Dear editor,
In his Letter to the Editor on October 17, 2024, Mr. McEvoy posits that the discussion was whether the people or the Congress would elect that president.
This position completely ignores the central role of Federalism, as outlined in Article IV of the Constitution, but also in Article I.
It is the States that were intended to elect a President, and then as now, the states disagreed to a very great degree on how the nation should be governed.
Nearly 24% of the Colonial America lived in Virginia. The other 12 colonies weren’t interested in a system in which the elections were about which Virginian would govern.
The Colonies rebelled again a distant all-powerful government, its hardly likely they would have fought an 8-year war only for the purpose of creating a local example which government worked the same way.
The statement that Virginia was 40 to 60% slaves is misleading, and bends towards being factually incorrect. The slave population was 39.1% certainly not 60 (it was worth noting that the 1790 census is incomplete since Free Blacks aren’t counted).
The idea that the 3/5s Compromise gave the South a permanent advantage is flawed analysis.
The Southerners wanted to count slaves equally with free people for the purposes of representation, the North said they shouldn’t be counted at all. So, they split the difference.
Both parties had was that there would be an equal number of Free and Slave states, so in the Senate there would be parity. Southerners could and would never be a majority in the House, and to suggest the is to this day an advantage for the Southerners has no basis in fact.
Regarding the popular vote, if those who would seek destroy Federalism and the Electoral College would primarily campaign in the 4 states with a population of more than 20 million citizens, and to a lesser degree the 6 with a population of more than 10 million.
The other 40 states would be completely ignored.
“Most people are forced to rely on the media” its worth pointing out that trust in the media is at an all time low of 31% according to a recent Gallup Poll. Then Russia; a 2-year long investigation led by the former Director of the FBI concluded Trump did not engage in “Collusion.”
What the Russians do is what the Soviets did as well, they don’t particularly favor a candidate, what the do is spread “Desinformatsia” or Disinformation. Its purpose is not to favor one candidate over another, but to demoralized the entire American public and cause them to lose faith in their government and electoral system.
Calling Trump a “fascist” when he has already been POTUS and didn’t do any of the things hyperbolic Democrats said would happen only underscores their state of hysteria and complete lack of understanding what fascism is.
Frankly what these Democrats are doing is the same Desinformatisia, that the KGB and now FSB does, simply demoralizing the country.
Michael Walker Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science and History (retired)
