Why bother with general election for president?

When you consider the thousands upon thousands of elected officials in this country, there are only two who represent all of the citizens of this country; the president and the vice president. Coincidentally, these are also the only two elected officials who are not necessarily elected by the majority of their constituency.

Every other one from dog catcher to senator are elected by the majority of the vote of their constituencies. If that isn't insanity, then nothing is. he argument by supporters of the "system" is that "small population states" need protection from the more populous states. That is what the Senate is for; the House represents the population. But all are elected based upon the majority vote of those they are to represent.

Lost in all of this is that the duty of any candidate is to convince the majority of their constituencies that their ideas and proposals are superior to their opponent's, except for the president and vice president. In reality these two simply must convince a small group of electors (who are not necessarily bound to vote for the candidate they were elected to support). The fact that more people live in a few states is simply not relevant. It's ideas that make people vote one way or another, not something in the water.

Under the current system, why do we even bother with an election season for president and vice president? We could just as easily be enjoying more deodorant and car commercials rather than being constantly bombarded by lies, exaggerations, half truths and never-will-be-the-truth 15-second-long ear noise every four years.

James Prescott

Schaumburg