Why is the Electoral College needed anyway?

Yet again I came across an intelligent individual proposing a solution without fully comprehending its ramifications on one of the boards I frequent. This time it is the Electoral College was in the line of fire.

Here's the solution: get rid of the electoral college. That's what's keeping the two parties in power.

If you remove the Electoral College what is the consequence of that action? You will have even less influence upon the election of a President.

Why? You might ask. Easy. We are then just a straight Democracy rather than a Representative Republic. In a Democracy we would be subjected to the whims of the three to five most populous states. Thus, California, Florida, New York, Illinois and Pennsyvania would be SELECTING your next President. I don't know about you but that sounds very BAD to me. It is the Electoral College that evens out the playing field and forces candidates to enter the heartland and the rustbelt. Without it you can bet places like Oklahoma, Wyoming, Kentucky, The Dakota's and my home state of Alaska would NEVER EVEN BE VISITED. They would be ruled by the mobs in the big cities. That is why the electoral college was created. That is why even though it appears to be an archane system, it really is quite ingenious.

Our Founding Fathers were not short sighted in the least when they instituted the Electoral College. They were wise beyond their years!

Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them. -- Alan J. Perlis, Epigrams, 1970s

Apologize Now Congressman Stark!

Dear Congressman Stark,

I was saddened by your clear lack of respect for the position of public trust given to you, as a Congressman, and the President of the United States both occupy! Your statements degrade the quality of the political fabric of this Great Nation. You attack the President's character and I fail to see how it doesn't demean your character as well. That which you speak sir has meaning. If you wish to vent do so some place other than the House Floor! It is entirely inappropriate for a man of your dignified position to have muddied himself in such a manner as you did yesterday.


You owe this Nation an apology! You owe the President an apology! Please show that you are not without recognition of the abject shame you have brought upon yourself and tangentially the great institution of the House of Representatives! Apologize today and refrain from ever behaving in such a drunken manner again!

An appalled American Citizen and Patriot