Electoral College: Boo

The AP reports that Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States by the people actually empowered to select the president- the College of Electors.

I remember trying to explain the elegance of the American electoral system to confused Britons back in 2004, and the existence of the CoE was often central to their confusion. At the time, I would go out of my way to point out the perceived dangers of handing political power to regular people in the late 18th century, argue that the existence of this odd institution was just part of the colorful pageant of American politics, and anyway, before you go criticizing us, what's up with your "monarchy?"

Well...here it comes...flip! The whole system of voting to elect people who can then vote on your behalf is an absurd affront to democratic principles when used like this, and distorts the conduct of national campaigns in ways detrimental to public discourse. We saw a "50 State Strategy" this year, and it was a controversial and bizarre departure from the normal fighting over just a few states deemed "in play." More importantly, it undermines the main remaining reason to preserve the current system, which is that it tends to limit campaign costs. Direct election would mean that every vote really did count, and would ensure that presidential politics wasn't so easily hijacked by minorities in swing states. I'm looking at you, Florida. We've had years of argument about campaign reform in recent years generally focused on how we pay for them. We should spend some time looking at what we say about ourselves when we organize them.