Jim;

My prediction for the Presidential election in the United States for the year 2004 is there will not be one! Instead, George W. will declare himself Emperor! I understand he saw the television movie about Neapolitan, and liked the idea, but he will not be inviting the Pope!.

Tom

>Thanks. I just finished it, and it does explain things well.
>
>I can now understand the protection from the tyranny of the majority comment... it refers specifically to selecting the Presidnet and nothing else.
>
>To an outsider it does seem an odd system, but the article shows that it has/does work as intended. I'd guess that if replaced by something else there would be more trouble/confusion than what is there now. (look at 'campaign finance reform' as an indicator < s >)
>
>
>
>>Look at the link Tom provided. It provides a good overall understanding of the electoral college, why it was started, why it changed, and why it is the way it is today:
>>
>>http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf
>>
>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I believe electoral votes is not an accurate way of reflecting our country's choice and it should be changed to the popular vote myself.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>The idea of a representative government is to protect the minority from the tyrany of the majority. If a popular vote was used then California, New York, Texas and Florida would decide every presidential election.
>>>
>>>Jake,
>>>As an outsider I tell you now that I don't fully understand the nuances of your Electoral College system.
>>>But your statement above caused me to ask myself 'how is the Electoral College "representative government" AND how does it protect from the tyranny of the majority?'.
>>>
>>>Let me use todays's Supreme Court decision on sodomy to illustrate...
>>>IF put to the Congress or if put to the Electoral College or even if put to a referendum I think it's a fair bet that all three would "vote" to outlaw the practise. Given the high court's ruling - that the bedroom's antics cannot be legislated - none of those decision methods would succeed in protecting the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
>>>
>>>Can you answer the question above that I asked myself?