Quote:
Originally Posted by Ark2
Those that hate the EC would likely be singing the praises of the founding father's wisdom had the 2016 presidential election been reversed and Trump had won the popular vote but lost the EC. This isn't directed at you, but I think for most people, their issue with the electoral college is the result, not the method itself.
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Fair comment, but I think inaccurate. Americans really do not like the EC, regardless of the side of the divide they reside. They view it as unreasonable. This is because most Americans (and Canadians for that matter) believe we are a democracy, which the United States is not. We are a republic, and as such, the EC is a mechanism to maintain order within that republic. Unfortunately, the EC was established at a time when it made sense, but the expectations of the people and the attitudes within society have rendered the EC moot.
Seriously, the EC was put in place to provide a balancing mechanism for the least populated states to have fair representation in the selection of the president. The senate was established for equal and effective power in the legislative function for those same low population states. What has evolved is a two headed monster that has swung the balance of power to the small population states over those with the majority of the population and economic means driving the nation. I added the latter part in there so you can approach this from a bottom line perspective as well. Those who provide the least, have the smallest numbers, now have the greatest sway in deciding the political will of the nation.
Here are some chilling numbers and thoughts to go with it. President Trump loves to #### all over California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York (the blue states) and threatens them with non-support. That is 13,055,442 people who voted for Trump that he is going to be shafting. Did you know that in California 4,483,810 people voted for Trump. That is more than Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa combined (4,387,714). So in the balance of power that is 20 senators to 2. Now can you begin to see why people don't like the current system. Add in that the last two presidents to fail to win the popular vote (Bush and Trump), but got in on the EC, have done so much damage to this country, it is easy to see why people hate the EC.