The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of Sean Conner, who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Friday, January 02, 2026

Why does the Electoral College exist?

The Electoral College in the U.S. is a controversial aspect of electing the President, but not many people understand why it was done. That's why I find “Why does the Electoral College exist?” video so good—it goes into the history of why the Founding Fathers picked such a convoluted scheme to elect the President (and I did not know that direct election by the population was on the table). It basically comes down to the Founding Fathers distruct in direct democracy and the fear of large population states running roughshod over less populated states. Also, while democratic institutions have been around for a about two thousand years, it had never been done at a country level (cities, yes. Countries, not so much). As such, the Founding Fathers were treading into uncharted territory and given what they knew at the time, I don't think they did all that bad.

It's worth the watch.

Heck, the entire Premodernist channel is worth watching.

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