Precisely because America was Founded on the
principle of individual sovereignty and rights, whose government is a servant
designed to protect those rights. As such, the democratic process was essential
but not fundamental. America was never Founded as a democracy. It was a
constitutionally limited republic.
There are numerous good reasons for having the
Electoral College, in my view. But the most important was to head off a
concentration of power within any one man or branch of the government. Given
the primary objective of securing individual rights to life, liberty,
and property, it was extremely important to limit government force through
separation of powers to ward off tyranny—not just the tyranny of Kings, popes,
and other kinds of dictators, but also the tyranny of an unconstrained popular
vote. Hence, the Electoral College, under which the state legislatures,
presumed to be less subject to mob passions and better informed by experience,
were made responsible for choosing the electors, rather than depend on a direct
national popular vote.
Keep in mind that state legislatures are
popularly elected. But, being more seasoned by experience and legislative debate
and compromise, they were considered to be an essential intermediary between
the momentary and shifting passions of the popular masses and the extraordinary
power of the presidency. The Electoral College must be considered within the
context of the separation of powers doctrine, and thus a logical aspect of a
free society based on individual rights.
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1 comment:
Yeah but, why are Americans the ONLY ones with an electoral college? Founders of other countries might have known the difference between a democracy and a representative republic based on unalienable individual rights, but chose not to recognize the difference. The U.S. Founding Fathers chose to recognize it. Maybe that's because the U.S. was a brand new culture, so it could be started out on the right foot. All other cultures were centuries old, with irrationality thoroughly entrenched. That was perceived as unchangeable, so mere democracy was thought good enough. It would make things better, for now, at least. But individual rights were seen as unworkable because it was radical. The radical was seen as workable only a new culture and can't be grafted onto an old culture. That's my view.
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