Altering Constitution is no easy task

I read with interest John Petroff’s Jan. 6 letter to the editor regarding the electoral college. A full year has passed since the presidential election and he still continues to whine about it.

Several things come to mind when reading the letter. First, he calls the United States a democracy over and over when it is, in fact, a representative republic. This means that we elect people to represent our views in government. The electoral college is a natural extension of this. I have to wonder if Mr. Petroff is among the same group of people who would complain about people like Tim Eyman. Mr. Eyman’s initiatives are true democracy in action and still many Herald readers complain about them.

In addition, Mr. Petroff says we should eliminate the electoral college and he lays the job squarely at the feet of the president. If Mr. Petroff understood our Constitution, he would realize that the president has no power at all to institute such change. The change must begin in the Senate, with two-thirds of all senators voting in favor of the constitutional amendment. After this happens (an extremely unlikely event), 38 state legislatures must also vote to amend the Constitution (also extremely unlikely as small states like Iowa and New Hampshire would lose any power they currently wield in electing the president). It is much more difficult, as it should be, to amend the Constitution than it is to pass basic legislation.

Finally, Mr. Bush is not the first president to be elected after losing the popular vote. He likely will not be the last. We may not always get the candidate of our choice (after all, I have Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray for senators), however that is part of our system. I believe that if Mr. Petroff wants to change the Constitution he should spend his time working to do so. However, I will not support the “mob rules, majority rights and too bad for the minority” thinking that goes along with pure democracy. If 50.1 percent of the people voted to legalize murder, would that make it right?

Arlington

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