We have spent the last few months learning about what the Constitution has to say about the Congress.  We are going to move on to Article II of the Constitution to the President.

 

The first issue we run into is the process of electing the President of the United States.  This process is called the Electoral College, the constitutional system for indirectly electing the president and vice president, rather than using a direct national popular vote. It consists of 538 electors representing all 50 states and D.C. with a candidate needing a majority of 270 electoral votes to win.

 

It is of utmost importance that U.S. citizens understand that we live in a federal republic, not a direct democracy. In a republic, citizens elect representatives who vote on their behalf, instead of voting directly on the issues. This is also why there are times when a candidate can win the popular vote but lose the election. The Electoral College is the reason.

 

You might wonder why the Founding Fathers believed the Electoral College was necessary.  Some believed that few citizens had the information or education to vote for the most qualified candidate.  They also considered that the interests of people in the city would not be the same as interests of people in the country and since the populations of the cities was greater, the country people would have less influence.

 

There is much disagreement about the electoral college and its usefulness. There is a misguided movement of states that want their electors to cast their vote for whoever wins the popular vote, called the National Popular Vote Compact. Currently, 19 states (plus D.C.) have passed legislation to join the compact. There have to be at least 270 electoral votes in the compact for it to go into effect, and right now, there are 222 votes represented in the compact.

 

How are Colorado Electoral members selected?  When you vote for a presidential candidate, you also vote for the members designated by the political party of your candidate. If your candidate wins the election, your designated members cast their vote.

 

I believe that the Electoral College can be perverted. An example might be when a republican, such as Pres. Trump, won the presidential election but the Republican members decided they don’t like him and vote instead for another candidate or even another political party.  This has happened. In 2016, several electors in Washington and Colorado voted for candidates like Colin Powell or Native American activist Faith Spotted Eagle rather than Hillary Clinton. 

 

It is estimated that roughly 50% of American citizens live in just nine states. California, for example, contains more than the 21 least populated states combined. If presidents were elected by popular vote, they would only have to visit the top 20 most populous cities, and not state to state. The most populous cities are run by the Democratic Party and this is why those who support ending the electoral college are mostly Democrats.  Conservatives, those who have faith in the Constitution, want to keep it.

 

The demand to abolish the electoral college in favor of a one-man-one-vote nationwide election is au courant but misbegotten. The Electoral College is essential if we are to preserve our American ideals and the Constitutional form of government that has served us so well for so long.

 

Our ingenious Electoral College, unique among western democracies, is not outdated; rather, it is needed now more than ever. This unique system of electing our national leader is part of what makes America an extraordinary nation. And if progressives get their way, national elections would be contested in California and New York, the rest of the country be damned.

 

The clear thinking of people in “farm and ranch land” have a long tradition of Christian values and philosophical tradition. They recognize the harmony of the countryside and praised the warmth and sense of community of farming folk. Aristotle revered the rural farmer and thought it the most honest of occupations. He described the harmony of people living together in small-scale communities. He believed that a rural polis is more stable than an urban polis because in the latter, politics is pursued for its own sake by salaried professional politicians. Oh, how right he was.

 

The American Founding Fathers were well educated in history and determined to avoid the mistakes that brought classical democracies to ruin. Thomas Jefferson lauded the yeoman when he said, “Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God..” In America and other Western democracies, we enshrine as the ideal citizen the persona of the independent-minded man or woman who makes his own laws and willingly leaves his home to fight for his country.

 

In our day, small-state people are referred to by blue-state politicians as “deplorables” and “bitter,” “frustrated” people who “cling to their guns and religion in antipathy to people who aren’t like them…” No further proof is needed as to the intentions of the anti-Electoral College crowd. Only the Electoral College stands in the way of writing small-state voters out of our electoral process. The coastal elites don’t need them and don’t want them. If the Electoral College is lost, all political power will be in the hands of self-serving, career politicians in the sway of a mass-media-driven mob. And as we know in our time, mobs don’t think. Mobs are easily and surreptitiously steered into violence and destruction by a few well-organized provocateurs.

 

We are a nation, not a diverse collection of warring tribes based on skin color, sexual orientation, or national origin. A nation is a people with a common language, a common land, and a set of common values that people hold dear. Our traditions are founded on yeomanry and husbandry, on the grit of the independent citizen who makes his own laws and fights for his country. This is our national character.

 

Simple, rural good sense can help us emerge from the violent and politically deranged madness of our blue-state cities. No one is defecating in the streets of rural America. No one is unmanning the police. Country people roam the streets at night in safety. Country children are not getting shot and have fathers at home. Country sons and daughters feel the call of duty to country and serve in our armed forces. We need the values of our country people now more than ever.

 

kln