| EricHiggin said: The EC basically tells both parties: A - If you only cater to either the rich or poor, you will lose. B - If you only cater to the countryside or cities, you will lose. C - If you don't attempt to appease all Americans, you will lose. The Founding Fathers were practically political geniuses for their time. |
Honestly, the fact that it now works that way is arguably more by accident than design. In the pre-Civil War era it basically stacked the deck in favor of the slave-owning states, until the north and the west coast became populous enough that the anti-slavery states were able to turn the tables. Then in the latter part of the 19th century the balance swung completely the other way and the Republicans were able to focus on the big cities and let the Democrats carve out their own little fiefdoms in the south where they could enact Jim Crow laws to their hearts' content.
If the Electoral College really was designed to ensure the three points you mentioned, it didn't really start fulfilling its intended purpose until the 1960s, once civil and voting rights had been properly enshrined in federal law.
