In the United States today, we use the Electoral College to decide who is going to be the next president. The presidency is not necessarily won by popular vote. The founding fathers opted for the Electoral College, because they were afraid of the masses. They wanted the president to be chosen by those who are qualified, well informed, and have the ability to chose a president more efficiently then the so called "mob."
Although I believe the Electoral College needs many changes, it is necessary in order to have a successful government that is fair. Thee main argument against the Electoral College is that the presidency should be won by popular vote alone. It shouldn't be that one candidate could win the popular vote, but lose the election. At first I completely agreed with this, because we do live in a democracy, and I believe that a democracy is a government for the people by the people.
This would mean that the mass population decides who is the president, not a hand picked group of men to vote on who they wish, because they do not always have to vote on the candidate in which the state has voted the majority on. Although the Electoral College may take away the presidency from the candidate that won the majority vote, it evens things out across the nation.
The Electoral College is necessary to make every state important in the voting process. If you did not have the Electoral College, those who were running for office would only campaign in the major states, that way they could get the majority of the population. For example the candidate would advertise and campaign in New York, especially New York City, because there is such a vast amount of people who live there, so he...
I am a little confused!?
This is a very well written essay and I found it extremely informative. I feel I have learnt something about the American voting system today so thank you!As I am from the UK and know very little about the American voting system.
I only have one issue to raise -how does the electoral college safeguard against only the larger states having their vote count? What does the electoral college do so that all states are included in the process? I do not understand what part it plays in the process? Can you explain it too me. I understand your argument against having a commitee of men who can override the 'masses' majority vote. I agree with you, it does indeed take away the democracy and instead makes it an Oligarchy. But what else does the Electoral College do?
Once again thank you for sharing this essay.I found it very useful and once you clear up my one area of confusion I will have learnt something new today!
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