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.