Mob Bikers and the Electoral College

Last night I was listening to some radio show where they were talking about the election process. Partly they were sane and partly they were crazy. The sane part was their suggestion that only registered voters be allowed to make campaign contributions of, say, $2300 tops. No corporations. Just people. I like that idea since I think it would go a long way toward destroying the present system whereby a few rich men inform the rest of us who the candidates are for us to choose between.

But then they went on to suggest elimination of the electoral college on the basis of (I am no making this up) the success of "American Idol". The theory is that a one man one vote system will "get people involved" because everybody really care if Ricky or Buffy win on American Idol.

My reply to turning the US into a pure democracy is found in this story of bikers run amok. This is what mobs do and pure democracy is ripe for demagoguery and mob rule. That's why the Founders created the electoral college. They wanted a check on The Wisdom of the Voters too. The most significant fruits of pure democracy in antiquity were the death of Socrates and a crowd that shouted, "Away with him! Give us Barrabbas!"