The quote in the title was on “X,” from a philosophically and historically illiterate Leftist (those are redundancies, of course). The Left hates the Electoral College now almost as much as it hates the current Supreme Court. Anything that prevents them from obtaining the totalitarian power they lust after is anathema. Actually, the Electoral College was a brilliant creation by our Founding Fathers. It was about the only thing left in our government hindering a total slide into the democracy they abhorred and tried so desperately to prevent.
Any half-educated American knows that our Founders created a Republic (“if you can keep it,” Benjamin Franklin said), not a democracy. More on this later. Actually, technically, they established an “aristocracy of merit” intended to be founded upon a “democracy of equality.” The old aristocracy they rebelled against was an “aristocracy of birth,” which meant any insane, incompetent idiot, like George III, could obtain power simply because his old man was king. To the Founders, the “rule by the few” was the best, but only if that rule was from merit and virtue, not birth. Give everybody equal opportunity, equality before the law, limited government interference—freedom!—and let the cream rise to the top in all areas. America still allows that on the basketball court and football and baseball playing fields, but not in government and frequently no longer in business. And the results are manifest. We loved watching Tom Brady play football; the thought of Kamala Harris as President is horrifying. And Disney movies are now garbage.
Of course, there was the problem of slavery in early America, something that existed widely in the world at the time and that troubled our Founders enough to attempt to move toward eradicating it. Thus, in the Constitution, they put in a provision that allowed Congress to abolish the slave trade in 1808 (which was done). There was also the “three-fifths” compromise in representation—of every five slaves in the slave states, three could be counted as population towards Congressional representation. This was designed to encourage the South to soon abolish slavery. “Hey, guys, dump slavery, and you can count ALL of your black people towards representation, as happens in the non-slave states, and thus, you’ll have more political power.” But, alas, money is usually more motivational than morality, as our current Democratic Party so clearly demonstrates, so the Democratic Party Southerners stuck with their economic system as long as they could. Our Founders were undoubtedly far more advanced toward ending slavery than our modern America is in exterminating the hideous abomination of abortion. Indeed, the Left is pushing abortion even harder. The Left is pure evil, far worse than the “slave-owning” Founders.
But—democracy. It was not the system of government our Founders established; indeed, it was anathema to them. The three entities in their government—House of Representatives, Senate, and President—that made law each had different “sources” of power based upon the major different theories of government that exist (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, rule by one, rule by the few, rule by the many). The House of Representatives was the “democratic” branch of the government. Since all money bills are (technically) to originate there, and the money comes from the people (taxes), they should have control of this part of the government. Also, the districts of the House were divided up, smaller, and thus more easily regulated by the people. If democracy has any advantages as a government, it can only be among fewer people. The larger the democracy, the graver the problems because of the uncontrollable mindlessness of the masses.
The Senate was to be the “aristocratic” branch of the government, chosen initially by the state legislatures and designed to protect the states, in Washington, against federal encroachment upon their powers. Laws must get through the Senate, too, and if the feds tried to usurp powers delegated to the states, the Senate was supposed to block it. It never worked quite like planned and certainly doesn’t today, but that was the idea.
It isn’t the least bit shocking that, since the 17th Amendment (direct election of Senators) was adopted in 1913, eliminating the “aristocratic” aspect of the government and giving more power to “democracy,” we have seen a concomitant degeneration in American culture. Our Founders believed democracy would lead to societal decadence, deterioration, and eventual tyranny. America also expanded democracy in the 20th century with women’s suffrage, the Voting Rights Act, and the 26th Amendment (18-year-old voting). “In the U.S., [just over a century] of full-blown democracy has resulted in steadily increasing moral degeneration, family and social disintegration, and cultural decay in the form of continually rising rates of divorce, illegitimacy, abortion, and crime.” (Hans-Hermann Hoppe, “Democracy: The God That Failed”).
The Presidency, obviously, was the “monarchical” part of the government, to be selected by the Electoral College. It was designed specifically to safeguard against democratic tyranny. The smaller states in 1789 decidedly wanted this to protect themselves against the larger, more populous states (Virginia and New York specifically at that time), and we need it today for the same reason (in our case, California, Texas, Florida, New York). Pure democracy could give the most populous states an unbalanced amount of power. With the Electoral College system, they still have the most votes and can be decisive, but those votes are restrained and (theoretically) cannot crush the smaller states by sheer (democratic) numbers. That was deliberate by the Founding Fathers and has proven wise in some elections when a majority of the smaller states have been able to elect the President of their choice even though the total popular vote went against them. 2000 and 2016 are examples of this, which is why the Left hates the Electoral College and wants to abolish it.
But, democracy. What did the Founders, specifically, say about it? Part two will tell us.
Subscribe to my substack: mklewis929.substack.com. History, Bible, the “why” things happen, not just the “what.” Follow me on “X”: @thailandmkl. Go back to a great age in American history and read my western novels, Whitewater, River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member