From: dpm1960@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (snopes)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Will pay money for food.
Date: 18 Nov 1992 19:51 EST  

In article <1992Nov17.092401.20569@news.columbia.edu>, 
  lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes...

>Is Snopes defending the Status Quo, meaning that the Electoral System is
>OK by him, or is he merely the messenger pointing out its existence? 

Both.

>It seems to me that about 30 odd years ago there was talk that the Electoral
>System may have outlived its usefullness

Yes, by people who didn't fully understand its purpose.

>The method of picking the President has been changed before, so what's the 
>compelling reason not to complain about the current method today?

There's no reason not to complain, as long as a better system is proposed.
Direct popular vote is not a better system.

>In many parts of the US, state lines are artificial boundaries relative to
>the community.  

All borders are artificial boundaries.

>Should the voters of New York City be represented Electorally
>speaking by some Electors for NY State, while their neighbors, the commuters
>from nearby New Jersey, and close-by Fairfield County Connecticut be lumped
>together with their respective more rural states' population electorally?

Unless you want to do away with the concept of state government altogether,
yes.

>Perhaps in the Western portion of the US, this aspect isn't as important,
>since population centers are typically self-contained within a single
>state, but what of the East where this tends to happen in several areas?

Too bad.  State lines were drawn hundreds of years ago, and nobody's about to
go redistricting the map of the USA.  Granted, some people may be more closely
affiliated with neighboring states than with their states of residence, but
that's always going to happen as long as there are states.  

>So, if "un-like" groups are being lumped together, why not a popular vote?

To prevent people like George Wallace (or even Henry Wallace) from becoming
president.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages    |
|  women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft,   |
|  destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."                                  |
|                                                                             |
|                              Pat Robertson, on the equal-rights amendment   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|"Asserting a statement an infinity of times does not in itself make it true."|
|                                                                             |
|                                                           - Abel J. Jones   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban