Electoral College Time!

Usually, around election time, the big hubabaloo is about the "electoral college" and how it either IS or IS NOT democratic and un-American. Usually by now, I'm so tired of explaining and discussing it that I just give up. This year, however, there has been little talk about it at all! So, now I have to bring it up.

**For those that don't know, the electoral college is really how the President is elected - our poor little votes really don't mean much. What happens is this: Each State has its own system, but generally, each State takes the vote of its citizens and tallies them up to see which candidate gets the most votes. Then, that State turns around and sends its delegates to a National Convention and they cast the votes for the State. Each State is allotted votes by the population of the State. Now, sometimes some delegates get frisky and vote for the "other" guy, but generally that is considered a "no no" and is definitely a career-ender.

So, why does the electoral college matter? Although most citizens think that the US is a democracy where everyone's vote counts equally, its not - its a Representative Republic which means we vote for people to represent us - we don't vote directly for anything at the Federal level. This is actually a GOOD thing for those of us in States with small populations because without the electoral college our piddly little votes wouldn't mean anything. Now, instead of meaning nothing, they just mean VERY VERY little. If it weren't for the electoral college, the five biggest cities in the country would really by the ones to elect the President - because they have more votes than the rest of the country combined. If you weren't part of one of those cities, you'd be SOL.

So, rejoice that the vote of your State at least counts for something, because without the electoral college, it wouldn't mean diddly.