To the editor:
In his recent column, John Hood refers to the fact that two of the last three presidents, George W. Bush in 2000, and Donald Trump in 2016, were elected by the Electoral College, having lost the popular vote. I found myself uncomfortable with that result, both in the case of George W. Bush (whom I supported) and Donald Trump (whom I did not support). The last president prior to Bush to be elected in this way was Benjamin Harrison in 1888. There have been only five such elections in our history.
As John Hood pointed out, a compromise was reached in 1787 between large states and smaller states which may have been necessary to the creation of the new nation at that time. But 230 years later the landscape looks much different. The loose confederation of states that existed at that time, where people identified as Virginian or New Yorker rather than American, has morphed into a nation where everything flows across state lines, not only travel and commerce, but also air and water pollution and germs carrying disease. In the real world of 2020, we are all Americans in a nation that stretches from sea to shining sea. Our rights granted to us as U.S. citizens, and the duties and obligations we owe in return, are the same regardless of what state we live in. Except, apparently, in the matter of electing presidents.
The Constitution that was cobbled together at that time, still a remarkably successful document, does not in all respects fit the situation that exists many years later. This was recognized in 1865 when the 13th amendment abolished slavery. It was recognized again in 1920 when the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote. In fact, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, to align with changing perceptions. In this era of “one man, one vote,” when most people feel that their vote should count just as much as that of any other American — and after watching the will of the majority be thwarted in the election of two of the last three presidents — the time has come for the enactment of a 28th amendment to abolish the electoral college.