At 07:31 AM 11/14/2000 -0500, Paveza, Gary wrote:
>But is it really?  Isn't the fact that the founding fathers instituted the
>electoral college ample evidence that they did not believe that the general
>population couldn't handle the task of voting?  I'm with the people who say
>"Tough" to all those that had their votes thrown out because they couldn't
>following instructions.

The Founders established the Electoral College (a term which appears
nowhere in the Constitution) because

1. They were suspicious of direct democracy.
2.  The smaller states were afraid of being overwhelmed by the larger
states when the President was elected.  The EC mitigates that to some extent.

The Founders thought the average person might be too easily swayed by
demagogues to be trusted to directly the President.  The EC was meant to be
a deliberative body of men (it was exclusively men in those days) who could
choose the best man for the job.