@DebaterMan
United States presidents are not elected directly by the people. Instead, when the people vote for candidates they are really voting for electors--collectively known as the Electoral College--to vote for the candidate. The number of electors is determined by state; each state has as many electors as there are U.S. Senators plus U.S. Representatives for the state. The District of Columbia has 3 electors. The candidate who receives a simple majority of electoral votes (that is, at least 270) is elected president.
There are those in the U.S. who object to the Electoral College, saying that every voter should be counted equally rather than individual voters in different states receiving different representation among the electors. This is because the number of electors per state--unlike the number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives--is not proportional to the population of the state because of the fact that states with large populations and states with small populations also receive a number of electors according to their number of senators, which is two per state.
What do you say? Should we keep the Electoral College?
Where do you stand? Pick a side and give your reasons.
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Yes, we should keep the Electoral College.
The U.S. Constitution was written to secure liberty, as the preamble says ("in order to . . . secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity"). One way it secures liberty (whether intended or not) is to have not merely the national government and the people, but also to have state governments that are intermediate between the people and the national, federal government. States are free to enact different laws from other states, and people are free to move to the states whose laws they like best.
To preserve this arrangement, each entity must have power--the federal government, the states, and the people. The federal government holds the power to make and execute laws, but the people have the power to elect Representatives. But the power of the states must be preserved as well, so it makes sense to give the states representation at the federal level as well, and this is what the Senate is about. Unfortunately, people did not understand this; originally the states--meaning the state legislatures--selected senators, but later this power was given directly to the people, which weakens the role of the states.
Nevertheless, this balance remains in the Electoral College. The president is chosen by contributions from citizens who vote, roughly proportionally, but the fact that each state also has two more votes each is a recognition that states, as well, are important, so that people may live in different ways in different parts of the country. Were the Electoral College eliminated, the elected president would be tempted to govern in a way that favored more populous states over less populous states, and then the politics of the whole country would start to look like California. And we don't want that.