General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you favor the removal of the Electoral College? [View all]Tom Rinaldo
(22,919 posts)Different regions can have significantly different, valid self interests. At it's best the electoral college could serve as a check to help protect domination of minority interests by a majority, or more specifically, preventing sparsely populated regions from being overly exploited by majorities elsewhere making ill advised use of their land and resources through imposed national policies...
That's in theory. In practice it is the minority that dominates the majority under the current electoral college. The formula used to determine electoral votes is simply too far out of whack to bear any resemblance to fair. I of course understand the democratic principle behind relying solely on the popular vote to elect a President, and I would far prefer that to the current system. But the United States has a huge land mass and it has its roots as a Confederation. There are examples, like N.A.T.O. or the EU, where member units retain a degree of power as entities, rather than having their population count be dissolved into on big election melting pot.