No, I’m not saying this because of what happened to Hillary Clinton in 2016. I’m saying this because the College defies the idea of “one person, one vote.” Joe Kennedy III recently gave an interview talking about a move to actually do away with this antiquated structure because, simply, it isn’t fair.
My Votes in Texas
I’ve voted for all kinds of parties during my 25 years in Texas because I know really that my vote won’t count. Texas has been a solid Republican state during the whole time I’ve been here, so I’ve voted Democrat, Green and Libertarian in presidential races. Why? My vote doesn’t really count. But if we truly had one-person, one-vote, my vote would be as good as anyone’s in California, Iowa, Ohio or Wisconsin. Isn’t that fair? (There is word on the wind, though, that Texas is turning blue.)
Kennedy’s View
What Kennedy said was that the Founding Fathers established the Electoral College because they were attempting to appease the lightly populated Southern states. And, of course, in those days the only people who could vote were the white male landowners, not slaves, not women, not impoverished Americans. And it isn’t just the idea that the votes count differently depending upon where you live; it’s also that electors are chosen to actually cast those electoral votes. As recently as 2000 an elector refused to cast her ballot for Al Gore, though she just abstained rather than voting.
After the 2016 Election
Of course, more attention has gone to the Electoral College after the 2016 election. Is it really fair that Hillary Clinton won by 3 million popular votes but was beaten by Donald Trump in the Electoral College? Is it fair that we wound up with an ill-prepared liar for a president who cozies up to our enemies and doesn’t support our allies around the world? Is it fair that the true will of the people in one-person, one vote was ignored?
Not the First Time
The year 2016 was not the first time these electoral upsets have occurred. They also happened in 1867, 1888, and 2000.
Isn’t It Time to Fix This?
The college may have served a political purpose in the early days of the nation. But it surely is time for a change. Should my vote in Texas count less than someone’s vote in another state? I just don’t think so.