THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 72, April 5, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
HANDS OFF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
By Dr. Ron Paul
WHY CALLS TO ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE & ELECT THE U.S. PRESIDENT BY A NATIONWIDE DIRECT POPULAR VOTE ARE
HEARD MOST LOUDLY AMONG LIBERAL LEFTIST, PRO-COLLECTIVIST ELITES CONCENTRATED LARGELY ON THE WEST COAST &
IN THE NORTHEAST: THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF AMERICAN FEDERALISM & OUR SYSTEM OF
CHECKS & BALANCES -- THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AS AN OBSTACLE IN THE PATH OF IMPOSITION OF CENTRALIZED, UNLIMITED
RULE BY A LEFTIST-DOMINATED OLIGARCHY ON THE ENTIRE COUNTRY
FULL STORY:
During and immediately after the U.S. presidential election of 2004, the intense media focus on the divide between “red” and “blue”
states raised new questions regarding America's federal voting system -- election of the President by the states through the medium
of the Electoral College. One Liberal Leftist member of the U.S. Senate promised to introduce legislation to abolish the Electoral
College, describing that institution as an anachronism that serves no good purpose in modern politics. Her stated goal was “simply
to allow the popular will of the American people to be expressed every four years when we elect our President.” Many Americans
agree, arguing that the man receiving the most votes should win, that anything else would be unfair. In other words, they believe the
American political system should operate as a direct democracy, without constitutional checks against and institutional impediments
to the unlimited rule of a slim nationwide popular majority in federal elections and in the U.S. national government.
The problem, of course, is that the governmental system of our country is neither a centralized unitary state nor an absolute
democracy. The governmental system of our nation was founded as a federal union of substantially autonomous (self-governing)
states, a constitutional federal republic with a national government of constitutionally limited powers -- a basic fact any grammar
school child knew just a few decades ago.
Remember the Pledge of Allegiance: “and to the Republic for which it stands”? The Founding Fathers were concerned with liberty,
not democracy, in the sense of direct and absolute rule by the majority. In fact, the word "democracy" does not appear in the
Declaration of Independence or in the United States Constitution. On the contrary, Article IV, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution is
quite clear: “The United States [i.e., the U.S. national government] shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican
Form of Government....” (emphasis added).
The emphasis on simple, unchecked democracy in our modern political discourse has no historical or constitutional basis. Yet we
have become obsessed with pure democracy, as though any government action would be permissible, if a majority of voters simply
approved of it. Democracy has become a sacred cow, a deity which no one dares question. Democracy, we are told, is always good.
But the Founders created a constitutional federal republic characterized by checks and balances and a central government with
constitutionally limited powers, and did so precisely to safequard the autonomy of the states and protect the fundamental rights
and liberties of individual Americans from the whims of the masses, to guard against the excesses of democracy, to prevent
majoritarian tyranny. The Electoral College was provided for in the Constitution in order to guard against majority tyranny in federal
elections. The President was to be elected by the autonomous states rather than the voting citizenry as a whole, with votes in the
Electoral College apportioned to states according to their representation in Congress. The will of the people was to be tempered by
the caution and wisdom of the Electoral College.
By contrast, election of the President by pure popular vote totals would severely damage the autonomy and vital interests of the
states, substantially reducing their importance and influence as political entities, as member-states of the American federal union.
Populated areas on both coasts of the U.S.A. would have greatly increased influence on national elections, to the detriment of less
populated Southern and Western states. A candidate receiving a large percentage of the popular vote in California and New York
could win a national election with very little support in dozens of other states! A popular vote system simply would intensify the
populist pandering which already dominates national campaigns.
Not surprisingly, calls to abolish the Electoral College system are heard most loudly among Leftist elites concentrated largely on
the West Coast and in the Northeast. Leftwing Liberals favor a very strong centralized national government, and have contempt
for the concept of states' rights. They believe in nationalizing (centralizing) virtually every area of law and public policy, leaving
states powerless to challenge directives sent down from the national government in Washington, D.C. The Electoral College
system threatens Liberals because it allows the states to elect the President, and, in many states, the majority of voters still
believe in limited government and the Constitution. Citizens in Southern and Western states in particular tend to value individual
liberty, property rights, gun rights and religious freedom, values which are abhorrent to the collectivist elites. The collectivists
care about centralized power, not democracy. Their efforts to discredit the Electoral College system are an attempt to limit the
voting power of pro-liberty states, which constitute an obstacle in the path of progress toward imposing centralized, unlimited
rule by a Leftist-dominated oligarchy on the entire country.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Government -- Constitutional System
American Government & the U.S. Presidency
The Constitution of the United States of America
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Constitutional System -- Origins:
English Antecedents
The American Constitutional System -- Origins:
Colonial & Early American Antecedents
The American Constitutional System -- Origins:
The Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787
The American Constitutional System -- Origins:
The U.S. Constitution -- Ratification & Adoption
The American Constitutional System -- Origins:
The U.S. Constitution -- The Scheme of National Government
The American Constitutional System -- Principal Characteristics:
Constitutionalism, Republicanism, Separation of Powers,
Checks & Balances, Legislative Bicameralism,
& Balanced Government
The American Constitutional System -- Principal Characteristics:
Federalism -- Fedural Union of States
The U.S. Constitution -- Underlying Political Theory:
The Federalist -- Selected Essays
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, elected from and representing the Fourteenth
Congressional District of Texas. Congressman Paul is considered to be one of America's leading spokesmen for constitutional
government, the rule of law, liberty under law, the private enterprise system,, free market economics, sound monetary policy, and
fiscal restraint on the part of the U.S. national government.
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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