The History of the Peloponnesian War, general/historian Thucydides documents the great speeches from the Agora in Athens during their war with neighboring Sparta (431 – 404BC). Athens was a direct democracy and Sparta was ruled by oligarchs.
These citizen speeches teach us how Athens engaged and carried out the war and most everything else they did to organize themselves. Thucydides points out that twice the Spartans asked for peace from the Athenians. But the Athenians were led by overconfident—and uninformed—populists and the war continued. Citizens failed to inform themselves, became drunk on their own freedom, and took for granted their responsibilities in a direct democracy. Eventually, the Athenians with all of their celebrated direct democracy lost the war and everything else.
Our founders were great students of history. Though this war between Greek city-states was likely only one of the reasons, our founders determined not to make the same Athenian mistake. When they wrote the Constitution, they created a republic with safeguards designed to protect citizens from some of their countrymen who might lead in a less informed manner and place everyone at great risk.
The Electoral College is one of those safeguards.
“James Madison worried about what he called ‘factions,’ which he defined as groups of citizens who have a common interest in some proposal that would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole. Madison’s fear – which Alexis de Tocqueville later dubbed ‘the tyranny of the majority’ – was that a faction could grow to encompass more than 50 percent of the population, at which point it could ‘sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.’ Madison ha[d] a solution for tyranny of the majority: ‘A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.’” (From FactCheck.org)
In Federalist Paper #10, a commentary on why the U.S. Constitution should be ratified, Madison highlighted his grave concern should factions unite: “Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.” He concluded that as the new country would grow in population, factions would be diluted by numbers and cease to be a problem, given the safeguards in the Constitution.
But, there’s no way our founders could have envisioned the internet, or social media, or broadcast networks where “men of factious tempers” can now unite so easily and direct the course of a nation. I have to believe that if Madison were alive today, he’d be very afraid. Is it any wonder that so-called progressive candidates and office holders have taught us how to use social media to make direct appeals to our countrymen? Becoming more of a direct democracy preys upon the ignorance or at least lack of understanding of why our founders created a republic with safeguards in the first place.
Quite frankly, if there has ever been a time in American history where we have resembled the flawed Athenian direct democracy, it is now. The internet is our Agora, and even our liberal friends agree that our younger citizens are in great need of classes in civics and history. We fall prey to the flashy speeches of populists and base our decisions on what others tell us about truth. We are intrigued by the speed and reach of social media. At times it appears we are drunk on our own freedoms, but we have little understanding of the responsibilities we would assume should we decide we need to be a more direct democracy.
So now, once more, after last week’s election, you will hear calls for the elimination of the Electoral College. We should not follow this siren song which takes advantage of people who have little knowledge of world history, how our Constitution works, and why the Electoral College was created. For these reasons and many more, we need to hold on to the Electoral College and recognize its vital role in helping us keep our republic—for all of our citizens.