Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
I see it as an act of defiance. Those electors would've known they had no chance of upsetting either Nixon or Kennedy, but they were acting in 'their' best interest, exactly the way the system was supposed to work. The system isn't broken in any substantial way, it's just a really crappy system that allows for the occasional failure. It's crappy as a form of 'democracy' regardless of whether it's working or not, but if you aren't looking for democracy, then it's I guess it's actually a great system. This is loose, but it's akin to political feudalism
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If the system's broken, it's because it has to an extent transformed itself into a nominal democracy--it just doesn't work very well as one. I do think Dis is right that to do a straight up popular vote for the president would be bad. I'd imagine it would be opposed by Republicans in any case, since it would mean that if turnout stays low the Democrats could win a presidential election by increasing turnout only in the 14 most populous counties in the nation, forgetting about rural voters altogether. But most Americans do believe that the electoral college is simply a way of tallying votes, rather than an institution designed to separate them from actual power. It's at worst a blemish on their "democracy" and at best a totally antiquated system (and again--not trying to defend Canada's "first-past-the-post" boondoggle here, just offering a critique of the U.S. system).
And changing it shouldn't be impossible--after all, the political culture has undergone massive changes over time; Jefferson probably could not have imagined a President as powerful as Lincoln, but nowadays they all have that wide-ranging executive power. There are many circumstances the framers couldn't have foreseen, and many limitations to how they were able to imagine the shape of the nation/polity they were creating. One of the biggest problems in American politics is this reference to the "founding fathers" as though they were infallible divine ancestors, whose will must be obeyed.
In all honesty, their system isn't designed for an "America" as a distinct and self-sufficient nation, but as a way of structuring a relationship between independent and self-sufficient states. Once that has changed, one wonders whether the rest could be thrown out the window as well.