#38: The Electoral College, Election Unfairness and SCI
The upcoming US presidential election highlights a major flaw in the US Constitution. In perhaps the most important election in the world, the loser sometimes wins. Allowing the minority to rule the majority is a gross violation of democracy. This destabilizes the US and rest of the world (because the US plays an important role in global society).
This post discusses the harmful nature of the Electoral College and how System Change Investing (SCI) helps to resolve it. Advanced SCI models use the Global System Change (GSC) framework to rate companies on system change performance. This enables asset managers to incentivize system change by shifting investments to system change leaders.
The GSC books discuss essential systemic changes in all areas of society, including government. The following discussion is based on the Electoral College Reform section of the GSC books. A link to the full section is shown at the end of the post.
Protecting Slavery
The Electoral College was a compromise adopted at the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Slave states opposed popular election of the President because slaves could not vote. Small states opposed it because they could be overwhelmed by large states in presidential elections.
The Electoral College is based on another constitutional compromise – proportional representation in the House of Representatives and equal representation in the Senate. Under the Electoral College, electors for president are chosen in each state based on the number of senators and representatives. There are fewer citizens per senator in small states. As a result, the vote of a citizen in a small state counts more than the vote of a large state citizen when electing the President. The Electoral College also allowed slave states to count three-fifths of slaves when electing the President without giving slaves the right to vote.
The Electoral College is unfair and undemocratic for several reasons. The US Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal. But the Electoral College says they are not. It allows losers to win. And it compels presidential candidates to favor citizens in a few swing or undecided states.
Public Deception
Vested interests often seek to protect their unfair advantage by saying that states elect the president, not citizens, and that small, often rural states need protection. But the US Constitution begins with “We the People”, not We the States. All power in the US government derives from the people. For over 200 years, we have been one nation bound together based on a fundamental premise that all people are equal.
Also, the idea that the right to equality of large state citizens should be violated to protect small states is illogical. Small states and their citizens are protected in other ways in the Constitution, including through the Judiciary, the Bill of Rights, and equal representation in the Senate.
The Constitution originally gave state legislatures the right to elect senators. But the 17th Amendment changed this to popular election of senators in 1913. We should have finished the job long ago by establishing popular election of the President. There should be no further delay.
System Change Investing
As discussed in the GSC books, democracy/self-government and equality are implied laws of nature. Political systems that violate these laws, for example by making the vote of one citizen worth more than another, inevitably will end through voluntary or involuntary means.
Promoting democracy is a key metric category in advanced SCI models. Companies are rated on efforts to drive the systemic changes needed to ensure true democracy, including replacing the Electoral College with popular election of the President.
Current responsible investing approaches do not resolve major challenges, mainly because they focus on changing companies instead of the systems that control them. Flawed systems compel companies to harm the environment and society. They are the root causes of climate change and other challenges. Violating individual rights to equality and self-government (via the Electoral College) is one form of the harm caused by current systems.
Improving flawed systems is the most important action needed to protect business and society. The financial and corporate sectors are the only segments of society with the power and resources needed to drive voluntary systemic change before flawed systems change on their own through further collapse.
Like positive screening ESG, SCI is designed to enhance investment returns. This removes conflicts between system change and short-term returns. SCI enables asset managers to reduce investment risk and enhance returns, while powerfully driving the most important action needed to resolve major challenges.
For more information about SCI, visit our website SystemChangeInvesting.com or contact us at info@SystemChangeInvesting.com
The full Electoral College Reform section from the GSC books is available at: globalsystemchange.com/electoral-college-gsc/
