IS OUR REPUBLIC DOOMED?

The very fabric of our constitutional republic is under attack. A war is raging against the electoral college and most of citizens either don't care or don't even know about it.

There is an agreement between several states to give their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote for President of the United States. Since these progressive law makers can't abolish the electoral college they are working to make it moot.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Eight more states have legislation on the calendar this year. If all eight of those bills pass, the electoral college is effectively useless. They will have enough electoral votes to elect every president via popular vote forever. Smaller less populous states loose all influence in electing the president.

As a school kid I thought that the electoral college was obsolete. For some reason I assumed that the electoral college existed because it was too arduous to count the popular vote in a timely manner. Computers make counting the popular vote a quick and easy task. The entire process seemed silly to me as a child and even as an adolescent. We vote for someone who promises to then cast their vote in Washington the way we voted. I know better now.

The electoral college has absolutely nothing to do with efficiency of counting. The electoral college is the very thread woven into the fabric of liberty. The sole purpose of this priceless institution is to guarantee that those of us who don't live in big cities still get a vote. To quote James Madison, father of the Constitution,

"The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority."

The existence of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has sparked conflict within me. I am almost always on the side of state rights. The conflict is caused when I think about the voters in the states of this agreement. Those state governments have effectively said, 'How my state votes is irrelevant. Only the national vote counts.' This is one of the extremely rare instances that I think need federal intervention. My state, Pennsylvania, has not joined this compact but the bill was recently introduced. I have already contacted all of my state officials stating my objection. I reccomend that you do the same.

Direct democracy or pure democracy works on the small scale. Town council representatives are a great example. Everyone voting is from the same small area and has the interest of that small area at heart. In a larger area with millions of votes, direct democracy is formalized mob rule. The founding fathers were aware of the differences between small states, large states, populous states, and rural states. That is why the United States Constitution defines our nation as a Republic or representative democracy. Eliminating the electoral college will cause more harm to our liberty than any of us can even imagine.

Between the seventeenth amendment changing the Senate from state legislation appointed to direct elections and this assault on the electoral college states are freely giving their power to Washington. Our country's foundation of sovereign states is being eroded away. Washington D.C. has been growing by leaps and bounds for decades and state power is dwindling. Remember, it was the fight over state rights vs. federalism that sparked the civil war. Now, 150 years later, have we already forgotten the lesson paid for by 600,000 Americans?

#StatesRights #ElectoralCollege #InterstateCompact