The Electoral College & How Other Republics Elect Heads of Government

About the Lecture:

The American Constitution is the world’s oldest. It was designed by our Founders to withstand the storms of faction, geographic expansion, war – and even Civil War. The Founders studied history. They knew that democracies always fail. Plato writes in The Republic that “democracies always become tyrannies.” How is it that our 235-year-old Constitution still governs our land? In a phrase - “checks and balances.” The Constitution has internal mechanisms that, while imperfect, were created because men are quite imperfect. Just as a sailor must tack back and forth to reach his destination, the Constitution forces us to share and exchange the levers of power to keep the ship of state from floundering and on course. When someone says, “The Electoral College is undemocratic,” a fair reply may be - “Of course it is. We are a republic, not a democracy.” Even so, America is much more democratic than most republics in choosing a head of state. Was Mr. Churchill’s name on the ballots of all Englishmen? Was Mr. Trudeau’s name on the votes of all Canadians? Decidedly not. We will explore why virtually all sustained republics embrace “checks and balances” and a “two-step” electoral process - not a simple majority rule. There is nothing simple about self-government.

About the Speaker:

Mr. Michael Maibach is a seasoned professional in global business diplomacy. From 2003 to 2012, he was the President of the European-American Business Council after 18 years as the Vice President of Global Government Affairs at the Intel Corporation. Today, he is Managing Director of the James Wilson Institute and a Distinguished Fellow on American Federalism at Save Our States. Mr. Maibach has earned M.A. degrees from Northern Illinois University, Georgetown University, Ashland University, and The Institute of World Politics, where he also serves as a Trustee. He frequently speaks in classrooms and before civic groups to defend the Founders’ Constitution and the Electoral College.

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