Once again in this election cycle we as a country will again fail to make the most obvious and important change to our democratic system. We will fail to find a way to redistrict in an unbiased way, uncontrolled by political considerations. But more important still, we will once again fail to make the election of president evenhanded and fair by eliminating the Electoral College. The two things are similar. In both cases, elections are rigged to give some votes more importance and some less. Some no importance at all. Small states benefit greatly the same way they hold power in the Senate.
Once upon a time this may have made sense. It hasn’t been changed because of the power of the small state politicians. Today these are largely Republican. Tomorrow anything might be so. One thing seems certain: We are headed for a minority president one of these days. We already had one (at least) in 1876. Recently we had Bush v. Gore. Think of the different history that outcome would have made. And think about this: Politicians care more about their own re-election than about truth, justice and the American way.
Doug Grandpre
Lake Stevens
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