Guest Book

Eagleball Not so fast 🙂 When the Constitution was drafted in 1787 and adopted in 1788, there were then only 13 states. The western states as we know them today were not even a glimmer, Pennsylvania probably the furthest west, Georgia the furthest south, all some difficult distance to visit or travel to in the pre-highway system. The notion was tied to an approximation of representative democracy and not the overstated notion of one man, one vote. The idea, however, had its roots in the need to ensure that the larger states would not completely dominate the smaller states in national affairs if they were unable to exert any influence on national politics. In addition, under the concept of representative democracy, the college was predicated on a facts/fiction as it existed then---the fear that an uniformed or less than rationale electorate, read as "rabble" or "mob" would be unable to make superior choices. Living in Ohio, I am inundated with campaign convoys, but I note with great amusement that both NY and Cal are complaining that the major candidates are "ignoring" them to spend time in so-called battleground states, who each have far less electoral clout then either NY or CA, but collectively can equal them. The founding fathers would not be to disturbed with this current development. In fact, the founding fathers then feared that the large states of NY, VA, and PA or 3 states of 13, would dominate the nation through population size. If one looks at the history of the issue, you will be amused to find out how much influence and power Rhode Island was able to exert on the nation through the Confederation period which required a unanimous vote. While the large states tried to defeat RI in that process, the "great compromise" of 1787 was a bicameral legislature, the representatives based on population and the senate with equal voting. This was designed to work in conjuction with the electoral process in an effort to avoid both a domination by a small state or the large states. Cheers CRR