WaPo's Editorial Board: It's Time
to End Election Protections for
Beth Baumann | @eb454 |
The Washington Post on Sunday penned an editorial calling
for the elimination of the Electoral College. According to the
editorial board, it's time for America to be covered by the majority
without the protections for the minority.
From the editorial (emphasis mine):
"... The electoral college, whatever virtues it may have had
for the Founding Fathers, is no longer tenable for
American democracy.
We write this with full awareness of the challenges of
adopting a new system, with respect for many of the
people who continue to argue against a switch, and with
awareness that any change may have unintended
consequences. Right now, our presidential elections are
conducted by 51 separate authorities, each with its own
rules on registration, mail-in balloting and more. Each
state counts its own ballots, and each decides when
recounts are needed. All of that would have to change if
the president were chosen based on the national vote
count. Additionally, electoral college math induces
candidates to pay attention to voters in some small states
who might otherwise be ignored.
But why should Iowa’s biofuel lobby get more of a
hearing than, say, California’s artichoke lobby? Small
states already have disproportionate clout in our
government because of the Senate, in which Wyoming’s
fewer than 600,000 ?residents have as much
representation as California’s 39.5 million. We see no
particular reason voters in purple states such as
Wisconsin should be valued more than voters in red
states such as Mississippi or blue states such as
Washington.
...
"Americans are not going to be satisfied with leaders who
have been rejected by a majority of voters, and they’re
right not to be. It’s time to let the majority rule."
Without even trying, WaPo made the case for why the Electoral
College is important. Our Founding Fathers worried about a
majority rule without a protection for the minority. People in
California and New York shouldn't matter more than those in
Montana, Kentucky or Iowa. Those who live in "flyover" shouldn't
have their voices squashed because they live in areas that are
rural and not densely populated.
The reason the Electoral College is so important is because it
makes smaller states, like Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and
Minnesota count. It means elected officials care about issues that
are important to dairy farmers and manufacture workers. It means
that they have to win the hearts and minds of people all across the
country.
If the Electoral College was abolished and replaced with whatever
the WaPo wants – something they aren't even sure of – then we
would never hear about how banning fracking hurts people in
Pennsylvania or manufacturing hubs are closing up shop in Ohio
and Michigan. It would mean that the coastal elites
control everything and Beltway insiders would have no reason to
talk to normal everyday Americans who are trying to make an
honest living.
The left wants to get rid of the Electoral College because it would
make it easy for them to gain power and keep it. They wouldn't
have to try and convince middle America to vote for their
ridiculous leftist agenda. They would simply focus on going further
left and pandering to their strongholds along the coast.
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