by Warren O. Brennan

Created on: July 14, 2009   Last Updated: July 16, 2009

The Electoral College in the United States remains the last piece of our Constitutional legacy which is tarnished by a view of egalitarianism and elitism. Previous portions of our Constitution that reflect these draconian ideals have been amended to correct the misguided views of our founders (i.e. the 13th amendment's ending of the proposition that one man can own another and the 19th amendment's holding that both genders shall be equal under the law).

The same should be done for the outdated and fundamentally unfair system that is the Electoral College, which holds at its core the idea that a small group of appointed individuals have the power to decide the Presidency.

While it is all well and good to say that the College was put in place to protect large states from overpowering small ones in the ballot box, the truth is the system was put in place to provide a virtual safety net against a populist from taking control of the Presidency. The founders believed that the elite class of society were best suited to ensure this from happening. They therefore created the allusion of democracy (a minimum after the experiences with Great Britain) while at the same time putting the College in place to ensure a veto power to override the people's choice, if need be.

This was no doubt done, in part, with the intention of preserving the integrity of the Executive Branch from some willy nilly candidate. But what also cannot be denied is that it was also a move for self preservation. Our nation's first Presidents of course were many of the same men who drafted the Constitution and put the College in place, as well as the men who appointed or had influences on the appointments of the early state electors to the College.

Fastforward to present day. Few make the claim (other than some conspiracy theorist bloggers) that today's electors do anything but vote in the way the voters of their state intended them to. This is primarily because electors are chosen on a political party basis and express extreme loyalty to the party they represent, thus making them unlikely to deviate from that party's nominee once "elected".

However, the potential for a group of electors to disregard the will of the American people in any given election year is far to great to risk. Combine that with the fact that, in such an age of information, we should no longer need this type of safety net to overrule the popular will of the people, it makes it quite obvious that a Constitutional Amendment should be enacted to ensure a popular vote standard be put in place for all Presidential Elections.

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