November 12th, 2012Top StoryA Rebuttal of Richard Posner's Moronic Defense of The Electoral CollegeBy Hamilton Nolan
The Electoral College, an anti-democratic anachronism, should be abolished. Posner is, I hope, smart enough to know this. Especially considering the speciousness of his five arguments: 1) Certainty of Outcome
Here, Posner asserts that the prospect of recounting votes in order to get an accurate tally of the popular vote is so horrific that we should instead have in place a system that actively distorts the popular vote—simply because it makes it less likely that we might have to recount some votes. No. 2) Everyone's President
This is perhaps the most intellectually dishonest nonsensical argument of all. Because most states have a winner-take-all policy in awarding electors, the Electoral College system causes presidential candidates to completely ignore and write off states in which they feel their majority is strong enough to give them victory. Posner asserts that this is good, because it allows the candidate to ignore those states in favor of campaigning in other states, which will then not feel ignored. He neglects the fact that the states in which candidates take their lead for granted are completely ignored. Moronic. 3) Swing States
Haha! Did you catch that? This is the world in which Richard Posner lives: a world where voters in Ohio are "more likely to play close attention to the campaign," and "are likely to be the most thoughtful voters." How does Richard Posner know this? Well, the theoretical model inside of his head simply predicts it, that's all! Hilariously (as he does in the previous argument), he is trying to spin the fact that the Electoral College causes candidates to completely ignore the vast majority of American voters into a positive, by saying that the few remaining voters who do receive some attention from the campaigns will therefore be "the most thoughtful," and—please note—that because these voters have been deemed "most thoughtful" by Richard Posner, they should be the ones to decide the election. Here, Richard Posner is arguing against the wisdom of universal suffrage. He is quite plainly arguing that a system in which the (theoretically) "most thoughtful" voters decide everything is superior to a system in which everyone's vote is counted equally. By his logic, the very best presidential election system would feature a group of the ten most thoughtful Americans huddling in a room by themselves, emerging to declare who had they had chosen. Perhaps Richard Posner would prefer Papal elections to presidential ones. 4) Big States
Here, Posner argues that the convoluted and undemocratic Electoral College system, with all of its flaws, is redeemed because it somewhat mitigates the convoluted and undemocratic setup of the U.S. Senate. A dumb conclusion to draw from this would be, "Well, let's keep the Electoral College, then." A much more glaringly obvious conclusion would be, "Let's use the popular vote for elections and abolish the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate." 5) Avoid Run-Off Elections
Here, Richard Posner argues that a system that actively distorts the popular vote—the direct and measurable will of the people—is preferable to a system in which a run-off election might be required to choose our president. He argues, in other words, that a run-off election is so fearsome and horrible that it is worth having a system that may choose a president that the majority of people do not want. I do not recall how many deaths have been caused by American run-off elections, but it must have been many millions, judging by the level of fear such elections instill in Richard Posner's heart. Abolish the Electoral College. And don't pay too much attention to Richard Posner. [Slate; Previously. Photo: AP]  |
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