Letter: The wisdom of the Electoral College
Several recent letters to the editor promoting the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) demonstrate a lack of understanding concerning the Electoral College and its value in electing our president. This fact is made clear by the arguments used in support of the NPVIC promoting the idea that your individual vote will now count, when in reality it has the greater potential to do just the opposite.
Put simply, the Electoral College allows smaller population centers in a greatly diverse nation to have a relatively strong voice over and against areas with much larger populations, like New York, California and Florida. But with the NPVIC in effect, these same states are likely to end up picking the president, drowning out the popular vote of the rest of the nation.
If you happen to agree with the West and East coast’s choice, you will be happy with the outcome, but if you do not agree, your vote will not count as Colorado’s electors will have to reflect the greater majority, but not necessarily the majority of people of like mind.
Our Founding Fathers understood from history that a democracy does not work, eventually degrading into mob rule. Our Electoral College is a unique blend of a democratic popular vote balanced with republic representation.
In this way the Founding Fathers avoided the pure democratic “mob rule” outcome of two wolves and a sheep voting on “what to have for dinner.” In this example, two diverse constituent groups are represented: wolves and sheep. With the Electoral College intact as originally intended, both constituent groups will get an equal vote. Without it, the sheep loses big to the majority.
I am 14 years old, but with a few hours effort, I have educated myself about the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in their creation of our nation’s Electoral College to prevent America from becoming a pure democracy, which they knew could not preserve our precious freedoms. I want to encourage everyone to take a few hours to educate themselves on this very important issue. Check out coloradansvote.org.
Lucas Villarreal
New Castle
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