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A review by sharonleavy
Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College by Jesse Wegman
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
In regular election years in the U.S., the elector's vote is a formality, a reaffirmation of the popular vote. Until it doesn't match, and you end up with a President who was not voted for by the majority.
"The problem was that the Electoral College has almost never operated as Alexander Hamilton pictured it would."
Since the formation of the Electoral College in 1797, there have been over 700 attempts to change or reform it. In this book, the author uses his extensive knowledge of U.S Politics to put forward his case for abolition.
One of the most interesting things I took from it was learning about the three-fifths clause. Slaves were counted as three-fifths of a free white person for the purposes of representation in Congress. This gave slaveholding states more representatives, more influence in picking a President, and therefore more of a reason to support slavery. In 1790, Virginia & Pennsylvania had almost the same number of free white men, but Virginia had 300,000 slaves and therefore 6 more house seats, 6 more Presidential electors.
It's an incredibly interesting look at how and why the College was established, what the intended purpose was, and how it could be better. If you, like myself, became more than a little familiar with John King and his magic wall during last November's Presidential Election, you will have heard terms like "battleground states", "mob rule", or "flipped states". This doesn't go as far as to dumb it completely down so if you're totally unfamiliar with U.S. Politics you might not like something this detailed, but if you have a passing interest this is written really well and flows like a story.
"The problem was that the Electoral College has almost never operated as Alexander Hamilton pictured it would."
Since the formation of the Electoral College in 1797, there have been over 700 attempts to change or reform it. In this book, the author uses his extensive knowledge of U.S Politics to put forward his case for abolition.
One of the most interesting things I took from it was learning about the three-fifths clause. Slaves were counted as three-fifths of a free white person for the purposes of representation in Congress. This gave slaveholding states more representatives, more influence in picking a President, and therefore more of a reason to support slavery. In 1790, Virginia & Pennsylvania had almost the same number of free white men, but Virginia had 300,000 slaves and therefore 6 more house seats, 6 more Presidential electors.
It's an incredibly interesting look at how and why the College was established, what the intended purpose was, and how it could be better. If you, like myself, became more than a little familiar with John King and his magic wall during last November's Presidential Election, you will have heard terms like "battleground states", "mob rule", or "flipped states". This doesn't go as far as to dumb it completely down so if you're totally unfamiliar with U.S. Politics you might not like something this detailed, but if you have a passing interest this is written really well and flows like a story.