Man, That is a tough one. I guess I have always knee-jerk hated the electoral college system but one simple qwip made me see the wisdom in it 'True democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner'. But now we have a larger problem, didn't that just happen? Not with the presidential election, That was electoral college all the way, the continental west coast and the north east couldn't overcome the heart(less)land. No, 2 wolves - straight christian fundamentalists and 1 sheep - Gays and the liberal pinko commies who support them got together and decided that it was sheep for dinner tonight.
So you are right, in some respects, we are far too large a nation for one person one vote, ask france to imagine a single european leader being elected that way, I think they would learn an American phrase very quickly 'um.....'
One small problem with the electoral college system, take a look at the map, this worked for the 13 colonies, they were all small, including Virginia, where I am stuck right now. I grew up in Alaska, 1/5th the size of the rest of the country 3 electoral votes, but the real problem is that overall as we moved west, states got larger. Add that to the capitol being out here and living out west makes you feel like, well, you don't really count in American governance, you just pay for it.
No easy solution, one state one vote? same problem, the east still runs the country. The only thing I can think of is to add geographic area as a third factor in the number of votes you get, that way perhaps Alaska and New York would have about the same vote.
How about more candidates? Lots more, I want 20 non-partisan choices in a primary thats open to everyone, 2 months of campaining for the top 5 choices, then an election and like the original consitution, #1 in votes is in the big chair #2 is the VP, can you imagine how much more dignified this election would have been if Kerry was now the VP instead of Cheney? Hell better you that one, #2 is the Chief of Staff and #3 is the VP. Now there is some unification. Play nice boys, you are going to work together no matter what, because, we say so, thats right, we the people, your boss!
(from: http://misercola.blogspot.com/2004/11/electoral-college.html)
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