Go to Michael Moore’s Facebook page, that’s Michael Moore Public Figure with his photo, and see what he posted for today, and see my comment to his post, which I for the most part agreed with, except his comment on the Electoral College System of voting for President, which in our endemic under-eduction in America, is greatly misunderstood and has been maligned for the grossest of populist reasons that play directly into the hands of Power and Money and elite manipulation more than anything else we dream of politically; that is, unless we focus on how regionalism or regionalistic voting-influence on elections is not exactly a more democratic solution. I am a New Yorker and so my political heritage is Al Smith, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR, if I need calling on to be practical in my politics.
Please find below herein my response in commentary on Mr Moore’s mistaken conception of the Electoral College voting system.
I agree with Mr. Moore except the Electoral College is not arcane; it is a vibrant part of our unique democratic process, and it is a system of electing that actually respects minority positions and gives greater weight to smaller states than would have if their uniqueness as states were eliminated for a generally popular election. There are fifty elections every four years and not one.
A candidate should not win the race for the Presidency just becasue of a landslide in California or a significant majority in New York and California. One person/one vote is only a respect for the majority, which is not in itself the only way to understand democracy,particularly American Democracy. I would have liked to see what the Electoral college could have done had Germany in 1933 not had a Parliamentary system. In a Parliamentary system Trump wins, if it is by representation in Congress—the representative make-up would be different. It is because of the Electoral College system that states like Idaho and Michigan are more significant than they are popularly. Regionalistic voting determining the election would only grow in its influence on elections. Again, if Clinton had taken Florida and Pennsylvania, which she was not able to . . .?
New York and California have given her a slim margin in the popular election and there is no reason why this is more democratic than the system we have now. Trump represents a broader region of America? Trump took majorities in many smaller states; this too is democratic. Hilary’s large margin of victory in California should not determine that she represents all of America. It is a failure of contemporary American Liberalism to see this–and when I was in university, American Liberals had a bad name among foreign students for being weak, under-read, semi-literate, media manipulated, insipid, unable to defend Liberal causes with strength of mind.
Mr. Moore, you need education in American National Government. I am surprised at you.
The Falling Leaf Review 