Electoral College bad politics
By
Jared Nelson and Joe Azer
Arts and Sciences Senior and Junior
The presidential election
is less than a week away. You may remember who
won the last presidential election by getting the
most votes. George W. Bush received the majority
of the 538 votes and became the first president of
the new millennium. Yes, 538 — the number of
votes in the Electoral College, the real way the
presidency is decided.
Some of you may not even know that the election is
next week. Here in Nebraska, it is easy to forget
that there is an election going on. However,
just across the river you can hardly walk through
a cornfield without bumping into one of the candidates
or a secret service guy. The non-swingers are left
out in the cold. Nobody cares about Nebraska
or Wyoming or Idaho or the Dakotas, despite our brutally
upfront patriotism and millions of citizens. All
we hear is Florida, Florida, Florida. The swingers
are taking all the action. Ten states, maybe eight,
are all that matter right now. They get the press
coverage, the attention of the candidates and the
real responsibility.
The Electoral College was created to help ensure
a better informed presidential selection because
of the fear that the general population could not
do exactly that. This might have been true in the
years of our forefathers, but in the new millennium,
this archaic institution is disturbingly out-of-date.
I’m no Tucker Carlson, but I think I’m
bright enough to pick my own president, aren’t
you? You walk into any neighborhood bar and every
other Joe on a barstool is a political pundit. We
are children living in the age of information. We
should be well enough informed that we can realize
that the greatest democracy in the world doesn’t
have direct popular elections.
