- Home
- News
- Opinion
- Letters
- Sports
- Prospecting
- Essentials
- Obituaries
- Real Estate
- Comics
- Gallery
- Classifieds
- Advertisers
- Coupons
- Contact Us
Share Article
492
560492560
EDITOR:
I couldn’t agree more with Bill Snodgrass’s letter. I have been saying for more 30 years we have to get rid of the Electoral College. Having been out of college for over 55 years I have forgotten what I learned in my government classes. What will it take to have it removed from the system?
Every organization I have ever heard about, belonged to, etc. popular vote and it passed; it’s time for our government to do the same and let the people speak.
How do we get our so called “representatives” to hear us and what sort of grassroots effort will it take to get it started. Surely we here in El Dorado County aren’t the only ones who think this way.
PAT STROTH
Cameron Park
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
AnthonyNovember 16, 2012 - 9:19 am
The Electoral College system was established in Article 2 Section 1 of the US Constitution. The states have discretion over how the electors are allocated. But to completely abolish the EC and move to a popular vote system, would require amending the Constitution.
TerryNovember 16, 2012 - 8:36 pm
Pat, let me suggest that you look up and study the differences, pro and con, of a republic versus a democracy. We are a democratic republic. It is a union of sovereign and equal states. The makeup of congress and the EC were designed to reflect this point. The House was elected directly by the people while the Senate was, originally appointed by the state legislatures. Thus the House represented the people and the Senate the states. The XVII Amendment changed this relationship thus making both houses report directly to the people. As a result we have seen erosion of state’s rights for the last 100 years. The federal government has assumed more power and authority then it was every supposed to have. The Electoral College was designed to prevent the larger states and cities from totally dominating the new republic. Those issues still exist as the large cities on both costs and around the Great Lakes essentially pick the president. The problem is not the EC but the fact that one party dominates the large metropolitan areas and often the surrounding state. One reason we have a representative democracy is to isolate the people from the treasury. Democracy fails once the masses realize they can raid the treasury and pay the money to themselves. We are approaching that tipping point. Be very careful about implementing more direct democracy.
MikeNovember 16, 2012 - 9:13 pm
Terry the EC is far from making thing "fair" or "equal." Our government is broken and this is yet another system that needs some attention.
kggNovember 18, 2012 - 8:43 pm
president obama won more than 50% of the popular vote - in this election, the electoral college was not the deciding factor.