Electoral college and the myth of democracy

Gerrymandering and the powerful influence of special interests are often identified as barriers to the real-life implementation of the democratic ideals this country was allegedly built upon.

The 2016 presidential election highlights another troublesome obstacle: the idiotic and blatantly unfair electoral college system.

In a true democracy, geography would not determine the value of a citizen's vote. In a fair national election, the vote of a California farmer would carry the same weight as that of his Michigan counterpart. Clinton's millions of votes in Michigan and Florida would not be discarded, and neither would the millions of votes Trump accumulated in New York and California.

But no. A few thousand votes in a handful of swing states overruled the will of the majority.

Obviously, as contributors to this forum have noted, rules are rules, and despite what many of us grew up believing, our government is not really a democracy.

That government of the people by the people principle Abraham Lincoln espoused many years ago is an archaic myth, an impossible ideal.

John Whalen

Elk Grove Village