Thomas,

Neapolitan? The ice cream?! <s>

Renoir


>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?