Is the Electoral College a result of considerations about slavery by the Founding Fathers? I saw this idea posted on FB a few weeks ago. As I see it, there may have been an element of such a consideration in the establishment of the College (although the 3/5 clause, to the Founders’ shame, was certainly a more definite acknowledgement of slavery). I think the FB comment was in reference to the indirect nature of Presidential elections, and the factor of proportionality according to population combined with the “senator” count (ie, 2 per state in addition to the number representatives from that state). The senator component is likely what the commentor meant about a “slavery consideration.” As in the Congress, it gives extra power to states with less population; ie, (at the time) slave states.
But I’d like to think the Electoral College was much more a nod to Plato than anything else. Plato was absolutely opposed to “pure” democracy. The human tendency towards mob rule and “bread & circuses” was, and is, too obvious to ignore. I don’t actually favor the Electoral College, but I am not convinced that our species is sufficiently advanced, at least in this country, to avoid the siren lure of a demagogue, especially when the going gets rough. Beset by problems on all sides, too many people are eager to blame whomever the Demagogue Du Jour tries to blame: immigrants, the Left, the Press, etc. Note that our bicameral Congress (which also, at this moment in history, works against liberalism due to the slim chances of ever regaining the Senate) is equally a check against “tyranny by the majority”.
This begs the question of, if these institutions (the Electoral College and Congress) are not working to promote freedom and liberty, but instead seem slanted (at present) to promoting autocratic tendencies, what governmental forms would do a better job? It would be nice if a political Einstein appeared on the scene who could fabricate a new arrangement or form of government that did accommodate and tame both of these warring tendencies in human beings; ie, the desire for rational, responsive government vs. short-sighted temporary fulfillment. Or put another way, the requirement that every person’s opinion (and vote) carried equal weight vs. the power of an angry, misguided majority to inflict its will on minorities.
If such a political genius did appear, I suspect she would begin with a guaranteed (and required) proper public education, since it is our vast, collective ignorance that poses the most fundamental obstacle to enlightened self-governance. Certainly the most influential framer of them all, Thomas Jefferson, believed in the absolute necessity of an educated electorate. He said, “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” An uninformed and ignorant population can always be easily swayed by someone willing to bend (or break) the truth in their favor.
And while I’m asking for a paradigm-changing genius to show up, I truly wish an economic genius could satisfy the warring forces in every human economy. On the one hand, unbridled capitalism requires an infinite capacity for growth; it only works over time if markets and profits expand without limit. But infinite growth on a finite planet that provides finite, limited resources, resources which are being contested for by 7 billion souls… that’s not possible. Marx’s “solution” was doomed to failure since it was predicated on behavior that is exactly the opposite of human behavior. No one is prepared to follow the idea of “from those of the greatest ability to those in the greatest need.” Humans are not wired that way, the altruism in our souls is not strong enough to overcome the greed, or even the need for self-preservation. Such an arrangement only leads to corruption whereby the bosses at the top of the Marxian ladder gather the profits that were supposed to have been shared.
But Adam Smith (and all his philosophical descendents) are also doomed in the face of the reality of finite limited growth. That calculus leads inevitably to runaway megawealth concentrated in the hands of a very small percentage of ultra-rich, the infamous 1%, while the middle class is squeezed out of existence. Basically the same outcome as Marxian economies.
And the most recent theorists (the ultra-capitalists, led by Koch, Friedman, Buchanan, etc) are now convinced that democracy itself is inimical to capitalism, or at least the way they envision capitalism. The concentration of the world’s wealth into the hands of an infinitesmally small segment of the population is not enough for them. They believe in a completely unbridled capitalism, with no government regulation whatsoever, neither in finance nor in environmental nor safety standards. And of course, that is what they are effectively now getting from the Trump administration, combined with equally unbridled corruption. These are people who fundamentally believe that an unlimited franchise to vote is a bad thing, because if EVERYBODY votes, they will naturally vote to provide for themselves, voting for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, public education, roads and bridges, all things that these ultra-capitalists believe should be gotten rid of. This, by the way, is the real force behind the recent upswing in voter suppression. The Koch brothers have been funding such efforts for decades.
And so we need TWO social geniuses to appear. The one, to tweak republican democracy so that it responds to the will of the people while ensuring that will does not run roughshod over those with less power and little voice. The other, to balance economy so that the billions of humans can work and improve themselves, while still operating within the constraints of dwindling global resources.
It probaby occurs to anyone thinking on the matter, that these two geniuses would be providing solutions to what is basically the same problem: how to elevate the human spirit so that it naturally seeks this balance. While simultaneously guarding against the predatory nature of powerful greed.
© 2019 Chuck Puckett