Since none of that lingering racism is caused by the Electoral College and getting rid of the Electoral College wouldn't change that lingering racism one bit, what would be the benefit of getting rid of it for America's lingering race problem?Ken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 16, 2022 9:36 amOf course the electoral system isn't the cause of racism in this country. I never made any such claim.Falco Underhill wrote: ↑Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:43 am The electoral system isn't the cause of racism.
The electoral system isn't causing blacks to be disenfranchised within their states.
A change in the nationwide method for electing presidents wouldn't change all those ploys for disenfranchising black voters one bit.
All it would do is lead to the problems for Democracy the founders were concerned with.
How would changing the electoral college fix anything?
Would a direct democracy enable us to vote someone into the presidency that could solve all these issues in a way that a president elected according to the electoral system can't?
What exactly would be the benefit of changing the electoral process for disenfranchised blacks?
What I did point out, with a great deal of evidence, is that it has been used with great effect to over-represent white voters and their interests in the South. First during slavery when white slaveowners received representation for their slaves but kept them in bondage and didn't allow them to vote or participate in society. And later during segregation when southern states simply denied the vote to Black citizens but were still entitled to count them for the purposes of the Electoral College. That is how we ended up with a system in which a white voter in Mississippi or South Carolina had their vote carry 10x the weight of a voter in say Iowa. Black voters were denied the vote directly through things like poll taxes and literacy tests and just plain intimidation. And then indirectly through the criminalization of Black life and then disenfranchisement of anyone with a record.
In other words, the Electoral College was a tool used to advantage the slaveholding south from 1789 until the Civil War. It then became a tool used to advantage white supremacy in the Jim Crow south for the next 100 years. Are things better and different today? Of course. But old habits die hard and there are parts of this country where such practices linger. Where politicians find it easier and "safer" to manipulate their electorate rather than persuade them.
Disenfranchised voters would still be just as disenfranchised either way, right?