It’s so much more than the EC. The EC was really the best solution that they could come up with to elect a single person to run the Executive in a time where it was hard to hold statewide elections, much less a nationwide one. Senators were appointed directly by a State’s legislature, and the President by electors appointed by the legislatures. This meant that the only Federal office that was directly voted on was Congress, making elections easier and much more local.
As long as elections were hyper-local, settling them based on a simple plurality of votes was practical, because it was also hard to coordinate nationally. The Founders did not want the same type of party-driven system they left in England. However, the big mistake was in keeping the FPTP voting after they switched to popular elections for Senate and the Presidency. That, coupled with better nationwide communication, directly contributed to out two-party system, and how backwards it is.
The two-party system directly contributed to America’s sliding into fascism, when the only alternative to fascism is itself too drunk on campaign cash to let new blood into the system. But the primary issue is how throughly Trumpism has infiltrated the Republican Party, where they willingly give up their checks on the Executive and let him break laws with impunity. The Founders explicitly distributed power because they thought ambitious people would not give up power willingly. Today’s Republicans are proving they were wrong.
The EC was implemented in part to prevent Trump. Too bad like everything else it was enshittified
It’s so much more than the EC. The EC was really the best solution that they could come up with to elect a single person to run the Executive in a time where it was hard to hold statewide elections, much less a nationwide one. Senators were appointed directly by a State’s legislature, and the President by electors appointed by the legislatures. This meant that the only Federal office that was directly voted on was Congress, making elections easier and much more local.
As long as elections were hyper-local, settling them based on a simple plurality of votes was practical, because it was also hard to coordinate nationally. The Founders did not want the same type of party-driven system they left in England. However, the big mistake was in keeping the FPTP voting after they switched to popular elections for Senate and the Presidency. That, coupled with better nationwide communication, directly contributed to out two-party system, and how backwards it is.
The two-party system directly contributed to America’s sliding into fascism, when the only alternative to fascism is itself too drunk on campaign cash to let new blood into the system. But the primary issue is how throughly Trumpism has infiltrated the Republican Party, where they willingly give up their checks on the Executive and let him break laws with impunity. The Founders explicitly distributed power because they thought ambitious people would not give up power willingly. Today’s Republicans are proving they were wrong.