For the sake of ourselves

As people seem to become more and more upset over Trump's victory as new president, so do the reasons why we need to revise our voting system. One of those that many seem to support is the removal of the electoral college, with various reasons behind it such as it being unfair to the people that vote and it going against our democratic principles. Can we really make these claims, however? Say that the electoral college really is something not good and to be gotten rid of, is it still justifiable to say so because it goes against democracy?

Many people argue about what type of government we have. Some people saying we have a representative democracy, and some saying we don't have a democracy at all, but rather a republic. Whichever may be more right, it is still true however that under the pure definition of a democracy, our country is not 100% that. Therefore, to state that the electoral college needs to be removed because it goes against core democratic principles would be misleading, for our country was never founded on "core" democratic principles, but either way, is the electoral college so in need of removal?

Under the electoral college, smaller, less influential states are given the power to have a larger voice in the presidential decision than their population shows for. If this were removed, these states would essentially disappear, as presidential candidates would no longer have a need to campaign in such states. Meaning that only densely populated areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, etc. would become the main focus. Many people see this as a good thing, saying that if the people of a country are deciding their president, then the areas with the most population should matter the most. This proposal isn't inherently bad, yet some flaws do oppose. Most notably is the fact that it completely ignores the notion that, as a democracy, we would be a united people. In a democracy, where the people decide, shouldn't everyone matter? What this proposal brings is essentially the segregation of people into two groups: Important and non-important. Also not to mention that the needs and wants of largely populated cities are very different to those of, say small farming cities. So only caring for cities that "mattered'' the most would also essentially be created a society built only for those people. Therefore leaving the other people in the background.

If liberals really want to remove the electoral college for the sake of democracy, then they should also fight for the removal of everything else in our government that goes against those principles: judicial review, the Bill of Rights, the administrative state, etc, but until then their pleas only sound like a faulty excuse to get what they want, and are only for the sake of themselves, not for the country as a whole. As said by writer John Yoo, "They are..only arguing to benefit themselves now, not to defend principle."