by Koski

Created on: November 28, 2008

I'm in favor of the Constitution, there's no doubt about that. I find it fascinating how we all still look up to a few old dead men to run our country, but I believe in them just like everyone else. These founding fathers put a great deal of their lives into creating a nation that would be successful and great.

All this said, it is a little foolish to say that they didn't make any mistakes. Or even, rather, the sands of time have proved their ideals to be outdated and currently irrelevant. In 1787, when the constitution was adopted, I'm sure that the electoral college was both relevant and practical. The U.S. population at the time was more or less considered when assigning values for the electoral college. All was well.

But in the 21st century, we have two different elections. We have the "popular vote" and then the actual vote, which is the one that matters. How is it that President Bush won the election while Al Gore won the popular vote? That is not just. That is not fair or right, and it doesn't even make sense. Leave it to the United States to make things complicated-they change something simple into something that is ridiculous and totally unnecessary.

The founding fathers are probably surveying this and going, "Gosh, we probably should have changed that." The Electoral College should be removed and abolished because in the current times, it just doesn't apply anymore. It is outdated. The world is trying to evolve. One of the steps for this country specifically to evolve is to re-embrace the idea of democracy. It is a country governed "of the people, by the people, for the people." I don't hear anything about college in there.

The electoral college system basically takes your votes and pretends that they count. Your vote is counted, but they do not matter. That is the catch. The only thing that matters is what color state you live in. And then of course, if you live in a swing state, bless your soul because your vote may not even be counted at all. Well, sure it will. But people who have a lot more money than you do will make sure some votes are counted twice and some are accidentally thrown in the great angry incinerator. Not that I'm one of those people who believes in conspiracy or anything....

Abolishing the electoral college would make elections simpler and more fair. In a democratic nation, I can't think of anything more important than the people's choice and rights to vote, so why not make every vote count?

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