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Article: Even the best arguments for the Electoral College seem less a statement of principle than a defense of entrenched privilege.
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- November 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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As Americans go to the polls in a few days, many will be worrying
about a repeat of the drama and pain of the 2000 election, in which
George W. Bush became the first president in more than a century to
win an Electoral College majority without also winning a popular-
vote plurality. Despite the apparent injustice of such a result, many
still wish to retain the Electoral College and risk again the turmoil
of 2000. But the arguments mustered in defense of the Electoral
College are strikingly weak; so weak, in fact, that if the Electoral
College did not already exist, we would surely not now seek to invent
it.
The supporters of the Electoral College put forth in its defense
three assertions, ...