Saturday, January 11

A 150-Year Critique of the Electoral College

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As far back as 1870s, The opposed the presence of the as “so monstrous regarding be practically ridiculous.”

Among the numerous that historians to attempt to discuss as they mull just what befell the Republic in the very first of this century is our to take apart the shabby piece of constitutional understood, bizarrely, as the Electoral . times currently, in 2000 and in 2016, was chosen regardless of losing the – in the latter , by almost 3 million tallies. In 2020, the exceptionally sluggish, unnecessarily tallying of Electoral College an for the beat incumbent to a tried coup 'état. The that this ' gruesome spared us such a mess is a magnificent lining.

As bewildered as future historians will be, of the past would similarly be frightened to discover let things go this long. has actually opposed the Electoral College considering that a minimum of 1876, when contending voter- after the heated governmental in between Rutherford . Hayes and Samuel Tilden stalled the Electoral College count– and practically resulted in a 2nd . (Eventually, the ended with a that handed the to Hayes, a , in for his consenting to compromise what stayed of in the .)

As the crisis unfolded, The Nation took objective, in an , at the Electoral College. Its continued presence was “so monstrous regarding be nearly ridiculous,” the stated. While Alexander had actually argued in The Federalist Papers that the was developed to “manage as little chance as possible to tumult and condition,” the Electoral College had actually never ever worked as meant. Rather, it had actually ended up being a humiliation: Anyone searching for “a case of sham and humbug,” The Nation argued, might “hardly discover a much better circumstances in any nation than the Electoral College of to-.”

Fast- some 85 years, and The Nation was still the exact same . After John . 's traditionally narrow 1960 , the experienced Lewis kept in that a of a of thousand votes might have swung the election to Nixon. Observing that the close call had actually produced an “unmatched revulsion versus the complex electoral-college ,” Lewis alerted that the would ultimately need to be ditched “when the , in some future , discovers its will has been warded off to the where it revolts versus the .” The nationwide will has actually been warded off two times because Lewis made that – and still we await the revolt.

We can not pull back

We now challenge a 2nd .

There's not a to lose. We should harness our worries, our , and yes, our ,

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