Electoral College
 

What do you guys think about the method of having a Electoral College vote on whos gonna be the president instead of just letting the popular vote decide?

Re: Electoral College
 

It's in the Constitution and since I usually don't favor amending a constitution, I'm Ok with it. The Electoral College usually reflects the popular vote anyway and I can only think of one time a candidate (Bush/Gore 2000) won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote.

It does tend to make candidates focus on the more populous & 'swing' states that have more electoral votes, but that's what a democracy is all about, the majority.

Re: Electoral College
 

It is still the best in the world, Crusader. Our forefathers were much smarter than many give them credit for. If it weren't in place, a campaign need only focus in the large population centers, leaving rural areas ignored. Ours is not a full blown democracy but a republic. More specifically, a constitutional federal republic. However, this government is operated as a representative democracy by a congress. The important distinction is that the USA is not operated democratically, but rather by representatives who come to power by democractic process. This was an essential and subtle fundamental of the constitution: we are not a true democracy which could amount to mob rule, but a representative democracy in which our leaders act in our interests.

Re: Electoral College
 

The Democrats have won the popular vote in 5 out of the last 6 elections.

Re: Electoral College
 

The 17th amendment took away State's rights in favor of the popular vote as it relates to Senators. Frankly it should be appealed.

The electoral college, while frustrating at times, forces candidates to appeal to a broader portion of the population.

Re: Electoral College
 

Agreed... and you mean "repealed" of course. :D

Re: Electoral College
 

Thank you sir. Funny I didn't catch that. My brain is fried. LOL

Re: Electoral College
 

I guess you don't wanna change the constitution more than you have to; but sometimes it is neccessary, take the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote as a good example.

If I understand it correctly moste states give all the states electoral votes to the candidate with the most votes in that state meaning in essence that it doesn't matter if 3 people or 3 million people vote in a state the winning candidate will get all the votes anyway.

Re: Electoral College
 

Its very good but I think its a stretch to call it the best in the world. Your constitution just like any other legal document has its flaws that will get exposed with time. What is more important is the spirit in which it was drafted an that wise and skilled people keep working with it, amending it when needed.

I live in a constitutional monarchy meaning we have (currently) a king who inherits his title and serves as the head of state. He has no political power however and mainly carries a ceremonial role. Sweden are at the same time a representative democracy with a unicameral system. The country is ruled by the Parliament which is the legislative branch and the Cabinet which is the executive branch. The prime minister (Statsminister) is usually the leader of the party in majority in the parliament (Currently 8 parties represented in the parliament mainly divided in 2 blocks). We have proportional representation meaning each party will get the percentage of seats in the parliament that they recieve in the popular vote.

No country called a democracy, Sweden, USA, UK, Germany etc will ever be operated as a democracy in its truest meaning just because its completly impossible to get anything done on a big countrywide scale that way. Mob rule as you call it can however work on the local level where town hall meetings are feasible. This is done to some extent in Switzerland for example.

Re: Electoral College
 

One or two states split their electoral votes along precinct lines, Nebraska I think being one of them, but that just makes it more confusing if you ask me.