Why the Founding Fathers Would End the Electoral College
Hint: they were radicals
I recently organized an event, An Evening for Democracy, in Lower Manhattan, that paired a dramatic reading of A Third Term — my new novella, which imagines George Washington brought to the present day to challenge a modern tyrant in the 2028 election — with remarks from David Gold of Democratism Action, an organization working to end the Electoral College and establish proportional representation in Congress. David opened the evening with remarks connecting the real George Washington to the current crisis in our democracy and the opportunity we have to fix it. As we head to November 5, I wanted to share his remarks with you.
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Thank you Paul. Thank you all for being here. The star of tonight’s show, George Washington, summed up the whole basis for the political system of the United States in one short sentence in the middle of the last major public statement he made prior to coming out of retirement for the 2028 election. “The basis of our political systems,” he said — this is from his so-called Farewell Address, September 1796 — “is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”
