I certainly am in favor of a popular vote for president. The only reason anyone would want the president elected by a convoluted system whereby our votes don’t directly count toward who we want to represent us all is because the system is currently benefiting their side disproportionately. The only reasons the electoral college exists at this point are to give some states an outsized weight on the end result and to override the will of the people in the form of faithless electors. But electors could’ve prevented the disastrous Trump presidency and chose not to, so if they’re going to rubber stamp an unpopular and unqualified candidate, they are not fulfilling their original purpose.
The only way I’m in favor of keeping the electoral college is if we uncap the size of the House of Representatives (which I think we should do anyway). The House no longer represents the makeup of the entire American public because it’s now unnaturally skewed conservative and each representative represents over 700,000 constituents. If we’d kept expanding the House about the same rate we used to (and should), we’d have almost 700 representatives. This system is increasingly unfair and undemocratic.
I would go further and cap the representatives at 250,000 citizens rather than 500,000, thereby expanding the house to over 1300 representatives. This would allow third party blocks to form, and potentially gain enough traction to have more than one third party senator.
I certainly am in favor of a popular vote for president. The only reason anyone would want the president elected by a convoluted system whereby our votes don’t directly count toward who we want to represent us all is because the system is currently benefiting their side disproportionately. The only reasons the electoral college exists at this point are to give some states an outsized weight on the end result and to override the will of the people in the form of faithless electors. But electors could’ve prevented the disastrous Trump presidency and chose not to, so if they’re going to rubber stamp an unpopular and unqualified candidate, they are not fulfilling their original purpose.
The only way I’m in favor of keeping the electoral college is if we uncap the size of the House of Representatives (which I think we should do anyway). The House no longer represents the makeup of the entire American public because it’s now unnaturally skewed conservative and each representative represents over 700,000 constituents. If we’d kept expanding the House about the same rate we used to (and should), we’d have almost 700 representatives. This system is increasingly unfair and undemocratic.
I would go further and cap the representatives at 250,000 citizens rather than 500,000, thereby expanding the house to over 1300 representatives. This would allow third party blocks to form, and potentially gain enough traction to have more than one third party senator.