Blue State Blues

By GAIL COLLINS
NYT

I think it is about time for our quadrennial rant about the Electoral College.

Here we are just a little more than a week away from one of the most important elections in modern history, and most of us are beside the point, our states long since written off as hopelessly red or blue.

This is the time of year when parents from New York to Alabama ask the experts: How old should my child be before I tell him that his vote doesn’t count? Do I wait until she’s in high school to break it to her that if she decides to plant her roots in California or Utah, her role in presidential elections will be less significant than her voice in deciding who should be eliminated in the next episode of “Dancing With the Stars”?

As we all know, in America the president is actually chosen by an Electoral College of 538 members. This was a system devised by the founding fathers, who got the idea from ancient Rome, where democratic government worked exceptionally well.

The electors are chosen by the states, winner take all. The only exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which divvy their electors up more or less according to the popular vote. A much more sensible approach, and good work, guys! But although Maine and Nebraska are lovely, first-rate states, neither has been much of a political trendsetter since the Alf Landon era.

(Continued here.)