facebook-pixel

Letter: No tears for the small states

(National Archives | The Associated Press) This photo made available by the U.S. National Archives shows a portion of the United States Constitution with Articles V-VII. For the past two centuries, constitutional amendments have originated in Congress, where they need the support of two-thirds of both houses, and then the approval of at least three-quarters of the states. But under a never-used second prong of Article V, amendments can originate in the states.

After some letters calling for the abolition of the Electoral College and then a couple of rebuttals, with one using name-calling hate to call out a liberal’s name-calling hate, here's my take.

Of course the Electoral College is the Constitution's way of choosing our president, and those of us who paid attention in civics class know why. I also understand that states can choose how they select electors, so they could easily choose to select them according to the winner of the popular vote. What I'd like to address are the tired claims of the poor rural states being bulldozed by those evil big urban liberal states.

The Constitution is both brilliant and deeply flawed. If we look at the current state of affairs, we now see the presidency (picked by electors), the Supreme Court (picked by the president, who is picked by electors) and the Senate (with unequal representation) all skewed toward small or rural states, with only the House of Representatives being a somewhat democratic institution. You can even argue that the House is undemocratic, as gerrymandering now requires the Democrats to win by more than 5 percent just to break even.

I also paid attention the day we learned the United States is not a democracy. All I'm saying is that I shed no tears for the poor small and rural states that currently impose their will on the rest of us regardless of numbers. It feels a bit like being a liberal in Utah where the third of us get nearly no say.

Roger Edwards, Millcreek

Submit a letter to the editor