Thought experiment:
After seven games, Team A wins the World Series. Some fans reject this. Why? A’s wins were 1-0. B’s wins were 10-0. Therefore, B wins the Series 30-4.
This is an absurdity. Each game is a separate contest.
However, this idea doesn’t sit well with many in the way we elect presidents: 51 separate elections. Maine holds one of these contests; the will of Mainers should be respected, not shoved aside by the nation’s largest cities.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact sidesteps the electoral vote process. NPV is bad. It’ll urbanize elections at the expense of the rural population. It rejects the nation’s federal character where sovereign states elect the president. Electoral College isolates state voter fraud; NPV nationalizes voter fraud.
NPV has gained steam since Trump’s election, but changing the election process goes beyond any election.
There’s talk of the U.S. Senate abolition. The Founding Fathers created the Senate and the Electoral College, both anti-democratic. Those who gave us the nation are viewed as flawed individuals who tolerated slavery. Rejecting the Electoral College is a rebuke of the Founding Fathers.
Sadly, feelings of rebuke cannot be easily reasoned away, even with a baseball metaphor.
Paul Johnson
Falmouth
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