THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IS BEST FOR OUR GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IS BEST FOR OUR GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The USA is a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy. The founders of our nation definitely understood that past democracies, dating back to The Golden Age of Greece, were unstable and prone to radical changes in the direction of the nation. It is for this and other practical reasons they chose a representative, federalist form of governance. Our founders were intellectual, rational people who studied the history of civilization learning that a representative republic was the most efficient form of government.

These wise men realized that there were many competing regional interests in a geographically vast nation and everyone needs to have skin in the game. They understood it was beneficial to recognize that all these factions should have the ability to be heard as well as possess power to influence the direction of the nation. Through individual state representatives in the Electoral College every part of the nation knew it possibly could have sufficient voting power to determine the outcome of a presidential election. It was a brilliant formula to maintain unity and accountability in the election of the president of the United States.

Often the party that loses the election calls for change in the rules for electing a president through a straight popular vote. This happens especially if the election was close especially when the candidate won the popular vote but lost the election. Some even call for the reversal of the election results based on the candidate receiving a greater plurality of the votes. The establishment’s rules influence the strategy a candidate uses to win the election based on the rules given to them. If the rules called for the winner of the popular vote to become president then it would be unwise to spend time in less populated rural areas. The best strategy would be to concentrate on urban centers where the candidate’s exposure would be maximized.

This is similar to fans in a best-of-seven-game championship series saying their team scored more total runs in the series than the team that won four games and should be awarded the championship. The games won, not the run total, was established beforehand and accepted by everyone in the process. Changing the rules of the game after the contest is over would encourage many teams to use a shrewd adviser to apply creative formulas to attempt to alter the results after the game was already played.

The abolishment of the Electoral College would lead to candidates for president visiting only highly populated city areas making promises to these people and ignoring the rural areas where it is difficult to reach sufficient numbers of voters. These smaller population segments’ interests would be ignored. This would create resentment and division since their votes and concerns would not be taken into consideration.

By giving each state the power to run and certify its own presidential election lessens the chance of fraud. The local community has a greater opportunity to identify people who are not legally registered members of the local area. Nationalizing the election process would make it almost impossible to accurately certify this process in particular states.

Nationalizing the election would definitely tilt the process from covering specific small states, concerns and issues to a simple popularity contest based on looks, personality, celebrity and promises.  The biggest vote getter would be like a high school popularity contest -election. This type of election based on personality would diminish the seriousness and power of the office of the presidency in the eyes of citizens.

America is a Representative Republic. It should be based on a thoughtful, educated and wise electorate voting on principle and important issues. This process would more fairly determine the direction of the nation for four significant years by not excluding the interests of smaller, less populous states.

Our republic system with the removal of the Electoral College would significantly increase the chances of us becoming a “banana republic.” It could be more easily stolen by fraudulent manipulation through a central government based on who can rig and steal the most popular votes.

The electoral process has worked incredibly well for our entire existence as a nation. It has been a process that helped the USA to remain unified and stable.

The electoral process has proven over many years to be best suited for our republic form of government.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new just published book, entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.