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How does the concept of the electoral college protect the republic any more than a popular vote? It seems to be a layer of indirection rather than anything usef

How does the concept of the electoral college protect the republic any more than a popular vote? It seems to be a layer of indirection rather than anything useful. If it was useful for preventing poor candidates, I feel it’s not working that well. The effect it has is to amplify the voice of sparsely populated states. Do we actually think that these states are more qualified to decide what we have to dinner (or more qualified to protect the republic?) I’m also unsure how breaking down the popular vote by district helps to protect the republic further. Why not just use the popular vote (or even better, RCV or approval voting) instead of adding these layers of indirection?

syshum 6y ago
It depends on how you view the nation. I view each state as a sovereign entity that internally pick who (as a state) they desire to lead the federal government. Then as 1 voice they tell the other states who that person is. At a basic level this would mean each state only got 1 vote no matter how many people where in that state. As a compromise from that, the system of proportional representation was created. Originally this was designed at a time where the Senate was not elected by popular vote but instead the Senate was appointed by the legislatures of each state not by popular vote. Something I also would support returning to The House of Representatives was to be the only pure democratic body in the US Government. The electoral college part of State Sovereignty respecting that we are a Union of states. the 17th amendment reduced State Sovereignty considerably and IMO has lead to some very large negative effects including the politicization of court system but that is a whole other topic Since at least the 1920's there has been a strong push attempting to reduce the power of the State government and centralize the power of the Federal Government. In short a strong push to transform the United States of America away from a republic of states, to a single universal government. To those wanting to transform the nation the preferred model is Direct Democracy one with no Natural or inherent rights, and no Constitution. To those people if the majority desires it, that should be the law of the land.... That is not a constitutional republic form of government. The attack on the Electoral College is a direct attack on the constitutional republic As to RCV or other voting methods besides First past the post. That has nothing to Electoral College, you can implement RCV (which I would support as well) with out eliminating the Electoral College

syshum 6y ago

It depends on how you view the nation. I view each state as a sovereign entity that internally pick who (as a state) they desire to lead the federal government. Then as 1 voice they tell the other states who that person is. At a basic level this would mean each state only got 1 vote no matter how many people where in that state. As a compromise from that, the system of proportional representation was created. Originally this was designed at a time where the Senate was not elected by popular vote but instead the Senate was appointed by the legislatures of each state not by popular vote. Something I also would support returning to The House of Representatives was to be the only pure democratic body in the US Government. The electoral college part of State Sovereignty respecting that we are a Union of states. the 17th amendment reduced State Sovereignty considerably and IMO has lead to some very large negative effects including the politicization of court system but that is a whole other topic Since at least the 1920's there has been a strong push attempting to reduce the power of the State government and centralize the power of the Federal Government. In short a strong push to transform the United States of America away from a republic of states, to a single universal government. To those wanting to transform the nation the preferred model is Direct Democracy one with no Natural or inherent rights, and no Constitution. To those people if the majority desires it, that should be the law of the land.... That is not a constitutional republic form of government. The attack on the Electoral College is a direct attack on the constitutional republic As to RCV or other voting methods besides First past the post. That has nothing to Electoral College, you can implement RCV (which I would support as well) with out eliminating the Electoral College