The Ingeniousness of Our Founding Fathers: The 2024 Race Proves Why We Need the Electoral College

The Electoral college is in the very DNA of American governance,. If it was not for the brilliant concept of the Electoral College, every Presidential election would be decided by only three for four urban areas. Unlimited majority rule results in a tyranny of the majority at the expense of the individual and  those of the minority factions.

Tyranny of the majority is an inherent weakness of majority rule where the majority of an electorate pursues its own objectives at the expense of those of the minority factions. This results in oppression of minority groups comparable to that of a tyrant or despot.

If we did away with the Electoral College in favor of the national popular vote, the election would still be decided in a handful of states — populous states such as California and New York. Even though both of those states are deep blue, the GOP candidate would still fish in their waters, because swinging 1 or 2 percent into the red column would be worth more than swinging 1 to 2 percent in a smaller state. Voters in small states, such as Connecticut, would be permanently and completely disenfranchised.

Moreover, candidates would campaign in big media markets (which, of course, are in big states) in order to reach as many potential voters as efficiently as possible. This would favor media personalities and celluloid campaigns. Candidates would never have to meet voters one-on-one, as they do currently in small swing states.” (The Hill)

The 2024 Race Proves Why We Need the Electoral College

It helps keep America a republic — not a majority- or mob-rule ‘democracy.’

By: Stephen Moore, NY Sun, November 5, 2024:

It seems that as more and more time goes by, my appreciation for the ingeniousness of our Founding Fathers elevates.

I write this before knowing the outcome of the election. I sit behind a “veil of ignorance,” with no advance knowledge of who will win the popular vote and who will win in the Electoral College.

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We have a growing movement to replace the Electoral College with a winner-take-all National Popular Vote. This is advocated by some influential voices on both sides of the political spectrum.

Only there are so many reasons why the unique system of voting for president is so vitally important to our republic. And we are, thankfully, a republic — not a majority- or mob-rule “democracy.”

So here’s a quick civics lesson on the wisdom of the Electoral College.

First and foremost: We are a confederacy of states. The power of the federal government is derived from the states and the people. Washington is not the center of the universe. Power is disbursed across the land in America. New York and Washington don’t rule over our country — even though they think they do.

The Electoral College assigns power to every state — and safeguards the primacy of the states. It is critical to our system of federalism. America is unique in the world in our system of checks and balances, decentralized government power, and protection of the rights of the minority.

Without the Electoral College, eight to ten large states would determine the election. California has a larger population than nine small states combined. Yet California, for all its virtues, is far from representative of our diverse country.

Would any candidate care about voters in Nebraska or New Hampshire or Nevada or Maine or Alaska or Iowa given that California has more voters than all of them combined?

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They wouldn’t even bother to ever go to those states and would instead be chasing down every last vote to be had at Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Bronx.

Second, the Electoral College dramatically curtails voter fraud. The incentive to engage in illegal voting schemes in major cities — red and blue — would be incredible and impossible to police. The graveyards would be full of voters on Election Day.

Under the current election rules, the payoff from stuffing the ballot boxes in deep-red and deep-blue areas is curtailed. Yet under a National Popular Vote, even a few hundred thousand illegal ballots in major cities would have the effect of entirely disenfranchising every voter in North and South Dakota.

Stolen elections could become the rule, not the exception.

Some complain that because we’ve had elections where the candidate who wins the popular vote doesn’t win the election, the system is antidemocratic. I would argue these occasional outcomes only make the Electoral College all the more indispensable in keeping our country intact.
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