With the recent Democratic convention and VP running mate announcement, I thought it was time to look at just how corrupted the way we elect the President and Vice-President has become.
As a boy, I learned about Presidential elections partially from school and partially by observation. It wasn’t until decades later that I learned how the process is legally supposed to happen, just how much of what I had been taught was wrong, and just how corrupted the process has become. Let’s look at some of the examples.
Who Elects the President & Vice-President?
If there is one piece of misinformation I hear repeated more often than any other, it is the idea that the American people elect the President. They do not.
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress:
Constitution of the United States – Article II, Section 1, Clause 2
The states choose electors in a manner determined by that state’s legislature. Today, every state appoints electors based on a popular vote within that state. All but two states, Maine and Nebraska, appoint electors on a winner take all basis. That means all of the electors appointed are those who have promised to vote for whoever won the popular vote in that state. So to everyone who complains about the “electoral college” and the winner take all system, I hope you recognize that this is not a problem with the Constitution, but with your state’s legislature. I’ve written several articles about the Electoral College and recent attempts to get rid of it. You can use the links below to find out more.
Electoral College ArticlesNow that we have a common understanding of how the President of the United States is supposed to be elected, let’s look at some of the corruptions of the process from recent news.
Presidential Running Mates
On August 11th, Democratic Candidate for the office of President Joe Biden announced his choice of Kamala Harris to be his Vice-Presidential running mate. There’s just one problem, the Constitution of the United States does not allow for a “Presidential ticket” like the ones being promoted by the political parties.
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;
Constitution of the United States, Amendment XII
Originally, the Vice-President was the first runner-up in the Presidential election. This became a problem in our third election, when the winner was John Adams, (a federalist) and the runner-up was Thomas Jefferson (an anti-federalist). To minimize the chance of that happening again, the Constitution was amended to have the Vice-Presidential election be separate and distinct from the Presidential one. Yet today you, through your choice of electors (the person you choose to represent your state in the Presidential election), are not given that choice. The political parties have taken that choice out of your hands and given it to the Presidential candidate or, more likely, the party itself.
What if you do not think the choice of the Presidential candidate for Vice-President is the best one? What if you want to vote for Joe Biden, but think Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren would be a better Vice-Presidential candidate? Too bad, you’re not allowed that choice. Just look at your ballot; you can only choose electors that will vote for the ticket, not the individuals. The American people, through their states, no longer have a real choice in the Vice-President of the United States. That decision has been given to the Presidential candidate, with tremendous influence from their political party.
Primaries and Conventions
Speaking of the influence of the political parties, as I write this article the Democratic Party is holding their national convention to formally nominate Joe Biden as their presidential candidate. Next week, the Republican Party will do the same for Donald Trump, and I’m sure other, smaller parties are doing the same thing around this time. Again, there’s just one problem: The primary and convention process is not in the Constitution and serves to limit the choices of the American people.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty…
George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
Over two hundred years ago, our first president warned us about the spirit of party. He warned that their spirit of revenge would lead to the most frightful and permanent despotism. That the problems which result from their discord would lead the people to seek security in the absolute power of the leader of one of the factions (political parties) and be the ruin of our liberty. Mr. Washington’s predictions have come true, and no greater example can be found than the current president election process, embodied in the phrase that you must choose “the lesser of two evils”.
First, we need to recognize that political parties are not public entities. They are private organizations, no different than Green Peace, the National Rifle Association, or your local social club. Yet you are paying for their elections, so these private organizations can promote their champions for offices. Not just the office of President, but pretty much every elected office in the nation, all the way down to your local dog catcher. There are probably tens of thousands of organizations, many of which have political goals in their charter, but only these select few are given the privilege of having the American taxpayer not only pay for their elections, but pay for the privilege of having their choices limited to the people these groups choose.
I’m sure most Americans know that they can write in any name on a ballot, but very few even know how. When you walk into the voting booth, you are presented with a list of “approved” candidates that you are expected to choose from. Yes, in most cases a party’s candidate was chosen by a primary, but we’ve seen over the last few cycles that this process is frequently manipulated by the party leaders to get the candidate they think has the best chance to win the election. (Notice, not the best person for the job, but the person their group thinks has the best chance to win the election, regardless of their qualifications.) However, why should your choices be limited to what other people think? Shouldn’t we all be free to vote for the candidate for office we think is best?
Let’s look at this from the point of view of a candidate. If you want a chance at winning anything but the most local of offices, you need to join a political party. This party will want to you adopt all of their platform positions, whether you support them or not. The party will also want you to support other candidates from your party, regardless of whether you think they are the best candidate or not. If you want the money and support the party can bring, you will do what they want. As the saying going, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
That brings me back to the Presidential election. Since We the People do not elect the President and Vice-President, but electors to represent us in that election, why are we given only anonymous “electors” to choose from? Who are these electors? How are they chosen? These are party members that the party has chosen, who have promised to vote for their party’s candidate. Why are we not given the choice of who we think would make the best electors? Why must I vote for some anonymous party apparatchik to represent me rather than Tom, Mary, or someone else I trust to do so? And since we are voting for electors who have already pledged to only vote for their partie’s candidate, how can we vote for an elector that would vote for someone other than the people on the ballot? How can we vote for an elector that might “split the ticket” if we don’t even know who we are selecting to vote for president and they are required by law to vote only for their pledged candidate? Would you vote for an anonymous member of the House of Representative? In short, your vote for presidential electors has been manipulated and restricted in order to limit you to the candidates these private organizations want you to vote for. And we have no one to blame but ourselves and our representatives in our states.
Conclusion
Once again, ignorance of our Constitutions, both of the United States and of the several states, has led the American people to blindly follow a corrupt system. It’s not the elections that are corrupt, but the way we have allowed the political parties to manipulate the election process in our states that has been corrupted. If we want to fix our election process, we need to limit the power political parties have over our elections and return choices back to We the People.
Start with pressuring your state legislators to support legislation that opens up the ballot. If you are not given a plain and simple method to place anyone’s name on the ballot, you need to work to change your state’s laws to fix that. I’m not necessarily saying we eliminate party candidates from the ballot, but we need to make sure those who have not sold themselves to a political faction are given an equal chance at the ballot box.
Also, we should change state laws to require the political parties fund their own primaries. In fact, I think they should run their own primaries. The state should have nothing to do with how private organizations choose their candidates.
I would like to see more states drop the winner take all method of appointing electors. I agree with Madison, that the election of presidential electors should be at the district level.
I agree entirely with you in thinking that the election of Presidential Electors by districts, is an amendment very proper to be brought forward at the same time with that relating to the eventual choice of President by the H. of Reps. The district mode was mostly, if not exclusively in view when the Constitution was framed & adopted; and was exchanged for the general ticket & the Legislative election, as the only expedient for baffling the policy of the particular States which had set the example.
Letter from Madison to Hay 1823
Furthermore, rather than voting for anonymous pledged electors, I want to vote for real people. Let everyone who wishes to be a presidential elector be on the ballot, along with any pledge they have made as to whom they would support. Then let the people of the state decide for themselves who they want representing them in the “electoral college”. I would keep the laws requiring electors to follow any pledge they make, but if a candidate for Presidential Elector does not pledge, they should be free to vote for whomever they want, and the people of that district should be free to choose them.
I hope now you see just how much you have been manipulated in our election process. The question is, will you continue to be the pawn of the political parties, or will you rise up and be a citizen of our republic? Will you pressure your public servants, your state Representative and Senator, to propose and support legislation to minimize the influence of the political parties and return choice to the people of your state in your elections? Since your state legislators are most likely already wedded to a political party, I don’t expect most of them to be very supportive of this idea. But isn’t it time we remind them that they work for us, not their party? Otherwise, not only will we continue to live as serfs in our own states and country, but we condemn our children to do so as well.
