It Would Take a Humble Nation to Follow the Constitution on this One

   The Electoral College just isn't working. Not at all. Oh, I'm not saying throw it away. Not at all. I'm saying, it isn't what it was meant to be, could be, and ought to be. 

   And, I'm saying it would take a pretty humble nation for it work the way it was intended.

   Let's just say, we are imperfect as voters. Most of the time, we do one of two things: (1) step into the voting booth not even knowing all the candidates who are running, much less knowing anything about them. (2) vote D or R, with no regard for who the candidate is.

   Oh, we have come up with a way so that our criteria for deciding who to vote for will be workable. We put the party affiliation for each candidate on the ballot next to their name. Voting made simple, then. Now you don't need to sort out who to vote for. Check all the Ds or check all the Rs. How hard can that be?

   But, the idea of having the Electoral College is to select people who don't operate like that. The idea is to look among your citizens and find a wise person, one who is studious about issues and candidates, one who has the time and desire to study all the candidates . . . and one who isn't so caught up in the Ds and Rs of the matter.

   Bottom line is, we have to admit we aren't great shakes as voters. Often we step into the voting booth knowing so little we basically resort to an eenie-meenie-miney-mo technique. Most voters would not admit it, but our nation would be better served if someone was doing the voting who actually based his or her votes on solid reasoning. No more voting blindly, and no more one-size-fits-all D or R voting.

  We all have some idea of who we think are good, honest, integrity-oriented people. And, often we can see which of our neighbors are taking time to study the news and issues. 

   But we aren't humble enough to say, "You know what? You'll do a better job at this than I will. Would you be so kind as to help me out?"

  Pride cometh before the fall, they say. Hopefully, our nation won't fall, but it would be a lot stronger if we went about electing people the way the Constitution outlined.

   How should we go about electing people to the House of Representatives? The original consitution says, "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature."

   So, that legislative body does get elected by direct vote.

   But, how should we decide who will serve in the Senate? Says the original Constitution. "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof."

   And, the president, as most of us realize, is to be elected by the Electoral College, not by direct vote.

   I'm not too sure we should have any problem with doing it the way the Founding Fathers originally set it up.