The Electoral College, Democracy and the Constitution

Democrats are saying President Trump was not properly elected because he didn't win the popular vote and that's not how things should work in a democracy. They are correct, in a democracy the will of the majority overrides the minority. It's been this way throughout history, and throughout history democracies have been used by the majority to subjugate the minority. People in the minority become second class citizens to be taken advantage of by the majority. Putting it plain and simple, democracy doesn't work.

Luckily, the framers of the Constitution recognized the flaw in democracy and did not pattern the government of the United States as a democracy, but as a republic. Institutions like the Senate and the Electoral College are not democratic and were never intended to be. These institutions were put in place to protect the members of the republic with smaller populations.

According to Census Data just over 51% of the population of the United States reside in nine states. These states are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina. Just imagine, these nines states could in theory control the destiny of the remaining 41 states in a democracy. Similarly, 31 states (32 counting the District of Columbia) make up less than 25% of the nation's population. These 32 members of the republic that we call the United States are who the Senate and the electoral college are intended to protect.

The Senate puts these smaller members of the republic on equal footing with the more populous members. In affect saying each member of the republic is equally as important as the other. This concept makes so much sense that it was even carried into the United Nations where each member country gets a single vote rather than more populous countries getting more votes based on the population represented.

The House of Representatives and hence the electoral college representation has it's basis in the Constitution but has changed as the country has grown. The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 capped the number of Representatives and the number of electors in the electoral college at 435. In 1941 Congress permanently adopted the "Method of Equal Proportion" as the method for determining how the fixed number of representatives is allotted among the members of the republic. Details of how the representatives are allotted can be found on the website for the Census Bureau.

Although the method of allotting the 435 representatives and electors to the states is called the Method of Equal Proportion the system is also slanted towards protecting those members of the republic with smaller populations. In states with large populations the number of people per representative or elector is higher than that of lower population states. States like California, Texas, and Florida have in the neighborhood of 750,000 people per representative or elector and lower population states like Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska have between 200,000 - 250,000 people per representative or elector.

These mechanisms have at their basis an attempt to avoid the problems of the majority having complete power over the minority that can happen in a pure democracy. Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez along with many others in the Democratic Party are calling for the elimination of the electoral college. Such an action is dangerous for all the states with lower populations and the country as a whole. Luckily to make the electoral college go away would take an amendment to the constitution requiring the agreement of three quarters of the states and is very unlikely to happen.

Mr. Perez recently even made the false claim the electoral college was not based in the constitution. Two possibilities exists. The first is that Mr. Perez really understands the function of the electoral college and is simply lying to gin up support for eliminating it. The second option is that Mr. Perez is ignorant of how the mechanisms of the government are established. Mr. Perez has placed himself in a situation where he is either a liar or ignorant, tough place to put yourself. I tend to believe that most people are basically honest so that leaves me believing Mr. Perez is ignorant. Maybe the person leading a national party to get individuals elected to the highest offices in our government should actually take time to read the constitution and understand the government his organization is trying to manipulate.