The Electoral College was designed to skew Presidential elections in favor of wealthy slavers in the South. In 1787 James Madison, a third generation slaver, built multiple slaver advantages into the new Constitution. One of the most enduring has been the Electoral College. There have been over 700 attempts to abolish the Electoral College. As a direct result of Madison's design, 10 of the first 12 Presidents owned slaves. 4 of the first 5 Presidents were Virginia slavers.

Our values have changed since the ruling class designed government for their era's form of predatory capitalism, self enrichment through slave labor. Their value system was realized through institutionalized electoral systems and government designed to concentrate power and exclude most people from the decision making process. By design, this leaves most people outside, unrepresented at the table. Proportional Representation takes the oposite approach. Group decision making is better than concentrated, authoritarian decision making, Proportional Representation facilitates and disperses decision making and includes nearly everyone.

On the other side of the pond, Denmark’s threshold for representation is 2%. Our threshold is 30% just to get on the ballot in many state caucus systems. Denmark has 9 parties represented in their Folketing. We have only two choices. The Electoral College limits our choices, concentrates power in two parties and further concentrates power in a small number of swing states.

We could do nothing, continue using an archaic system from 1787 designed to skew elections, concentrate power, exclude people, have severly constrained, unaccountable choices from two parties who don't represent most people in the country, that do a better job of representing predatory corporations. Or, we could decide to dump the slavers' value system and adopt Proportional Representation, starting in local Home Rule communities. Something to chew on.

Make sure your state representatives support the Natonal Popular Vote. Excellent background info on the Electoral College and the National Popular Vote under "Questions and Answers". Check it out.

The Electoral College: Rooted in Slavery

-  Jesse Kumin

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