George Washington was the greatest statesman and the only one in our national history who was elected to the presidency by a unanimous vote. He had won the hearts and confidence of the people by his years of unquestioned integrity and untiring adherence to the cause of freedom for his fellowman. When the framers of the Constitution took the first step toward securing a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, they pronounced a method of election that would secure us a statesman like Washington rather than a power hungry politician for president.
Washington understood the election process described in the Constitution and warned against the subversion of it in his farewell address. The Framers knew that power hungry men would seek the office and thus they described a method of election that would provide nominees who had a record of statesmanship. This method is still written in our present Constitution as follows:
The citizens of each state were to select a number of reliable citizens from among themselves who had no governmental position and the number to be selected would be equal to the number of legislators from each state. For example Utah would now have six. These men were to meet as a group (Electoral College) on a certain day, and nominate who would be candidates for president. Each member of the group would be able to nominate two people. (At present that would be possibly twelve nominations from Utah and as many as a thousand total from the country as a whole) These nominations would be sealed and sent to the United States Senate to be opened on a certain day. On that day all the nominations would be tabulated and the five names with the most votes would be placed on a ballot which would be sent to the House of Representatives for a vote to name the President.
This process described above in still written in our Constitution and can be read today, but bears no resemblance to what is going on in the struggles among the politicians. The perversion to the method of selecting the president began almost immediately after Washington withdrew from office. The chink in the armor for protecting the people from the power hungry politicians was that the method of selection of the Electoral College was to be determined by the states individually. The intent was that the Electoral College was to establish a group of men who were well informed but not be in a position to gain power for themselves. One of the requirements was that one of the two names they each would give for a nominee would not be a resident of their own state. After making the nomination, that was the end of their power. They had no vote. Only the members of the House of Representatives would have a vote to select the President. Each state was to pass laws to protect the integrity and personal opinion of the elector. Under that system there was no such thing as nominating oneself or running for office.
Amazingly, the states did exactly the opposite and handed the power over the Electoral College members to the political parties. Utah astonishingly wrote: “Any Elector who casts an Electoral ballot for a person not nominated by the party of which he is an Elector, ….. is considered to have resigned from the office of Elector, his vote may not be recorded, and the remaining Electors shall appoint another person to fill the vacancy.” (Utah Code 20A-13-304) Because of the handing the nomination power over to the parties, the House of Representatives vote never occurs - due to the fact that a majority of the Electoral College votes has already been conscripted.
By the time of the election of the second president, John Adams, it was evident that the parties were taking over the control of the Electoral College. There were only 13 people nominated at that time and by the third president's election, Thomas Jefferson, there were only five nominees. Since those days the powers of the political parties has been so strong that the real vote for the President of The United States in the House of Representatives as prescribed by the Constitution has never occurred. The political parties have so controlled the Electoral College that the vote by the House is nothing but a sham. If the Electoral College was functioning freely there could be over a thousand nominees instead of just two. The top five would be on the ballot and the House of Representatives would vote by state to select the President.
The elections now produce candidates for president who are committed to party power organizations rather than a president who is dedicated as a statesman for the people. The Parties have completely hijacked the Electoral College with the results as Washington predicted: “The Alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, has itself a frightful despotism...and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction …. Turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of Public Liberty...”
The basis for this article is taken from the book The Evolution And Destruction of the Original Electoral College by: Gary & Carolyn Alder. Copies of the book may be obtained at Smith and Edwards off of I-15 in Farr West, or through
www.FreedomFormula.us.
