahl's book _Understanding_Modern_Mathematics_; the chapter on voting (chapter 3) is quite well written.
Hi Jason,
Seeing as you're lucky enough to live in one of the so-called "battleground states," I'm not surprised that you feel that way.
Last election cycle, (2004) each of the two major candidates (Kerry and Bush) visited your state of Pennsylvania over 30 times during the last two months before the election.
Out here in California, the nominees hardly ever visit, except to attend high-powered (and highly expensive) invitation-only fund-raisers.
This is because the great majority of California's are registered Democrats.
The Democrats take the state's "winner-take-all" electoral votes for granted and the Republicans know that they can't win the state.
Thus, we get ignored by both parties' candidates.
The electoral college may have been needed in the 18th century, but became obsolete with the invention of the telegraph and universal sufferage.
Today, it's a dangerous and expensive anachronism (Bush in 2000 and Kerry's very nearly "electoral" win in 2004) that needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
We believe every American's vote should count equally.
Having said that, those who fear the abolition of the Electoral College need not worry about Americans electing their own president, as the only way to finally get rid of the Electoral College is through a Constitutional amendment.
And that's not going to happen for ANY reason, much less that of actually INCREASING governmental accountability to those of us who are governed.
We don't seem to be able to amend the Constitution any longer in order to reflect changing conditions.
Nowadays, the Constitution is changed only through life-appointed Judges who simply "interpret" the once living document as they seem fit.
And when it comes to the Consitution, the ruling of one life-appointed judge can only be overturned by another higher-level life-appointed judge.
Where's the democracy in that?
The Electoral College is a necessity. I would not like to have the population of California and the other mentally challenged populations of other states voting for my president.
Dixville NOTCH. Ok you educated folks reading this blog, tell us, geographically, what's a NOTCH ?
"Notch" comes from an ancient New England term meaning "smallish clique of self-important publicity-seeking buffoons."
"Dixville" also has a meaning. It means "town full of dix" in the Quebecois French that is spoken in the region.
Hee, hee, hee Ed!
But seriously, a "Notch" is Northern-speak for what westerners would call a "Pass," I believe. I come from a pretty flat state, so I'm inferring here.
And yes, after numerous election debacles, I think we ALL know we don't have a democracy. But it might be nice to try it, for a change.
Those of us who live in states with later primaries get sick of being ignored over and over again. Those of us who live in states with smaller populations are also sick of being ignored-- and that might not change once the primary system and the Electoral College was gone. But it would take the clout away from places like New Hampshire, or Ohio.
And guess the minimum number of states (although unlikely) it takes to win the presidency under the Electoral College?
Eleven.
And then there's the whole deal of "faithless electors" and multiple results from the same state and so on. I wish we could move beyond our deathgrip on a broken system just because we insist any other solution-- like democracy-- would be imperfect.
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