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Definition:
In the United States, the Electoral College is the means by which the President is
elected. Many people assume that because they pick a particular name on a presidential
election ballot, that means that they are directly electing the president - just like
they do with other politicians, like governors or senators. However that is not
actually the case.
When the Constitution was ratified, the politicians had a deep distrust of the "mob" and wanted to ensure that the chief executive could not be directly elected solely because of arousing wild passions among the people. So, they created a layer between the voters and the President. When someone votes for "George Washington" on a presidential election ballot, they are not really voting for George Washington. Instead, they are voting for "John Smith," a member of the electoral college who is committed to vote for Washington when the college meets to decide who will be president. The number of electoral college members in each state is the same as the number of representatives the state has.
Also Known As: none
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Related Resources:
What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
