11-06-2020, 12:38 PM
(11-06-2020, 12:32 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The EC was a compromise from the start and it had some value among a citizenry that was never going to hear or see the POTUS because it was a far-away figure.
This is the thing people never talk about, the context of how the decision was made. They had to get a system put in place that they could get everyone to agree on and it required compromises. A lot of the compromises were made over issues that aren't issues anymore today. Too often we idolize the framers and the 230 year old document as some sort of magical and infallible thing but in reality, they were just guys trying to make things work the best they could at that time.
It's funny they actually never expected the EC to carry the day all that often. They figured 19 out of 20 times with three choices no one would get a majority and they'd go to the house, which is how they got the smaller states on board. The whole thing kind of fell apart though with the two-party system and the EC determining the election essentially every time. If they knew we'd end up in a two-party system like we have today there is absolutely no way they'd have built the system as they did, in fact, many realized it later on but it was too late.
