|
Jorge Maspóns
(Spanish)
New Orleans, Louisiana
www.amigospaís-guaracabuya.org
Because the candidate in the recent Presidential
election who won the most popular votes did not get elected, there is now a
clamor to have the
Constitution amended to abolish the Electoral College, a system by which
electors choose the President. This would be a mistake.
What is being left out in this debate is a most fundamental part of American
history: This great nation called the United States of America
was not established as a democracy but rather, it was founded as a
Constitutional Republic. At first, when you read it, there is a
superficial similarity between these two forms of government, but consider this:
A representative democracy is a political system in which the
people periodically, by majority vote select their rulers. The rulers
then, by majority vote among themselves, have absolute power to make
whatever laws they please for governing the people. A Constitutional
Republic, on the other hand, is a system of government where the people by
majority vote select their rulers. The rulers then, by majority vote among
themselves have power to make laws to govern the people. But notice this
great difference: In a Constitutional Republic such as America the elected
officials's power is explicitly restricted by a written Constitution that only
the people can legally change. In essence the two types of government are
opposites.
The Founding Fathers knew very well the various types of governments nations had
in and before 1787 when the Constitution was written. They
believed and designed a very limited form of government called
"Constitutional Republic," in which the government is a servant of the
people and the people a servant of the government.
The Electoral College was part of this carefully framed system of checks and
balances to keep any person and/or institution from becoming a tyranny. The
Founding Fathers intended that states with small populations would have
a say in choosing the nation's chief executive. Had there not been an
Electoral College, several of the states would not have ratified the
Constitution fearing domination by the large states. The federal
system they constructed considered the interests of all factions. House
members were chosen by a direct vote of the people and be their voice.
Senators were to be appointed by the state legislatures to be the voices of the
states against the federal government (unfortunately, the 17th Amendment
changed that) and the President was to be elected by a combination of these
interests. Alexander Hamilton said of this system: "If
the manner of it be not perfect, it is at least excellent."
The Founders did not want a democracy, that is rule, by majority because they
knew it would degenerate into mob rule. They gave us a government of laws,
a republic, with strict limitations upon the government and freedom
and protection for the people. They never meant for us to be a
"democracy" as we are being told today. The Democratic Party's
demagogic clamoring for an end of the Electoral College should be strongly
resisted; I do expect
their whining to continue. The states that pre-existed the Federal
Government actually created it. In the process, the states jealously
guarded their sovereign rights. In this recent election, the Democratic
candidate won only 20 states while his opponent won 30 states. Still, that
should not be the test for winning the election. According to the
Constitution, neither a majority of the popular vote nor a plurality of the
states determines the victor. The Founders worked well both the people and
the states into the formula. Abandoning the Electoral College would be a
grave mistake. I am thankful that amending the Constitution requires
approval by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and three-quarters of the
States.
I keep thinking about that incident at the end of the Constitutional Convention
when Benjamin Franklin was leaving the State House in
Philadelphia. As he was stepping out a lady approached him and asked:
Dr. Franklin, What have you given us, the new nation? Benjamin Franklin
wisely answered: "A Republic, Madame, if you can keep it."
I say, Let's keep our Constitutional Republic!
| 
Global News Magazine 
