Rhetoric Podcast

The podcast discusses the Electoral College, explaining what it is and how it works. The host believes that the Electoral College is a beneficial process for electing the nation's new leader. They argue that it has been in place since the beginning of time and is better for democracy as it allows every American to have a say in how the country is run. The host emphasizes the importance of voting and criticizes those who complain about the government but do not vote. They conclude that the Electoral College is the best way to choose a president and will likely remain in place for a long time. Hello everybody, my name is Luis Rodriguez and welcome to the first podcast of Let's Get Political. Today we will be discussing the Electoral College. So the Electoral College, not the best topic to discuss in a podcast. Why would anybody want to talk about it? But I feel like the fact that the Electoral College is very interesting, it's a very interesting topic to banter about. And truth be told, not very many people truly know what the Electoral College is and how it works. Oxford Languages defines this process as a body of people representing the states of the U.S. who formally cast votes for the election of the President and Vice President. That was a lot to take in. I understand why people don't fully understand how it operates. I wouldn't either. Many Americans cast their vote and follow the majority each and every year, watch the polls on television, see the different states turn different colors, and with elections there are winners and losers, and those who don't win often wonder if this message should continue in America. Personally, I think the Electoral College is a beneficial process in electing the nation's new leader. So, I have done extensive research on the Electoral College. All the positives and all the negatives, and I think by far, the Electoral College is the way to go. Why fix something that's not broken? Why fix something that's not broken? I'll say that again. It elects our President every four years. And it works. Granted, there are a lot of negatives that go along with the Electoral College. Experts and politicians have drilled social media with new ideas and ways to propose choosing another President. All these politicians and all these experts say they have new ideas and new things they want to try, but in reality, it's amended in the Constitution. The Electoral College was a founding fathers basis and has been with us since the beginning of time. But none of them are serious enough to be in contention with the Electoral College. It makes the most sense and puts out the most logic. While exploring the Electoral College, I came across this professor named Nicholas R. Miller. Miller is a research professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC. He believes the Electoral College is beneficial not only for political science, but for the public as well. There is a variety of reasons why the Electoral College is favorable, and this article unfolds it all. Before I dove into this article in depth, I emailed Professor Nicholas Miller and he got back to me with all the work he's done on the Electoral College and why he thinks it's the best method going forward, and I respect him for his decision. The original Electoral College is established in an extended sequential choice process. Each state legislator would choose how their state's electors were to be appointed. Accordingly, the electors would cast their votes. The electors' votes would be submitted and counted by Congress. Exactly right there, I was convinced. He does a great job expressing his side and how really diving into depth on the Electoral College is truly beneficial. The Electoral College is really based upon electors who then select a new leader. Some may argue, why try to fix something that doesn't need fixing? The system has been in place since 1804 and has been working efficiently ever since. Clearly there's no problem with it, right? Miller then discusses how the vote is in the most of the population and then translates to the Electoral College. So, the public gets to vote? That's exactly what the public wants. He claims this method is better for democracy and says, and quotes, it's a direct decision based on the citizens of the United States. Cut and dry, Professor Miller is saying, each American gets a say in how they think the country should be ran. This is quite a saying, that the United States citizens have all the say and the electors follow what the American public wants. Makes sense. Man, talking about the Electoral College is not fun. It's really not. I don't understand why people would really, would now want to listen to this podcast and that's why I'm taking a different approach. Not really, I get it. But it is important. So many people complain about how this country is ran, but they decide to do nothing about it. Or even better, they don't vote. I hate people who don't vote. If you don't vote, you cannot complain about society and how our government is ran. At the minimum, your civic duty is to vote. Whenever there's local votes, I just started becoming able to vote and I would, the first time I voted, I felt so like part of society. So if you can't complain about who's in charge, if voting doesn't appear on your agenda, it makes me upset when they complain. It is empty complaining which accomplishes nothing. So vote. And the Electoral College is no better way but to vote for a president. Another accrediting article I found titled, Why There's No Better System Than the Electoral College, there you go, talks about the same concept we've been preaching this whole entire time. Keep the Electoral College. Professor Mark Rush is the author of this article. He's a professor of politics and law and director of Center for International Education at Washington and Lee University. He goes into depth talking about which voters have a say in elections. The formula in creating the Electoral College is splitting up states into smaller ones. The United States is split up into so many states and counties that any other method ceases to work. So we have so many territories and small counties and so much gerrymandering going on that nothing else would work by population. When creating the United States and its constitution, it almost seemed like an ultimatum would occur. Creating the Electoral College was one of them. There is no hiding the fact that smaller states have more of a say in the Electoral College than bigger states do. Bigger states like California have 55 and Texas, but those smaller states like New Hampshire and Connecticut, those decide elections. All three articles say the same thing. The overall basis of the Electoral College just makes sense. It does. Get the states that are worthy of the most votes on your side. 270. The election map looks the same every four years. Barring three states and smaller states that go each way every four years, there are 530 electorates. You need 230 to win. The smaller states cause massive campaigning in them because they might hold so much more weight. This leads them in suing races to the magic number 270. The overall Electoral College has many pros and cons, and in the end, it's the current way we select our new president. Both Professor Nicholas Miller and Professor Mark Rush both agree. To close this ultra-interesting podcast, because I know most of my viewers probably aren't here anymore, but for those of you who are still here, I'm going to reiterate that the Electoral College is a good thing for American politics. The founding fathers created the Constitution seeking a specific reason. With the Constitution, there are numerous amendments. The Electoral College is a token of the nation's Constitution. It's the current system in place for electing the head of our government, the figurehead of democracy, the president of the United States, for crying out loud, the most important person in the world, I think, is the president, and the Electoral College is the only way to choose. We must stand proud in the decisions our government chooses, whether good or bad. In my opinion, I think the Electoral College is here to stay for a considerable amount of time. Thank you for tuning in to Lewis' podcast, stay tuned for next time.