by Josh Tuttle, ‘17
I am writing in response to the recent article on the Electoral College in the Nov. 9 issue. What I think a lot of people forget about the Electoral College is that it is designed specifically to protect a minority interest. If you look at the breakdown of nearly every election, congressional or presidential, the split isn’t actually between red states and blue states. The split is between rural populations and city populations.
City dwellers and rural citizens have immeasurably different lifestyles, and this is reflected in a different set of political beliefs, answering to the obvious but often overlooked fact that rural populations have different needs than urban population centers. My liberal friends often scream at the thought of rural policies being foisted upon them, but they almost never stop to recognize the fact that applying urban policies to rural populations without regard for their differing needs is going to affect rural communities just as negatively as the reverse.
By definition, urban centers are densely populated, and by headcount will always dwarf rural populations. The usual liberal outcry is that they don’t want policies they disagree with forced upon them, but it’s a one-way street. If the usual follow up is that the evil Republicans are clearly either crazy or stupid, then the left is refusing to accept the possibility that any opposition can be principled. It’s not hard to understand why we are so divided right now.
Systems that limit the extent to which city populations can steamroll the political voice of rural populations are essential.
Letters to the editor of 250 words or less can be submitted to kandersen18@my.whitworth.edu.