Foxfyre wrote:The electoral college was devised to prevent a very few densely populated metropolitan areas from being able to control everybody else.
Although you have the basic principle correct, the statement about large metropolitan areas is patently false. The large states at the time of the constitutional convention (in terms of popoulation) were Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Massachussetts. Philadelphia was the lartgest city in the nation then, at around 30,000. Virginia, however, with no large metropolitan area, had the largest population, followed by Massachussetts (not surprisingly, those were the oldest colonies), in which Boston barely qualifies as a "densely populated metropolitan area" with about 20,000 population. The third largest city in the nation then was New York, and New York state was one of the small states. Charleston, South Carolina followed, another city in a small state.
The proposition that the point of the sovereignty compromises, of which the electoral college was one, were predicated upon the fear of domination of the large states on the part of the small states is completely reasonable. To contend however, that the members of the convention were trying "to prevent a very few densely populated metropolitan areas from being able to control everybody else" is speculative, in the most charitable construction. At the worst, it is a willful misconstruction of the historical record. The members of the convention may have had "densely populated metropolitan areas" in mind, but, once again, that is a speculation, and a feeble one at best.
You do your arguments no service by posting patently false statements. It makes your contention about Gore's electoral base look suspicious, as well.