Abolish the Electoral College!

I've decided: the electoral college needs to go.

Whoever gets more votes wins. Period. If you get fewer votes in your race for senior class president (as I did to Heather Walenga) you lose. If you get fewer votes in your bid for condo association president, a la Cosmo Kramer, you lose. Why should the president of the United States be different?

Top Two Reasons Heard for Keeping the Electoral College:
1. "It's worked for so long, it's got to be the right way." "It's the way we do it, and it's fair." "If it's good enough for centuries of America, it's good enough for me."
2. Without the electoral college, candidates would ignore many small states, and cater to large cities and metropolises. With the electoral college, otherwise-overlooked voters in small states get attention--and that makes for a fairer election.

My Responses:
1. WRONG! We had slavery for a long time, but that was wrong. We didn't let women vote, but that was wrong too. I'd argue that Amendment #2, while not completely wrong, is severely misapplied . Just because an idea has been around a while doesn't make it good. (Which is what I like about California--new ideas start here.) Don't be fooled by this one.

2. Who cares about the small states? It's about the PEOPLE! More people live in metropolises--and they should get more attention. I live in California, the biggest state, which gets zero presidential attention because California would never ever ever ever vote for Bush. However, farmers in the back hills of Iowa get their plates washed by the candidates because they happen to live in a swing state. It's a total crapshoot...by bringing the focus of elections to a nationwide level, not just focusing on the ten states that make a difference, maybe people would get more excited about elections too.

Abolish the Electoral College!