04-03-2019, 11:57 AM
I view the EC in the same terms I view the Senate. It's designed so that states have a separate say in the election of who leads them. I've seen many posts lamenting the inflated importance of a vote in Wyoming compared to California. This is no different than pointing out that each senator from Wyoming represents a fraction of the citizens that a senator from California does. The tyranny of the majority was a legitimate concern for the Framers and both these institutions acts as a bulwark against that.
I've seen many post lamenting the few "swing states" that decide elections and get most of the attention from candidates. Abolishing the EC won't change this, it will only change the targeted areas. Instead of campaigning in Ohio, Florida, etc. you'll get campaigning in NYC, LA, Chicago, Boston and Miami. Rural areas will be utterly ignored as the time spent in them won't justify the potential votes earned. Essentially, abolishing the EC does not fix this problem it merely shifts attention to other places.
The United States is unique in many ways and one of those ways is that it is a collection of states with the ability to act autonomously to a certain degree. Population centers are naturally located near the coasts, but this not mean our inland states are any less important or any less a state than the coastal ones. The EC does an excellent job of giving each state their own, separate, say in who leads this nation. I think abolishing it would be an extremely poor decision and I do think this discussion is flavored with more than a little sour grapes (not here necessarily, but in general).
I've seen many post lamenting the few "swing states" that decide elections and get most of the attention from candidates. Abolishing the EC won't change this, it will only change the targeted areas. Instead of campaigning in Ohio, Florida, etc. you'll get campaigning in NYC, LA, Chicago, Boston and Miami. Rural areas will be utterly ignored as the time spent in them won't justify the potential votes earned. Essentially, abolishing the EC does not fix this problem it merely shifts attention to other places.
The United States is unique in many ways and one of those ways is that it is a collection of states with the ability to act autonomously to a certain degree. Population centers are naturally located near the coasts, but this not mean our inland states are any less important or any less a state than the coastal ones. The EC does an excellent job of giving each state their own, separate, say in who leads this nation. I think abolishing it would be an extremely poor decision and I do think this discussion is flavored with more than a little sour grapes (not here necessarily, but in general).
