The Works Cited

Barone, Michael. Securing Democracy: Why We Have an Electoral College. Delaware: ISI Books, 2001.

Bourgois, Philippe. “The Continuum of Violence in War and Peace: Post-Cold War Lessons from El Salvador.” pp. 425-434. In Scheper-Hughes, Nancy, and Philippe I. Bourgois, eds. Violence in War and Peace. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

Gregg, Gary L. II, ed. Securing Democracy: Why We Have an Electoral College. Delaware: ISI Books, 2001.

Hailer, John. “The Way of Good and Evil.” pp. 56. In Noll, Mark A. Protestants in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Independence Hall Association. "Declaration Text." The Declaration of Independence: The Want, the Will, and the Hopes of the People. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm (4 December 2008).

Longley, Lawrence D., and Neal R. Peirce. The Electoral College Primer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

Look Forward. Event Listing: US Republican National Convention. http://www.lookforward.com.au/uploads/20080108/c28229e3-9a9b-4346-a5ea-b255412dabd5/republican%20national%20convention%2008.jpg (23 October 2008).

Morawski, Deanna. "Electoral College 101." CNN Video. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2004/10/25/morawski.electoral.college.101.cnn?iref=videosearch (27 September 2008).

Porterfield, Amanda. The Protestant Experience in America. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006.

Satellite Photo of Earth at Night. http://geology.com/articles/satellite-photo-earth-at-night.shtml (25 September 2008).

“Senate Report No. 22, 19th Cong., 1st sess., Jan. 19, 1826.” pp. 4. In Longley, Lawrence D., and Neal R. Peirce. “How Today’s Electoral College Works.” The Electoral College Primer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. 89-126.

Spalding, Matthew. "George Washington's farewell address." Current n390 (Feb 1997 n390): 35(5). Academic OneFile. Gale. Wheaton College. 22 Oct. 2008 .

Wilmerding, Lucius Jr. The Electoral College. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1958.

Zimbio INC. Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. http://www.zimbio.com/Barack+Obama/notes/10/Barack+Obama+Democratic+National+Convention (23 October 2008).

Finally, an Epiphany Part II

The reason that the Electoral College is a cultural anomaly for me is because I am part of the group that cares about the outcome of the election and what happens in government. I am also a citizen of the Twenty-First Century. The social ideals that I grew up with were products of society after the gender, racial, and sexual orientation movements of the Nineteen Hundreds which stressed equal rights for all peoples. The Electoral College was not made to represent these social values. It is a system that was meant to distribute ruling and governmental authority equally between the classes of American society. The way of electing the President has not changed since the Seventeen Hundreds because the structure of society is still the same. Whether the Electoral College is just or not, the reasons for its inception, the need to have a place where the vast inequalities and different factions of American society can elect the President, is still applicable in today’s society.

To address the whole rest of my blog that made the argument of the College not being a just system representing the people, it that frightens me is that there is no national law that mandates the way each states’ electors should vote. If there was a national law reiterating the practice of “Winner-Takes-All” then I would believe the Electoral College is a little more just; therefore the voting would not be left up to solely the elector’s conscience. The need to have a place where the inequalities of the nation are put on an equal playing field to discuss the election make the College an enduring part of American politics.

Finally, an Epiphany

This will probably be the most radical post, but the following is a thought that has just come to me out of the necessity to make it obvious that I am using a topic that was discussed in class. The topic: structural violence and the unequal distribution of… well everything. This topic ties in with the view I have on the world which says that somebody is always reaping the benefit because of the way things are unless you change them. With this mindset, I have come to understand why it is that the Electoral College is the way it is. It has taken me nine posts to reach the conclusion that the College’s structure which was based on the Colonial American social values of humility, temperance, individualism, and factionalism is perpetuated and reflective of today’s society.

The reason the Electoral College remains unchanged is because we still have these social beliefs.

We like to think of ourselves as a more civilized and advanced society than what the Thirteen Colonies were, but in the sense of government and the election of our President we are the same. Although it may be written in the Declaration of Independence, “… that all men are created equal,” this document is not law; the Constitution does not say that. The value that all men are created equal is a newer belief that has emerged alongside the various social movements during the Twentieth Century. The Electoral College was not meant to make the election of the president a process whereby everybody’s vote was equal. It was a way to put structural violence into the government by cementing the idea that there were unequal groups of people in American society. Colonial America was characterized by indentured servitude, slaves, uneducated farmers, and then the rich white males who were the face of government. Yes, the face of government has been changed today with more ‘average’ people sitting in Congress and Barak Obama being the first black President, but the Electoral College continually reiterates the fact that American society likes factions and inequality.It creates a system of structural violence that is a, “[c]hronic, historically entrenched political-economic oppression and social inequality” (Bourgois 426). As I have discussed, the College aimed to promote a space for discussion between the people of the lower uneducated populace and the educated elite of society.

The reason the College still exists is because there is still such divisions throughout American society!

Not even discussing the reasons for the vast differences and flaws in the education system that in turn perpetuate and force groups to stay in one socio-economic class, there are still the people who do not understand government and are not educated enough to care. This was evident leading up to the election when my friends were abuzz with excitement. Everybody excitedly declared to each other who they were voting for, but even at college there are still those people who say they do not know or care enough about politics to get involved.

The Plus Side

Up until this post it may seem that my whole perspective on the Electoral College is negative, which in all honesty the majority of it is. To try and compensate for my bias I want to devote this post to the things I like and the positive aspects of the College.

The Electoral College is a means to an end that for the Founding Fathers was something completely new. That is, how is a country going to elect one person with the capabilities to run a nation? In that sense I believe that the system is advantageous to the country because it has made a logical process out of a concept that before 1776 was undefined. Because each state is assigned a specific number of electors, and thereby voting power, the system helps the people. The fact that a candidate wants 270 votes to win the Electoral College means that he or she needs to travel to all the states in hopes of getting as many of the states’ votes as possible. As Michael Barone said, it forces the candidates to run a wide and far-reaching campaign. In essence a candidate needs to talk to as many people in as many states as possible trying to convince them that he or she has the qualities and is capable of being the President. When the nation chooses to support a campaign it constructs the Presidency into a symbol of the nation.

The College is also a meeting place between the varying power structures in the United States. It is constructed to serve as an area for discussion of a candidates’ eligibility. The less powerful people of the nation get their say through their individual vote which is then tallied up by state, so in a sense each person and state is voting for the president. Each elector then submits their final vote after a discussion. I feel that the Founding Fathers looked back at history and felt that if these more powerful and educated people of the country believed the populace made a bad decision, they have the opportunity to change the outcome of the election. The Electoral College serves as the mediator between rash decisions and educated choices and therefore protects the country from being continually led amiss.

The Electoral College is a system that is uniquely American in every way. No other democracy in the world utilizes a system similar to the one the United States uses. The office of the President is therefore something special because it is almost a double interview, one performed by the people, and a second done by one’s peers and electors in government. It shows how America is an innovative country forging ahead with a new process of electing a leader, and also how as a people humility and temperance are core values (Hailer 56). The social values manifested in American government and society probably draw from the religion of the Founding Fathers, Protestantism. The religion was founded because of a need to separate from the Church of England. When making a new government and splitting from the motherland the Founding Fathers probably drew on the same themes that characterized the religious separation, individualism and factionalism (Porterfield 11). The country was to be lead by an individual president, and once the government started making policies, factions became an enduring theme in politics. The social values of Eighteenth Century America helped to create a process of electing a president that was uniquely American.

The Electoral College is not all bad. It represents the character and values of our nation through a governmental medium that promotes unity. The College also serves as a place where varying power structures meet because it calls for a nationwide campaign and familiarity with every candidate.

Election 2008

Elation, pride, and pure relief are the feelings that have been coursing through my body for the past two days. Eleven o’clock tolled and I was relieved that I would not have to move away from a country that I would be ashamed of for yet another four years. The Electoral College was in accord with the plebiscite vote and my fear of the outcome was quelled. Barak Obama was chosen both by the electors and the people to be the Forty-Forth President of the United States of America. Simply put, this night gave me the chance to be both part of and perform a participant observation. A multitude of people held their breaths while the Electoral College went to work on the big screen projector displayed directly in front of us.

I asked a friend while watching the election, “Do you know what 270 means?”
She replied, “Not really, but I know they need it to win.”

I asked another friend these questions:
“Do you think your vote counts toward who is elected?”
“In theory yes, but in actuality, no.”
“Do you think a popular vote would be better for electing the president and why?”
“No because generally views and party affiliation goes by areas of the country. Just because one area of the country is more populated doesn’t mean they should have more of a say in who’s elected. That is what the Electoral College was put in place.”

These few questions show how much some voters know, or do not know, about the election process in the country. Many of the people I was around that night did not know the significance of 270. Yes the group was all college students, many of whom had voted for the first time, but the media does not really try to explain the significance either. The bar graph climbing the Empire State Building simply said, “270 Needed to Win.” It is not explained that the vote in the Electoral College is the only majority vote in the country and that 270 votes constitute a majority of the College. I felt the media makes the election seem like a game not a process. People understand that they vote and votes are tallied per state usually with the winner-takes-all policy concerning electoral votes, but most do not know those votes are people. It is up to those individuals chosen as electors who vote for president taking into consideration the will of the people. There are steps between the public and the government that help choose the future president; it is a process.

The second person I talked with realized this and gave an insightful response to my third question. She was concerned, just as the Founding Fathers were, with a states power and influence in the election if it went to a popular vote. She realizes that there should be an attempt to make each state or section of the country equal in voting strength. The Electoral College was created to do that, and at least for this election, the whole country felt very strongly for one candidate. The popular vote for Obama was greater than McCain, and Obama received the majority of Electoral Votes. For this election things have worked out well.

Here is Obama's Speech from the night. AMAZING.

The Constitution

Here is a link to a copy of the United States Constitution online. The part to read concerning the Presidency and the Electoral College is found in Article II §1.2- §1.4. §1.3 was later changed with the passage of Amendment XII.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

Too Hundred 7 Tea (cont.)

Since 1826 an elector has been chosen primarily, “…on the basis of their long service to their party, because of their financial donations to party or candidate, or out of a wish to have an ethically or politically balance elector slate” (Longley and Peirce 1996: 97). The esteemed college where the Founders envisioned debates inspecting a candidate’s virtue, republicanism and independence, to ensue is now nothing more than “…a state-by-state collection of political hacks and fat cats” (Longley and Peirce 1996: 98). The purpose of the college as a type of intermediary interview has been undermined by the political parties is has unintentionally created. It is now just a collection of electors who can constitutionally vote for whomever they choose without regard for the public’s opinion or their own party.

There are the two things the Founders did not foresee happening in the government which already perform the intended purpose of the Electoral College. The political parties which force the candidate to get a majority vote of the populace, and the Primaries and National Conventions. Each party’s National Convention performs the informal interview and judge of character that the electors were charged with executing (Longley and Peirce 1996: 90). The Primaries are mock-campaigns where many candidates are trying to persuade the public that he/she is the right candidate for president. After all the party-held primary elections are held, the candidates not carrying enough votes, and in essence who would be a bad choice for the party and country, drop out. The politically experienced parties ensure that the otherwise inexperienced and ‘uninformed’ public are presented with two candidates that would be appropriate for the office of President. If the original purpose of the Electoral College has been stripped away I believe that electors should be constitutionally required to follow the opinion of the populace.