Boot the Electoral College: Salon

The Electoral College is "a loaded gun pointed directly at the heart of our democracy," writes Garrett Epps in Salon, and it's high time to get rid of the throwback designed to protect slave ownership. No part of the Constitution has failed more, he argues, citing the 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000 elections, when the popular-vote winner was defeated in the Electoral College. 

Nowadays, writes Epps, the electoral system skews conservative by denying large population blocs a cohesive voice. Al Gore, for example, could have carved a majority based on populous regions in the Northeast, California, and parts of the Midwest. What's more, the system rewards states for controlling results by preventing certain individuals from voting, which isn't very, well, democratic. (More electoral college stories.)