The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

Union Comment: People need to have more power in our own government

During the last couple presidential elections the general sense of disagreement over how the elections were ran has brought question to the validity of the Electoral College. The Electoral College does not always truly represent the people’s will; the outrage and disagreement that stemmed from the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections could tell you that.

There were even sections of the country left feeling that their votes were not counted, and with no follow-up investigation or recount we will never know. This is not supposed to happen in a democracy where the people have say in the decisions that effect us all.

Many people here in the U.S. do not even know how the Electoral College works or the impact it has on deciding who will become the next executive leader of the country, and little do they know that even when one candidate receives more overall numbers of votes that candidate can still lose, depending on how the electoral college sways the vote.

This system is not anything new, as it has been around for a couple hundred years when it was created during the Constitutional Convention. But is it still necessary?

The Electoral College is just another outdated process which has mostly devolved into a massive beaurocratic systems keeping true democracy out of the hands of the people.

Does “big brother” not trust us with this power? After all, what would the sons of presidents and senators do if they knew the people would have to decide if they are fit or not to run the country?

The electoral college needs to be updated or gotten rid of if this country is going to function by people’s will and not just by dictated government mandate.We need to break the habit of taking action now and asking questions later. Responsibility to the people has been out of check for too long, and if it continues you can bet that people will be reduced to nothing more than political numbers, and not respected constituents, by those who think only on their terms and not on what the people think.

By getting rid of the electoral college we could create a method that stays in touch with how the majority of America really feels about how this country should be run; we can make up our own minds on what kind of leader would represent the popular will, based on facts, while defending and representing the rights of those who did not have the stronger voice in deciding our newest commander-in-chief.

The country should be run with people’s thoughts in mind, and not just their votes. We need a president who looks out for this country’s true interests, and not somebody who dictates it.

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