• Tom_Hanx_the_Actor@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    An important historical context for this I would like to add as well. There’s a chance I may be wrong about the specifics but this is my best understanding of it.

    When this concept was developed during the constitutional convention. They wanted to protect “states rights”, which has always been a soft language for slavery. The Electoral College is in the same section of the constitution as the 3/5ths compromise, which said that slaves count as 3/5th of a person when being counted as population to have representatives/Electoral college votes.

    So modern Republicans are benefiting and have more power than the general population actually voted for, based on a structure used to protect the institution of slavery. This is a key example of “institutional racism(*edit)” and helps me understand the obsession with things like critical race theory. Because understanding the structure, delegitmizes the power Republicans hold. The most obvious example to me right now is the Supreme Court. A mixture between the consequences of institutional racism and modern GOP political rat fuckery is doing so much harm to America.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      5 months ago

      I agree with why the EC was a popular compromise for southern slaveholding states, but I don’t know what advantage it offers today as they don’t have the slaves to add to their overall totals compared to the more populous northern states.