Electoral College needs be eliminated

Dear Editor:

A few of my friends have commented that they do not understand how Americans, once so respected by the world, could possibly support and vote for Donald Trump.

The problem is that the Republic of the United States of America is not a “pure” democracy. In the history of the United States, five candidates have won the popular vote, but have not been elected president. The most recent presidential candidate to fall into this category was Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016. Why?

Because the Founding Fathers did not trust the citizens to make the correct decisions and thus created the Electoral College.They believed that the ultimate choice for president should be left to “enlightened statesmen”.

When an American votes, he/she thus votes for a member of the Electoral College, who then casts the votes for the president. When a member of the Electoral College (538) casts a vote, all other votes are cancelled. Therefore, 270 Electoral College votes are required to win the presidency, but those remaining votes individually could far outnumber the votes held by the Electoral College.

It must be remembered that the common man cannot be trusted to make the correct decision. Only the “enlightened statesmen” can do that. In other words, the privileged and elite in-crowd.

The problem is that if the majority of citizens did not vote for Trump in the last election, and the Electoral College was aware of his many obvious failings/faults. But, where were their “enlightened statesmen?” Could they have deferred to the popular vote? Probably not.

Could they have changed the outcome of that election? I don’t know, but that would have caused great unrest, given the rabid support of his followers — and they are “followers.”

If the United States. is to become a “true” democracy, it is time for the toothless Electoral College to be a thing of the past and let the people alone truly decide their future. Patrick MacDonald

West Kelowna