Gene Green Quotes
The Electoral College was necessary when communications were poor, literacy was low, and voters lacked information about out-of-state figures, which is clearly no longer the case.
Green, Gene. "Introduction of the Every Vote Counts Amendment." Congressional Record, vol. 151, no. 1, Government Publishing Office, 4 Jan. 2005, p. E23.
Also used in his Message to Congress, May 25, 1967
Madison was right on most things, but got this one wrong. Of course he did not anticipate the era of mass communication which makes demagoguery in large areas possible.
At the time less than 10% of the Southern Blacks were allowed to vote. The result was that Southern segregationists were elected to Congress even in a state like Mississippi which had a majority Black population, The Southern segregationist bloc was large enough that with a few very conservative Republicans, they formed a coalition could block any civil rights legislation including voting rights reform,
The voting problems we have had are managerially and technology solvable but politically each solution is perceived as favoring one of the political parties in the particular jurisdiction and therefore there is resistance to the change.
This quotation illustrates the "winner take all" conceopt of many political cultures that call themselves and think of theselves as a democracy. But a true democracy does not allow a tyranny of the majority--especially a very narrow minority.
Raymond Eugene Green is an American politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 29th congressional district, serving for 13 terms. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district included most of eastern Houston, including portions of the suburbs.
