The Electoral College, Nevada and democracy

In response to David M. Zamarin’s letter “Electoral College” (Sunday Review-Journal): Some wag once wrote that democracy is two lions and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Mr. Zamarin obviously has no problem being a lamb as long as both lions are Democrats.

The federal government is a republic with democratic processes working within it. It isn’t a democracy. Its core institution, the Congress, has two houses. One, the House of Representatives, is pure democracy. The other, the Senate, is republican and Nevada has the same representation as California.

This structure is not an accident. Alexander Hamilton said, “We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy but in moderate governments.”

If your political power is taken from you, you can always fight to get it back. But what if you give it away, as Mr. Zamarin and the popular vote faction are advocating? That’s a different situation with ever-worsening consequences.