After reading the latest spin from our friends in the mainstream media, I figured it was only right to call out why their ‘popular vote should take all’ argument is nothing more than dangerous jargon.
Matt Muchowkshi, chair of the Waukegan, Illinois Township Democrats, and others who cry foul over the Electoral College miss the bigger picture. Worse, they attempt to recraft American procedures to suit their voting preferences.
The U.S. isn’t designed to be a pure democracy. It’s a republic—structured to protect against the dangers of mob rule. Our Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, knew that democracy unchecked can easily become tyranny, where the majority’s whims could drown out minority voices. They created the Electoral College to ensure that power isn’t concentrated in just a few densely populated areas.
You might hear complaints about battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania holding all the cards. Sure, campaigns focus heavily on these areas, but guess what? That’s the point. The Electoral College forces candidates to spread their message across the board, not just sweet-talk a few big cities. It’s a system that makes them earn votes in the places where America’s heart beats loudest—the places that too often get ignored by the urban elite.
Breaking Down the Disenfranchisement Myth
Muchowkshi and his crew argue that the Electoral College disenfranchises urban voters and people of color. But let’s set the record straight: nobody’s vote gets tossed in the trash because of the Electoral College. It’s not about taking votes away; it’s about making sure every corner of America has a say. If we switched to a popular vote tomorrow, do you know what would happen? The candidates would park themselves in New York City, Los Angeles, and a handful of other metro areas and forget the rest of the country even exists.
Two out of the last six presidential elections went to the candidate who lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College, including Trump’s 2016 victory. To critics, this looks like a glitch in the matrix, but it’s actually a feature, not a bug. The Electoral College acts like a filter, making sure that no one can just ride a wave of popularity in a few big cities all the way to the Oval Office.
Why We Should Be Thankful We’re Not a Pure Democracy
Look around the world, and you’ll see democracies where presidents are elected directly through the popular vote. Sure, it sounds nice and neat, but let’s not forget that pure democracies can turn on a dime. All it takes is a little public frenzy, and boom—you’re left with decisions that come from the heat of the moment rather than cooler, wiser heads. The Electoral College stands as a bulwark against that chaos, demanding that a president win not just a few, but a majority of states, representing a wide spectrum of the American landscape.
In other countries, where the popular vote rules the roost, the political pendulum swings fast and hard. Policies flip-flop with every shift in the mood of the masses. But the U.S., thanks to the Electoral College, keeps it steady. It’s designed to reflect not just the popular will but the national will—something that requires a whole lot more than a simple headcount.
The Republic Stands Firm—Because We Make It So
When Muchowkshi says that the Electoral College is “anti-democratic,” he’s really saying he wants a system where the biggest cities call the shots and the rest of the country shuts up and listens. That’s not how this republic rolls. The Electoral College isn’t about creating a democracy where a few loud voices can drown out the many; it’s about building a country where every state, every community, and every voter has a stake in the game.
The Electoral College doesn’t just protect smaller states; it protects the soul of this republic. It makes sure that our leaders aren’t crowned by a handful of metropolises but chosen by the nation itself, in all its complex, beautiful diversity. Without it, we’d just be one more country where the mob rules and the little guy gets left in the dust.
Conclusion: America’s Safety Net Against the Frenzy
The next time someone like Muchowkshi tells you that the Electoral College is unfair, remind them that it’s not designed to be fair in the popular sense—it’s designed to be just. It stands as America’s safety net against the frenzy of pure democracy, a safeguard that holds together the republic. Instead of tearing down the Electoral College, maybe it’s time we recognize it for what it really is: the guardian that keeps our nation’s voice from being hijacked by the loudest and largest.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in Waukegan, Illinois, or Chadron, Nebraska—every vote still matters. And that’s the way it should be, because America is more than just the sum of its cities. It’s a republic, and that’s what sets us apart.
