The losing side in a Presidential election always goes back to yelling about the electoral college… because it’s just not fair. It is fair… it’s what actually makes the election process fair.
But for those who keep yelling this is not how democracy works (reminder, we are not a democracy) let’s look at the parts of it that does lean into the realm of democracy.
The Electoral College allows our society to be very democratic when it comes to electing our president. There aren’t two or three states that rule the entire country, there aren’t a few heavily populated counties or cities that decide for everyone, and the election can’t be won by ‘chance’ or by shoving more and more people into the voting pool that shouldn’t vote. Of course that last part seems to happen anyway as we are learning many who legally can’t vote do indeed vote (non-citizens, the dead, etc).
Let’s break it down…
Each state has a set of electors that represents the vote of that state. There are a few exceptions, clouding how the electors work, that do not vote this way but for the most part the electors are won based on the majority of votes in that state. Hence, democracy? They vote based on who gets the most votes in that state… winner take all.
Each state then has a certain amount of electors based on population and they cast their votes for the president. Thus, when you get done counting the electoral votes, the majority goes to the victor. Hence, democracy? Winner take all.
If the president were to win based strictly on how many states are won, there are several past elections that should have gone to one person over another. Should the loser complain they lost when they received more states than the other candidate? In this year’s election, Trump won 30 states to Hillary’s 20. Clearly then Trump won based on state count. But that was not the case in the last two elections when Obama ran… he did not win the majority of states. Should he have lost the election?
Here is a great website showing the maps dating back to 1789.
If the president were to win based on the popular vote of the entire United States, the presidency would be decided entirely by large cities. The final results of this year’s election have not been tallied but here is an example of counties and how they voted in 2012. This is not a representation of this year’s election so it’s not a great example of what happened this time however there is a distinct representation based on large city areas with the largest population base.
People can continue to complain that the majority of voters did not vote Republican this time but based on the maps being compiled and what we’ve seen so far, the majority of Democrat votes were found in the large cities. Those cities do not represent, and should not represent, the entire country. It’s why we are a country. All cities and towns have a say within their states that have a say based on their voter’s wishes, hence all voters have a say. Hence democracy is fulfilled in a way other countries have copied and in the case of other countries, would make their system of government better.
To go against the will of the people within each state is to lead us down a road of dictatorship. Too bad our education system stopped teaching our youth about the failed governments that ruled their people rather than allowing their people to rule their government. Too bad they don’t point out the current societies that rule their people through fear and shame, kill citizens who do not agree or comply, and take everything from them including all freedoms.
Our election process and much about our country is why we are free, it’s why people get to march down the street in protest, it’s why we get to buy whatever brand of clothing or cell phones we want, it’s why there aren’t any bread lines, it’s why we can make an appointment with a doctor and get in within days rather than weeks, it’s why anyone can start a business and succeed or fail, it’s why we have choices. Let’s not lose the greatness we have just to become another country no one wants to visit.
This post was originally seen on Alexandria (aleksandreia.com).
