Moorehead calls for abolition of Electoral College

["Greg Butterfield" <gregb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Workers World Party 2000 Presidential Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 8, 2000

Workers World Party presidential candidate
Monica Moorehead calls for abolition
of the Electoral College

Moorehead received 1,841 votes
in Floriday on Nov. 7
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Statement by Monica Moorehead:

Like Eugene Debs and other socialist candidates over the
last 100 years, I call for the abolishment of the Electoral
College as part of the process of electing the president.

Today the real issue is not which candidate of big business
won Florida or the presidential electiion. Both George W.
Bush and Al Gore represent the class interests of capitalism
against the interests of working and poor people. The
controversy over the Florida vote and the dichotomy between
the popular vote and the Electoral College in yesterday's
election exposes the inherently anti-democratic and pro-rich
nature of the system. That's the real issue.

The Electoral College is part of the system's long history
of denying the vote to slaves, the descendents of slaves,
women, Native people, prisoners, immigrants and the poor.
The system of electing the U.S. president through the
Electoral College was established to ensure the rule of the
rich merchants and slave plantation owners.

Following the 1776 Revolution the framers of the
Constitution were interested in preventing the uprising from
going further. Shays’ Rebellion of small farmers was
threatening to spread from Massachusetts to the other
states. Slave rebellions were threatening in the South

The rich merchants like John Adams and the big slave
plantation owners like George Washington were frightened
that their victory would be surpassed by an uprising of
slaves and small farmers who wanted the revolution to go
much further.

The Constitution was their way to impose a federal
government that would guarantee the rule of the rich. The
right to vote was limited to property owners. Slaves and
women as well as Native peoples were specifically forbidden
from voting. The framers of the constitution represented
only the richest 10 percent of the population.

Among those who wrote the Constitution there was not one
small farmer or laborer, no representative of the African
American population, no women or Native people. There was
not one poor person, slave or indentured servant. They were
all bankers, merchants, shippers, slave owners and lawyers.

The presidency was designed to impose a king-like ruler over
all the country. No one was allowed to vote for the
president or the senators. The Electoral College was
established so that the president would not be elected by
popular vote, but rather the election is actually determined
by a small clique. The members of the Electoral College are
all appointed by the state legislature. The popular vote is
in no way binding on the members of the Electoral College.
Senators were also appointed by the state legislatures until
1913.

The government was designed so that the overwhelming power
would reside with those not elected by popular vote: the
president, the Senate and the Supreme Court.

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