I hate the electoral college.
I vote blue in the reddest of all red states, Alabama.
So, when I vote, it's an exercise in futility. My vote is not going to get anyone elected. My neighbor's vote will get someone elected.
Another feature of the electoral college is that thing the pundits call "swing states". You know, those half a dozen states that candidates at the top of the ticket spend most of their campaign dollars and time in.
Neither a Democrat nor a Republican, once the primary season is over, is going to bother with us. The Republicans know the state (and its electors) are in the bag. The Democrat knows the same thing.
Similarly, no one bothers to campaign in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, California...we all know what states get the attention: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida. This year, apparently Arizona inexplicably is up for grabs.
So for most of us, our states receive scant attention from those at the top of the ballot. Our states receive very little of the considerable cash infusions the swing states get. The cynical way both sides approach the election is unworthy of our highest ideals.
It's enough to make me embarrassed. Having read some of the background behind the creation of the electoral college, I know it was based on the agrarian economy of the late eighteenth century and the slavery that enabled much of that economy. It was an attempt on the part of the slave states to guarantee they would have a bigger voice than their population warranted.
We no longer have an agrarian economy. We no longer have slavery. Why do we have this vestige of both?
To be sure, states with lower population density want to maintain the college. It continues to give them a voice, in fact, more of a voice than states with higher population density. This results in a rural versus urban standoff. There is little or no doubt that the modern Republican party benefits from the college. It's just math.
Surely, my Republican neighbor in California would like for his vote to count just as much as my Republican neighbor here in Alabama.
Because the college is established by the Constitution (for an explanation of the rationale behind the college follow this link), it can only be changed through the amendment process.
Of course, this has been a hot button for Democrats, especially since the 2000 and 2016 elections when the Democrat who won the popular vote failed to win in the electoral college.
I believe it should be an equally hot button for both Democrats and Republicans in states that are not swing states (i.e., most of them).
What do you think?
