OK, the electoral college was instituted 200 years ago, when the United
States were much more like the European Union is now...a collection of
semi-independent sovreign states who agreed to political union. So the
Constitution has many guarantees that the large states like Virgina
(France) and New York (Germany) couldn't unilaterally impose their will
on the small states like Delaware (Netherlands) and Rhode Island
(Luxemburg).
So there was a compromise.
But now there is no way to change it. In order for the electoral
college to be abolished it would take a constitutional amendment. And
that takes ratification by 2/3 of the house, 2/3 of the senate, and 3/4
of the state legislatures. Even if you could get 66% of congress to
vote for it, it would take only 13 holdout state legislatures to block
it. And since the small states would be cutting their own throats if
they approved it, getting rid of the electoral college is a dead issue
before it even starts.
A more possible solution would be for the states to apportion their
electoral votes instead of "winner-take-all". But, this is controlled
by the states, Maine and Nebraska do it already. If you really think
this is unfair, you can get your state legislature to change things,
but it can only be done on a state-by-state basis. A constitutional
amendment that changes the balance of power will not happen.
=====
Darryl
Think Galactically -- Act Terrestrially
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