Electoral College: It weakens legitimacy of majority rule

Re: “Electoral College revolt would be true hack job,” (TNT, 12/15).

Jay Ambrose’s op-ed column rejects the idea of democracy. Last time I looked it was based on majority vote (i.e. 50 percent plus one).

In a true democracy, Hillary Clinton would be president, having received nearly three million more votes than the unelected president to be. Twice in less than 20 years we have had a president who did not receive the majority of votes. This calls into question the legitimacy of a government most Americans had no confidence in even before the election.

Ambrose needs to read some American history; he would see the Electoral College was designed to protect the slave states. In 1877, it was used to end reconstruction and introduce Jim Crow laws, and it might well be argued it is being used now to put a racist administration in the White House.

Ignoring majority rule does not lead to good ends.

This story was originally published January 1, 2017 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Electoral College: It weakens legitimacy of majority rule."