Here in Australia, and I suspect all over Europe too, they don't understand the US system of presidential elections. They don't understand how someone who doesn't win the popular vote can win the presidency. They think that it is some sort of evil mechanism designed to disenfranchise minorities and and to thwart the will of the people.
Since the overseas media tends to hate George Bush, they are told that they too must hate Bush. Thus, they can't imagine anyone in the US voting for Bush. Thus, the fact that he won the 2000 and 2004 elections, must mean that the election was rigged. The fault, therefore, must be this mysterious "Electoral College.
Today I read a column in Newsweek by George F. Will that does an excellent job of explaining exactly what the benefit of our system is. He explains how the system is designed to prevent the tyranny of the majority. It is designed to bust up power blocks in order to represent all Americans.
It has been my observation that many people in the world think a democracy is a system of government where everyone gets to vote for their leaders. Once the votes are counted and winners installed in office, then democracy will be achieved and everything will be great.
But they are wrong. That is only the start. This power must be counterbalanced by a respect for the rights and the opinions of the minority. There must be limits on the power granted. Otherwise, such a democracy is simply a tyranny of the majority.
The founding fathers of the US recognized this. That is why they added the Bill of Rights to the constitution. They drew "Do not cross!!!" lines around the the government precisely to prevent this trampling of minority beliefs. The electoral college is another system they implement to prevent the excessive accumulation of power.
Years ago, that late 80's I think, I watched a TV series on PBS that analyzed democratic countries around the world. One episode looked at Ireland. It demonstrated that a flaw in their implementation of democracy was a large contributer to the problems in Northern Ireland. The Protestant citizens of Northern Ireland simple do not want to become a powerless minority within greater Ireland. They felt that the Irish government could not protect them, and would instead subject them to the rules of the majority.
Their fears were well founded. The Catholic church held great influence over Irish law, such making abortions and birth control illegal in Ireland. The Irish government, rather than restricting itself to matters that all Irish could agree on, allowed a majority opinion to intrude on beliefs of a minority.
Any nation that systematically tramples the deeply held beliefs of the minority simply because it conflicts with the majority will find themselves in a civil war. The solution is to respect rights, and to not allow one part of the nation to tell another part how to live their lives.
This exact problem is wrecking Iraq now. The Iraqis expect that a democratically elected Iraqi government will simply implement the will of the majority at the expense of the minority. Those in power will use their votes to encode their religious beliefs as law. For example, right after their elections, some of their elected leaders where trying to implement into the constitution a rules that gives daughters only half the inheritance of their brothers, which is the practice within their faith.
That example demonstrates how the elected majority is overstepping their bounds and intruding into matters they should not. They do not consider that others may not wish to have this as a law, or that they have no business even putting such matters into the constitution. Hence, their current bloody civil war is the result.
