General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This PERFECTLY Illustrates How INSANE The Electoral College Concept Is! [View all]eniwetok
(1,629 posts)Other rationales were discussed but the net effect of having electors would be the same... that the election of the president would be un- or antidemocratic in some way.
The Constitution was a balance between trying to create a new government that would remedy the problems of the Articles, an expansion of power to the People (white freemen) and a way every interest invited to the Convention could protect itself from the other interests.... and one of those interests that was to be specially protected was slavery. The net result was a system that set the politics of 1787 in cement.
We could forever debate the justifications of their decisions but my feeling is the Framers are dead, it's our nation now... and it doesn't matter if Madison's rationale was the ONLY reason we have the EC. We are stuck with an antidemocratic and virtually reformproof system that WAS largely designed to protect slavery.
We are now stuck with a system that can't contain corporate power and is failing miserably to provide us morally legitimate government based on the consent of the governed. But to tackle these defects we need to confront our Civic Religion that we are just mere mortals don't dare try and reform our system. The Framers had the courage to dump the Articles when they failed. We must find it in ourselves to have the same courage. But the options are few... a gradualist approach working within a straightjacket that might take 50-100 years... or to shock the system and force a constitutional crisis... such as if CA threatens secession unless the system is finally made democratic.