Is it Time to End the Electoral College?

My piece defending the Electoral College is up at The Daily Caller.

It begins:

“Time to End the Electoral College,” announced the New York Times.

“Monday’s Electoral College results prove the institution is an utter joke,” declared Vox. 

The Electoral College is a “vestige” and a “carryover” from the past, proclaimed the president of the United States. 

It is a sign of our failing education system that reputable news outlets and intelligent people don’t understand the Electoral College. Its preservation is vital for securing the rights of the minority and averting the tyranny of pure democracy.

Yet seemingly unfamiliar with these arguments, the New York Times (NYT) haughtily pronounced that:

By overwhelming majorities, Americans would prefer to elect the president by direct popular vote, not filtered through the antiquated mechanism of the Electoral College. They understand, on a gut level, the basic fairness of awarding the nation’s highest office on the same basis as every other elected office — to the person who gets the most votes. 

The editors of the Times would do well to consult the history books. “Antiquated” is a term better applied to the idea of a direct popular vote. Millennia ago, Greece and Rome attempted what the NYT celebrates as a novel idea, and both collapsed.

To read the piece in full, click here.