Structure, History, and Culture (6n)—Electoral College Politics

One year ago on Round and Square (18 November 2011)—Fieldnotes From History: Early Acculturation
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Structure, History, and Culture"

[a] Complicated RF

This is one post in a multi-part series on the American Electoral College. Click below for the others.

Electoral 1       Electoral 2        Electoral 3        Vote!                 Clearing        Electoral 4        Electoral 5          
Electoral 6       Electoral 7        Electoral 8        Electoral 9        Electoral 10   Electoral 11      Electoral 12
Electoral 13     Electoral 14

Damn (the structural torpedoes). This Electoral College thing is looking more complicated (and more persistent) than we thought.

Both Round and Square and the New York Times pretty much started out with the idea that we just need to dump it and go to the national popular vote. For us, it has been two weeks, and we have only gone around in (relative) analytical circles. We started with cherry-plum visions of a direct national popular vote. Those were the days.

[b] Overthought RF

Boy, that was a long time ago, wasn't it?

We have to do something. The direct national popular vote is problematic. It could lead to a debilitating stoppage of the entire American system if it happened to be close enough (and, with many thousands of counties, 435 congressional districts, and fifty states, that is very possible. Even 100,000 votes could be a problematic margin...and we would have to recount the entire country. I have thought and thought and thought about the implications of this, as well as those of our current Electoral College system. What should we do?

Like most people who have overthought this matter, I just don't know what that should be.

[c] Midterm RF

We are back to square three. We'll pick up new threads of this topic after a nice, restful break. We have had enough electioneering for now. Let's build up our strength and come back to these matters in time for the 2014 midterm elections (when the Electoral College doesn't matter). I doubt (seriously) that the 2016 election will work according to anything but the current system. Maybe, by the time the country is three hundred years old (still this century), we can figure this thing out. 

What have we accomplished? I think it is significant. We haven't solved anything at all (that is not the goal...usually...of Round and Square, in any case). Still, we have worked through so many more gray (grey) areas of the territory as to make the Times editorial look like the work of amateurs. Sorry, but this is much more complicated than it seems at first glance. 

It is structural...and historical...and, finally, imbued with cultural processes. 

Damn (the torpedoes). That's complicated.

I'll see you again (on this topic) in about a year or so.

This is one post in a multi-part series on the American Electoral College. Click below for the others.

Electoral 1       Electoral 2        Electoral 3        Vote!                 Clearing        Electoral 4        Electoral 5          
Electoral 6       Electoral 7        Electoral 8        Electoral 9        Electoral 10   Electoral 11      Electoral 12
Electoral 13     Electoral 14

[d] Complicated RF