the direct election of the president is an aspect of a direct democracy function
Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought
Not necessarily. But it is besides the point anyway, we already have "direct democracy" for all of our other federal representatives. So it obviously not a violation of our representative democracy to do.
an individuals vote is worth more under the electoral system than not. In a direct election, the candidate needs one more than half of the total votes cast. so lets say theres 100 million voters and your one vote is worth 1 in 100 million. In a divided election (50 separate elections), a candidate needs one more than half of the votes in only part of the nation, therefore one's vote is more powerful as it is compared to fewer needed votes to garner the electoral votes in that state. fewer votes needed to win equates to a single vote being more powerful
Sure, a single vote might be more powerful, for the individuals who voted for the candidate who ended up getting all of the electors in their state. But the individual vote was completely taken away from the people who, despite potentially getting nearly 50% of the vote, got no electors in their state.
that's tantamount to saying if you vote for the loser you had no say.
It was your point, I just turned it around on you. Using your rebuttal, if small states don't get a say, then it is tantamount to saying that if you don't vote for the winner, you have no say.
in small states a vote actually has more worth.In an electoral college system minorities have, or can have, more say than in a direct election as concentrations of a people can affect elections much more easily.
Exactly! Their votes have more worth than mine. Mine is going to get completely discarded, while theirs will get amplified. I don't find this system to be fair to the individuals of this nation.
its simple enough, the less power a state has the more the central government has. A president (or his party) wouldn't be as beholden to a state or worried about some individual state for, say, in their executive orders or in any other decision. just think about senators from some small state trying to influence the president concerning something affecting their state, good luck with that
Your position is that the states are more important than the individual. I hold the opposite view.
Swing states have changed and can change much more readily than large population centers
This isn't true. The center of the population of the US is constantly shifting, every year. The swing states, not so much.