Published: October 29, 2008
Although the memory of hanging chads still clouds the electoral mood, elections have come a long way. But how effective is our current system? Does it accurately register the will of the People? And why did America’s founders opt out of direct democracy? With the help of callers, the History Guys provide the backstory on voting rights, mechanisms, and manipulations. Historian Mark Summers describes some of the hijinks common in Gilded Age politics, and historian Alexander Keyssar helps make sense of the Electoral College.
ALLWILL6
Great show! I’m a WHRV listener in Suffolk, VA. Today my 6th-grade son asked about the Electoral College. I bumbled through a description and ended with, “it kinda works like the ‘checks and balances’ of the three branches of government.” When he asked why the founding fathers needed checks and balances to elect a president, I was stumped. I went hypothetical: “there wasn’t any national news back then…what if Blackbeard the Pirate wanted to run? He was popular (around here) but he’d have made a terrible president….that’s why the founders invented the Electoral College.” Here’s my question, how did citizens LEARN about presidential candidates/electors in the 18th & early 19th centuries? How did they even know WHO was running before the election? Did they feel ANY obligation to seek out unbiased information about the candidates? Thanks for a terrific show! I look forward to listening as often as possible. ALLWILL6
Bryon Higgs
I listen to the podcast while dog walking just outside Waterloo, Ontario Canada
“…what if Blackbeard the Pirate wanted to run?”
What if a hollywood actor wanted to run?