The Electoral College is the
alternative to partisanship. Democrats
and Republicans particularly are disdainful of it because it constantly reminds
the people that there is an alternative to partisanship. However, Democrats and
Republicans have so abused it in election law that its real purpose has been
forgotten.
The Electoral College was to
have been not only the nominating convention for the federation’s executive
officers, but also the final choosers of the federation’s executive
officers. These executive officers of
the federation include all the Constitutional Officers of the fifty states,
plus the President and Vice-President.
If the nation were “home
districted” as implied by the Founders in their “Congressional District Idea,”
everybody would have one home district headed up by one
elector/legislator. That
elector/legislator would, immediately upon election, take over the operations
of the Federation of States. That
district would be about the size of the original one (40,000), which adds up to
a total of 8,000 districts for the nation. Each district rep would enjoy a
common pecking order with the other 7,999.
We would become a nation of equals.
The Constitution says that a
district should not be less than 30,000, but it makes clear that the
federation’s governing belongs to its rep and not to its people. A look at the
way the Founders set up the elections system should be convincing: They set up three levels of voting
competence. (1) The people were to elect their reps for two-year terms. (2) The Reps were to elect their executive
officers for four-year terms. (3) And
the reps, when organized as assemblies, were to elect their own “watchdogs”
(the senators) for six-year terms.
At that point, the Founders
delivered their constitution to the State Governments for
“implementation.” Did the States
equalize the districting of their new “more perfect union” to give their
citizens a common legislative body that could operate the entire federation?
Has anybody ever thought about doing it in the last two and a quarter
centuries? Sensibly sized “home districting” and use of Electoral Colleges
would go a long way to healing our sick, partisan un-federated “union”.
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