Posted by
Jim Hunt on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:00:00 AM
It seems to me that most people, both in America and elsewhere, think that the United States is a democracy. Even our politicians routinely refer to this country as a democracy. But the fact is that the United States is not now, nor has ever been, a democracy and our founders would be horrified if we were to become a democracy.
The United States is a republic. Every school child should know this: “…and to the republic for which it stands…” For those of you with a public school education, note that this is not about the Republican and Democrat parties, but is about our form of government. A democracy is a form of government where the people rule by popular vote; in a “pure” democracy all laws require the vote of all the people. Some countries have “representative” democracies, where the government is elected by popular vote. That is not the case here.
During the 2000 recount fiasco, we often heard the phrase “one man, one vote.” Well that is not part of how our government works and certainly not part of electing the president. Part of the genius of the form of the government our founders selected is that it is built to avoid one of the great traps of democracy: the tyranny of the majority. They avoided it by making sure that our government was structured to be responsible to all the people, not just the majority. They created three branches, of the three branches, only ½ of one them would be elected democratically. The House of Representatives is the ONLY democratically elected body in our government. In fact, it was not until 1913 and the passage of the 17th Amendment that Senators were elected by direct vote of the people. But note that even with that change, the United States Senate is not a democratically elected body. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two Senators. Therefore people living in a more populous state are under-represented in democratic terms.
The federal judiciary is appointed, not elected. No democracy there. But what about the Presidency? Every four years, millions of people cast ballots to elect a president and vice president, or do they? In reality they do not. The President of the United States is not elected by popular vote. In fact, there is no requirement for a popular vote for President in the Constitution. The Constitution instead sets up the Electoral College which is defined in Article II Section 1.
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
While all states have decided to appoint electors by means of popular vote, it is NOT a requirement of the Constitution. It is entirely legal for the legislature of any state to decide that the Governor shall appoint the Electors. Why did the founding fathers set it up this way? Is it now irrelevant and obsolete since all 50 states have decided to use the popular vote to select electors? (Note that on election day, despite what some ballots say, votes are NOT cast for individual candidates, but rather for a slate of electors committed to those candidates.)
What is the purpose and benefit of the Electoral College? It is one of our firmest and most enduring defenses against the tyranny of the majority. Notice the makeup of the body, each state has one member for each Representative and Senator. This has the effect of giving the small states slightly more power (proportionally) than the large states. This only works in a “winner take all” scenario which is used in 48 of the 50 states. This difference is enough to prevent New York, Florida, Illinois and California from electing our president every four years. It means that candidates MUST campaign in the so-called swing states because they must carry more than just the population centers.
Abolishing the Electoral College would fundamentally destroy the delicate balance of power that founders struggled so hard to achieve for our great country.
God Bless America