This approach is being lauded and suggested by some of the most well-known voices of the progressive movement. Unfortunately, they are dead wrong as this would cause worse problems than the current system. The Founders of our great nation wanted to avoid the worst of all possible tyrannies; tyranny of the majority. When the majority will shapes national policy, then the good of the nation is not well thought out.
Think about this, in a true 'majority rules' society, the freedoms we enjoy would swing wildly like a pendulum without barriers. it would be an unmitigated disaster. The answer is that 'no, we are a representative democracy.' The issue I take with this defense of how we would protect ourselves from such tyranny is that it is somewhat misguided. Our representatives are so worried about being re-elected, that they pander to just the number of people they need to do so in order to get re-elected. Essentially, the representatives fail to represent the actual long term interests of their constituents instead pandering to their short-term will in order to get re-elected.
No. The electoral college is not the problem - it is the solution! The Founders recognized the dangers of demagogues. Madison and Jefferson were especially concerned about the power of orators. Their worries were simple - the best orators would be able to whip crowds into a frenzy and use that frenzy to manage elections. And this is what we let happen with the 2016 election.
There have been countless articles detailing the failings of the Democratic party in the general election of 2016, so I will not go deep into strategic mismanagement. It has happened from the top down and was almost a systemic failure of the entire party. I detailed a week ago how this failure occurred. Simply put, the Democratic party put identity politics ahead of principles and values. We chased votes based on ethnicity and ignored the actual issues faced by people of all ethnicity.
Had the Democratic party recognized that it was policy not identity on which they should focus; had they taken advantage of state and county Democratic leaders to discern that there is a very real fear for the economic future, maybe, just maybe the DNC could have used policy to win an election that was ripe for winning.
Going back and blaming the rules you well understood for the loss will not work; it takes away focus from the issues. There is a rising tide of nationalism across the globe that threatens every form of Democracy through fear an intimidation. We must rise up against this fear with policy that accounts for the very real symptoms the fear is used against. Don't change the rules, change your game to make the rules work for you.
As soon as we do that, then the nation will stop being ruled by fear. We are, as one astute observer noted, not a Democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic. But I will take it one step further - We are not a true democracy, we are a representative democracy. This means that a majority only chooses someone to represent the collective interests of their constituency. That representation should not help just me, or just my neighbors, or even just those people in my city, county, or state, they should represent us in a manner than strengthens our nation.
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