South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Reader defends Electoral College, but not the ‘do-nothing’ politicians

Letters to the Editor
Letters+to+the+editor

To the editor:

Two topics of concern: The Electoral College has been operating smoothly for more than 200 years. In recent years (2000 and 2016) the winner of the presidential election actually lost the popular vote, but won the votes of the Electoral College. California has approximately 39.78 million people, while Missouri has approximately 6.15 million. Thus, if we left it up to the states with the largest populations to control the outcome of an election, Missourians would soon find themselves living a life under “California attitudes.”

Our Founding Fathers created a stable, well-planned and carefully designed system — and it works. Each state is granted a certain number of representatives, called electors, to cast votes on its behalf. Most states use a “winner-take-all” system whereby the presidential candidate winning the state’s popular vote is awarded the state’s entire slate of electors. Of the total 538 electoral votes, it takes at least 270 to constitute a majority and win the presidency. The Electoral College “safeguard” was designed by our Founding Fathers to ensure that all of the states are as evenly represented as possible, and to promote a national consensus.

I would like to remind our county government leaders that Proposition P in 2017 levied a half-cent sales tax to fund — among other things — increased salaries for police, body cameras and additional precincts. If there are thoughts to “defund the police” of its allocated funds to other “projects,” or if our police departments are at optimum operation and no longer require these funds, then perhaps a repeal of the half-cent sales tax should be considered either voluntarily by our elective officials, or by a class-action lawsuit. Additionally, if you were to ask our county residents if they feel safe since enacting Proposition P, you would get a deciding “no.” It is not that the police are failing, but the court systems, and the soft on crime mentality will soon make St. Louis County and city compete with Detroit and Chicago for the uncoveted prize.

Vote “no” — get rid of the do-nothing politicians; do not retain the judges, and close your wallet.

Frank Longo
Crestwood

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